Exemplary embodiments provide compression of data that will be saved to a multipath table for a given set of routing rules. Thus, the total space required in the multipath table for storing a given set of routing rules is reduced. A routing rule associated with a network switch may be represented using a building block that includes one or more entries. The one or more entries form an unordered enumeration of egress ports of the network switch. In the routing rule, the weight of an egress port is represented by the number of times the egress port appears in the building block. Compression of data may be accomplished by combining one or more of the routing rules into a same building block having one or more entries. The building block may be stored in the multipath table, hereby programming the one or more of the rules into the multipath table.