The number of the results per hop in traceroute request : fixed on 3 or variable

Question

I am analysing some traceroutes, I found 6 columns instead of 3 per one hop.

My question : the number of results per hop depends on what?

Answer 1

It depends on the traceroute program.

Each request has exactly one response. Most tools make at least 3 requests so that it would be easier to judge packet loss, jitter, and sometimes even see multiple paths being taken to the same destination.

Answer 2

This depends on if the tracert took a different link on that specific hop per packet sent. Typically, for each hop, 3 packets are sent round trip. And their travel time is what you get as a result in milliseconds. If there are 6 columns, usually, the filler columns are IP addresses/hostnames of different routes taken for that hop. Sometimes can be caused by a load balancer in the path, etc.