Which command shows the routing table on Linux?

• A. route -n
• B. netstat -r
• C. ip route show
• D. ifconfig

Answer: (C)

Viewing the routing table in Linux is most reliably done with the iproute2 toolset. The command ip route show prints the kernel’s routing table, listing each destination network, the next hop, the outgoing interface, and the route metric. This reflects the current network paths and includes default routes and connected networks. It’s the preferred method because it’s part of the modern standard in Linux networking, offering a consistent and comprehensive view across distributions.

Older utilities like route -n and netstat -r can display routing information too, but they come from the deprecated net-tools package and may be missing on newer systems. Ifconfig, on the other hand, is used for configuring network interfaces and doesn’t display the routing table.