This command is used to display or inspect the network path taken to reach the destination by a packet. It is quite useful in troubleshooting network delays and errors.

By default, the traceroute and tracepath commands use UDP packets for probing the path to a destination. The traceroute command has options to inspect the path using ICMP (-I) or TCP (-T) packets, if IDS or IPS blocks the UDP traffic. 

Following is an example to illustrate the usage of traceroute command:

• The traceroute command can be used to display the route taken by the packet to reach the network host as shown in image here: