Iptables – How to PREPEND rules rather than APPEND using iptables

firewalliptablesnetworking

Pretty basic question: how to PREPEND rules on IPTABLES rather than to APPEND?

I have DROP statements at the bottom of my rules. I have a software to add new rules but adding rules after DROP statements isn't good. Every time I want to add a new rule, I have to flush the table (which is inefficient).

Is there a way to prepend a rule i.e., add a rule to the top of the table rather than the bottom?

Many thanks.

Best Answer

Use the -I switch:

sudo iptables -I INPUT 1 -i lo -j ACCEPT

This would insert a rule at position #1 in the INPUT chain.

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