The Route command is used on Windows systems at the command line. To see how this command is used on Kali Linux systems, please refer to this page.
Manipulates network routing tables.
SYNTAX
ROUTE [-f] [-p] [-4|-6] command [destination]
[MASK netmask] [gateway] [METRIC metric] [IF interface]
| Switch | Purpose |
|---|---|
| [-f] | Clears the routing tables of all gateway entries. If this is used in conjunction with one of the commands, the tables are cleared prior to running the command. |
| [-p] | When used with the ADD command, makes a route persistent across boots of the system. By default, routes are not preserved when the system is restarted. Ignored for all other commands, which always affect the appropriate persistent routes. This option is not supported in Windows 95. |
| [-4] | Force using IPv4. |
| [-6] | Force using IPv6. |
| destination | Specifies the host. |
| MASK | Specifies that the next parameter is the 'netmask' value. |
| netmask | Specifies a subnet mask value for this route entry. If not specified, it defaults to 255.255.255.255. |
| gateway | Specific gateway. |
| interface | The interface number for the specified route. |
| METRIC | Specifies the metric, ie. cost for the destination. |
Command One of these:
| Prints a route | |
| ADD | Adds a route |
| DELETE | Deletes a route |
| CHANGE | Modifies an existing route |
All symbolic names used for destination are looked up in the network database file NETWORKS. The symbolic names for gateway are looked up in the host name database file HOSTS.
If the command is PRINT or DELETE. Destination or gateway can be a wildcard, <wildcard is specified as a star ‘*’>, or the gateway argument may be omitted.
If Dest contains a * or ?, it is treated as a shell pattern, and only matching destination routes are printed. The ‘*’ matches are string, and ‘?’ matches any one char Example: 157.*.1, 157.*, 127.*, *224.
Pattern match is only allowed in PRINT command.
Diagnostic Notes:
Invalid MASK generates an error, that is when <DEST & MASK> != DEST.
Example> route ADD 157.0.0.0 MASK 155.0.0.0 157.55.80.1 IF 1
The route destination failed: The specified mask parameter is invalid.
<Destination & Mask != Destination.
EXAMPLES
>route PRINT
>route PRINT -4
>route PRINT -6
>route PRINT 157* …. Only prints those matching 157*
>route ADD 157.0.0.0 MASK 255.0.0.0 157.55.80.1 METRIC 3 IF 2
destination ^mask ^gateway metric ^interface
If IF is not given, it tries to find to find the best interface for a given gateway.
>route ADD 3ffe::/32 3ffe::1
>route CHANGE 157.0.0.0 MASK 255.0.0.0 157.55.80.5 METRIC 2 IF 2
CHANGE is used to modify gateway and/or metric only.
>route DELETE 157.0.0.0
>route DELETE 3ffe::/32