The routing table contains route entries consisting of a prefix (network address) and prefix length
For there to be a match between the destination IP address of a packet and a route in the routing table, a minimum number of far-left bits must match between the IP address of the packet and the route in the routing table
The longest match is the route in the routing table that has the greatest number of far-left matching bits with the destination IP address of the packet
Destination IP
/16 Match
/24 Match
/22 Match