Increase or Decrease the Time Interval Between Packets
By default ping waits for 1 second before sending the next packet. You can increase or decrease this using option -i as shown below.
Increase Ping Time Interval
Example: ping -i 5 IP
Check whether the local network interface is up and running
Before checking whether the peer machine is reachable, first check whether the local network network is up and running using any one of the following 3 methods.
Ping localhost using zero (0)
This is probably the easiest and simplest way to ping a local host
ping 0
ping localhost
ping 127.0.0.1
Send N packets and stop
Send N packets specified with -c option and then stop. This way the ping command can exit automatically instead of pressing CTRL+C to exit.
In the following example, ping command sends 5 packets, and waits for response from the destination host. Ping will exit after receiving the response or error.
ping -c 5 google.com
Show Version and Exit
Display the current version of ping program using -V option.
ping -V
Flood the network
Super users can send hundred or more packets per second using -f option. It prints a ‘.’ when a packet is sent, and a backspace is printed when a packet is received.
ping -f localhost
Audible ping
This option is useful for sysadmin during troubleshooting. There is no need for you to look at the ping output after each and every change. You can continue working with your changes, and when the remote machine become reachable you’ll hear the beep automatically.
ping -a IP
Find out the IP address
You can identify the ip-address using the host name as shown below.
ping -c 1 google.com
