Python ping script

Question

I am trying to write a Python script that pings IP addresses and outputs whether each ping succeeded. So far I have the following code, but the output seems inaccurate. Namely, when I run the script, it pings each hostname as expected but the output is only ever all up or all down.

import os

hostname0 = "10.40.161.2"
hostname1 = "10.40.161.3"
hostname2 = "10.40.161.4"
hostname3 = "10.40.161.5"

response = os.system("ping -c 1 " + hostname0)
response = os.system("ping -c 1 " + hostname1)
response = os.system("ping -c 1 " + hostname2)
response = os.system("ping -c 1 " + hostname3)

if response == 0:
    print hostname0, 'is up'
    print hostname1, 'is up'
    print hostname2, 'is up'
    print hostname3, 'is up'
else:
    print hostname0, 'is down'
    print hostname1, 'is down'
    print hostname2, 'is down'
    print hostname3, 'is down'

you are continually resetting response. By the if statement, it is only based on the response to hostname8. — jeremysprofile
– jeremysprofile, Commented Jun 13, 2018 at 20:58
As a side note: that the docs for os.system explicitly tell you that "The subprocess module provides more powerful facilities for spawning new processes and retrieving their results; using that module is preferable to using this function." — abarnert
– abarnert, Commented Jun 13, 2018 at 21:08

Pikamander2 · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-04 10:25:46Z

10

You should print the result immediately after pinging each hostname. Try this:

import os

hostnames = [
    '10.40.161.2',
    '10.40.161.3',
    '10.40.161.4',
    '10.40.161.5',
]

for hostname in hostnames:
    response = os.system('ping -c 1 ' + hostname)
    if response == 0:
        print(hostname, 'is up')
    else:
        print(hostname, 'is down')

Also, you should consider using the subprocess module instead of os.system() as the latter is deprecated.

edited Apr 4, 2021 at 10:25

Pikamander2

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answered Jun 13, 2018 at 20:59

ndmeiri

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