---
name: "iproute"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "iproute"
version: "980630-1"
release: "Debian 2.1 (Slink)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/iproute"
---

# iproute(8)

program to control policy-based routing tables

## NAME

iproute - program to control policy-based routing tables

## SYNOPSIS

**iproute** *\[ -c \| -r \| -l \]*\

**iproute** *\[ add \| del \] \[ PREFIX \| NET mask MASK \] \[ tos TOS \]* *\[ nat NET \] \[ class CLASS \] INFO*\

**iproute** *\[ addrule \| delrule \] \[ from PREFIX \] \[ to PREFIX \] \[ tos TOS \]* *\[ dev DEVICE \] \[ masq \| drop \| reject \| prohibit \| nat NET \]* *\[ pref PREFERENCE \] \[ class CLASS \| INFO \]*\

*PREFIX* can be a net number, or net number and prefix length, e.g. *192.168.0.0* or *192.168.0.0/24*\

*INFO* references any combination of the routing parameters "gw \[gateway\]", "dev \[device\]", "metric \[metric\]", "mtu \[mtu\]", "irtt \[rtt\]", "window \[window\]", and any of *FLAGS*\

*FLAGS* can be any of "static", "reject", "throw", "nopmtudisc", "noforward", "local", "interface", and "broadcast" (reject and throw cannot be specified together, however, as with interface and broadcast).

## DESCRIPTION

This manual page documents briefly the various invocations of the **iproute** command. This manual page was written for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution (but may be used by others), because the original program does not have a manual page. Instead, it has documentation as part of the Linux source tree. Note that this documentation may also be found in /usr/doc/iproute on Debian systems.

**iproute** will modify or show the current policy-based routing tables. These are held in kernel space, so iproute requires root permissions to run. Note that policy based routing tables are a feature of kernels 2.1.16 and above, so you will not be able to use this program unless you have a specific patch with an earlier kernel.

## OPTIONS

**iproute** accepts the following single options on the command line:-

- **-c**

  Shows the current routing cache.

- **-r**

  Shows the current routing classes.

- **-l**

  Shows a long listing of routes.

Invoking the program with no command-line will produce a simple list of current routes.

## SEE ALSO

*[route(8)](/route/8.md), [ifconfig(8)](/ifconfig/8.md), [netstat(8)](/netstat/8.md), [arp(8)](/arp/8.md)*

The policy-based routing system is documented fully in the file *Documentation/networking/policy-routing.txt* which can be found in kernels 2.1.16 and above.

## BUGS

Not very well documented anywhere :)

## AUTHOR

This manual page was written by Tom Lees \<tom@lpsg.demon.co.uk\>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system.