What is considered the most specific match in the routing table?

In routing, the most specific match is determined by identifying routes based on their prefix lengths. The longer the prefix, the more specific the route is for routing decisions. This is because a longer prefix indicates a smaller subnet, which means it encompasses fewer possible addresses.

For example, suppose one route is defined as 192.168.1.0/24 and another as 192.168.1.0/16. The first route, with a /24 prefix length, is more specific than the second one since it defines a network with a greater level of detail, specifically targeting addresses from 192.168.1.0 to 192.168.1.255, compared to the broader range of 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255 covered by the /16 prefix.

Therefore, when a router encounters multiple possible routes to a destination, it will adopt the route with the longest prefix as the best match, ensuring that traffic is directed to the most appropriate and specified route available in its routing table.

The other options refer to characteristics (shortest prefix, highest metric, and lowest prefix length) that do not contribute to determining the most specific route in terms of addressing specificity, thus