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

shortest way: fping 4.2.2.1 => "4.2.2.1 is alive"

i prefer this as it's faster and less verbose output than ping, downside is you will have to install it.

you can use any public dns rather than a specific website.

fping -q google.com && echo "do something because you're connected!"

-q returns an exit code, so i'm just showing an example of running something you're online.

to install on mac: brew install fping; on ubuntu: sudo apt-get install fping