Here's one way to do it. There has been much debate on what the find string should be for this technique ... anyone ? (j?):

code:

---

break on

$pings = 2
$machine = "shawn"

shell '%comspec% /c ping -n $pings $machine |  find /i "received = $pings" >nul 2>nul'

if @error=0
 ?"$machine is alive"
else
 ?"$machine is dead or in trouble"
endif

exit

---

-Shawn

[ 02 August 2001: Message edited by: Shawn ]