The '''<span style="font-family:courier; font-weight:bold">-I''' </span> switch tells iptables to INSERT this line into the OUTPUT policy. This means it will be the first line in the policy. If we used a -A switch it would have appended the line and it would be the last line of the policy. If you are writing complex iptables rules where multiple matches can occur, it is important that the lines go in the right order. If you follow the -I with a number, the new rule will be inserted at that location in the chain (for example, <code>-I 3 OUTPUT</code> will insert the rule into the 3rd position in the OUTPUT chain, moving the existing rules down as necessary (the old rule #3 will become the new rule #4, for example).