As an example, let's say that you wanted to use some custom iptables commands in a script, such as the firewall script. (Actually, the following principles would apply to any recurring script, such as “WAN Up”).

You can remove previously-added iptables directives using a simple approach:

nvram get script_fire | grep -E '^iptables*' | sed 's/-A\|-I/-D/' | while read line; do exec ${line} &>/dev/null; done

The commands below will check what iptables -A (append) or -I (insert) directives have been issued previously in the current Script/Firewall text. They will then force a run of the same command, replacing any instance of -A or -I with a -D (Delete) command. In essence, this will reverse/remove any previous user-added iptables directives.

You might have created custom tables in which to use advanced iptables commands. This is usually performed using the “-N” (new) command. The same principles described above will also apply to previously-issued directives which used the -N command.

Here are a few rules to remember when using these commands:

• First, you need to dereference the custom table from the built-in one,
  using the above method.
• A table must then be emptied with the -F (Flush) switch/parameter
  (for example: “iptables -F $TABLE_NAME”) .
• Only then will you be allowed to remove the table by using the command:
  “iptables -X $TABLE_NAME”.