File: inetutils.info,  Node: ping invocation,  Next: ping6 invocation,  Prev: logger invocation,  Up: Top

7 'ping': Packets to network hosts
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'ping' uses ICMP datagrams to provoke a response from the chosen
destination host, mainly intending to probe whether it is alive.

   The used datagram, of type 'ECHO_REQUEST', contains some header
information and some additional payload, usually a time stamp.  By a
suitable choice of payload, different host or router properties are
detectable, as the emitted datagram travels to its destination.

Synopsis:

     ping [OPTION...] HOST

Sending echo requests is the standard use of 'ping', but by far not the
only use case.

* Menu:

* Ping options::
* Fault isolation::
* Duplicate and damaged packets::
* Data patterns::
* TTL details::
* Further remarks::