wildcard mask

what is the advantage of using te wild card masks instead of regular network mask?

They are used for different aspects of networking.

The network mask is used to determine which subnetwork a host is on and a wild card mask is used when configuring access control lists. The network mask has a form such as 255.255.240.0 whilst a wild card mask has a form such as 0.0.0.31.

.... wild card mask has a form such as 0.0.0.31.

being the opposite of 255.255.255.255 to allow the route. When you come to access lists, you'll get this.

<Just for clarification SteveP .. pls excuse>

<Just for clarification SteveP .. pls excuse>

NP - I was making the point that the network mask has 255 in the leftmost octet(s) whilst a wildcard mask has 0 in the leftmost octet(s). Having said that, I suppose that a wildcard mask *could* be something like 31.255.255.255, but that's beyond the OP.

I agree that when XYZ has covered access lists, all will become clear.