If preload is specified, ping sends that many packets as fast as possible before falling into its normal mode of behavior. Only the super-user may use this option. Numeric output only. No attempt will be made to lookup symbolic names for host addresses. This is useful for diagnosing data-dependent problems in a network.
Nothing is displayed except the summary lines at startup time and when finished.
Note that the IP header is only large enough for nine such routes. Many hosts ignore or discard this option. Bypass the normal routing tables and send directly to a host on an attached network. If the host is not on a directly-attached network, an error is returned. The default is 56, which translates into 64 ICMP data bytes when combined with the 8 bytes of ICMP header data.