1. NAME▲

iptables-save dump iptables rules to stdout

2. SYNOPSIS ▲

iptables-save [-M modprobe] [-c] [-t table]

3. DESCRIPTION ▲

iptables-save is used to dump the contents of an IP Table in easily parseable format to STDOUT. Use I/O-redirection provided by your shell to write to a file.

  • -M modprobe_program
        Specify the path to the modprobe program. By default, iptables-save will inspect /proc/sys/kernel/modprobe to determine the executable's path.
  • -c, --counters
        include the current values of all packet and byte counters in the output
  • -t, --table tablename
        restrict output to only one table. If not specified, output includes all available tables.

4. BUGS ▲

None known as of iptables-1.2.1 release

5. AUTHOR ▲

Harald Welte <>

6. SEE ALSO ▲

iptables-restore(8), iptables(8)

The iptables-HOWTO, which details more iptables usage, the NAT-HOWTO, which details NAT, and the netfilter-hacking-HOWTO which details the internals.