How to test an Internet connection with bash?

Question

How can an internet connection be tested without pinging some website? I mean, what if there is a connection but the site is down? Is there a check for a connection with the

Answer 1

In Bash, using it's network wrapper through /dev/{udp,tcp}/host/port:

if : >/dev/tcp/8.8.8.8/53; then
  echo 'Internet available.'
else
  echo 'Offline.'
fi

(: is the Bash no-op, because you just want to test the connection, but not processing.)