The route command is used on Linux systems at the terminal. This information was obtained from a Kali Linux distribution using man route. To see how this command is used on Windows systems, please refer to this page.
NAME
route – show / manipulate the IP routing table
SYNOPSIS
route [-CFvnNee] [-A family |-4|-6]
route [-v] [-A family |-4|-6] add [-net|-host] target [netmask
Nm] [gw Gw] [metric N] [mss M] [window W] [irtt I]
[reject] [mod] [dyn] [reinstate] [[dev] If]
route [-v] [-A family |-4|-6] del [-net|-host] target [gw Gw]
[netmask Nm] [metric M] [[dev] If]
route [-V] [--version] [-h] [--help]
DESCRIPTION
Route manipulates the kernel’s IP routing tables. Its primary use is to set up static routes to specific hosts or networks via an interface after it has been configured with the ifconfig(8) program.
When the add or del options are used, route modifies the routing tables. Without these options, route displays the current contents of the routing tables.
OPTIONS
| -A family | use the specified address family (eg `inet'). Use route --help for a full list. You can use -6 as an alias for --inet6 and -4 as an alias for -A inet |
| -F | operate on the kernel's FIB (Forwarding Information Base) routing table. This is the default. |
| -C | operate on the kernel's routing cache. |
| -v | select verbose operation. |
| -n | show numerical addresses instead of trying to determine symbolic host names. This is useful if you are trying to determine why the route to your nameserver has vanished. |
| -e | use netstat(8)-format for displaying the routing table. -ee will generate a very long line with all parameters from the routing table. |
| del | delete a route. |
| add | add a new route. |
| target | the destination network or host. You can provide an addresses or symbolic network or host name. Optionally you can use /prefixlen notation instead of using the netmask option. |
| -net | the target is a network. |
| -host | the target is a host. |
| netmask NM | when adding a network route, the netmask to be used. |
| gw GW | route packets via a gateway. NOTE: The specified gateway must be reachable first. This usually means that you have to set up a static route to the gateway beforehand. If you specify the address of one of your local interfaces, it will be used to decide about the interface to which the packets should be routed to. This is a BSDism compatibility hack. |
| metric M | set the metric field in the routing table (used by routing daemons) to M. If this option is not specified the metric for inet6 (IPv6) address family defaults to '1', for inet (IPv4) it defaults to '0'. You should always specify an explicit metric value to not rely on those defaults - they also differ from iproute2. |
| mss M | sets MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) of the route to M bytes. Note that the current implementation of the route command does not allow the option to set the Maximum Segment Size (MSS). |
| window W | set the TCP window size for connections over this route to W bytes. This is typically only used on AX.25 networks and with drivers unable to handle back to back frames. |
| irtt I | set the initial round trip time (irtt) for TCP connections over this route to I milliseconds (1-12000). This is typically only used on AX.25 networks. If omitted the RFC 1122 default of 300ms is used. |
| reject | install a blocking route, which will force a route lookup to fail. This is for example used to mask out networks before using the default route. This is NOT for firewalling. |
| mod, dyn, reinstate | install a dynamic or modified route. These flags are for diagnostic purposes, and are generally only set by routing daemons. |
| dev If | force the route to be associated with the specified device, as the kernel will otherwise try to determine the device on its own (by checking already existing routes and device specifications, and where the route is added to). In most normal networks you won't need this. If dev If is the last option on the command line, the word dev may be omitted, as it's the default. Otherwise the order of the route modifiers (metric netmask gw dev) doesn't matter. |
EXAMPLES
route add -net 127.0.0.0 netmask 255.0.0.0 metric 1024 dev lo
adds the normal loopback entry, using netmask 255.0.0.0
and associated with the "lo" device (assuming this device
was previously set up correctly with ifconfig(8)).
route add -net 192.56.76.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 metric 1024 dev
eth0
adds a route to the local network 192.56.76.x via "eth0".
The word "dev" can be omitted here.
route del default
deletes the current default route, which is labeled
"default" or 0.0.0.0 in the destination field of the
current routing table.
route del -net 192.56.76.0 netmask 255.255.255.0
deletes the route. Since the Linux routing kernel
uses classless addressing, you pretty much have to specify the netmask
that is same as seen in 'route -n listing'
route add default gw mango
adds a default route (which will be used if no other route
matches). All packets using this route will be gatewayed
through the address of a node named "mango". The device
which will actually be used for that route depends on how
we can reach "mango" - "mango" must be on directly
reachable route.
route add mango sl0
Adds the route to the host named "mango" via the SLIP
interface (assuming that "mango" is the SLIP host).
route add -net 192.57.66.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw mango
This command adds the net "192.57.66.x" to be gatewayed
through the former route to the SLIP interface.
route add -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev eth0
This is an obscure one documented so people know how to do
it. This sets all of the class D (multicast) IP routes to
go via "eth0". This is the correct normal configuration
line with a multicasting kernel.
route add -net 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.0.0.0 metric 1024 reject
This installs a rejecting route for the private network
"10.x.x.x."
route -6 add 2001:0002::/48 metric 1 dev eth0
This adds a IPv6 route with the specified metric to be
directly reachable via eth0.
OUTPUT
The output of the kernel routing table is organized in the
following columns
Destination
The destination network or destination host.
Gateway
The gateway address or '*' if none set.
Genmask
The netmask for the destination net; '255.255.255.255' for
a host destination and '0.0.0.0' for the default route.
Flags Possible flags include
U (route is up)
H (target is a host)
G (use gateway)
R (reinstate route for dynamic routing)
D (dynamically installed by daemon or redirect)
M (modified from routing daemon or redirect)
A (installed by addrconf)
C (cache entry)
! (reject route)
Metric The 'distance' to the target (usually counted in hops).
Ref Number of references to this route. (Not used in the Linux
kernel.)
Use Count of lookups for the route. Depending on the use of
-F and -C this will be either route cache misses (-F) or
hits (-C).
Iface Interface to which packets for this route will be sent.
MSS Default maximum segment size for TCP connections over this
route.
Window Default window size for TCP connections over this route.
irtt Initial RTT (Round Trip Time). The kernel uses this to
guess about the best TCP protocol parameters without
waiting on (possibly slow) answers.
HH (cached only)
The number of ARP entries and cached routes that refer to
the hardware header cache for the cached route. This will
be -1 if a hardware address is not needed for the
interface of the cached route (e.g. lo).
Arp (cached only)
Whether or not the hardware address for the cached route
is up to date.
FILES
/proc/net/ipv6_route
/proc/net/route
/proc/net/rt_cache
HISTORY
Route for Linux was originally written by Fred N. van Kempen, and then modified by Johannes Stille and Linus Torvalds for pl15. Alan Cox added the mss and window options for Linux 1.1.22. irtt support and merged with netstat from Bernd Eckenfels.
AUTHOR
Currently maintained by Phil Blundell and Bernd Eckenfels.