SSH-PING(1)

💖 SSH-PING 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the ssh-ping(1) page — it lives in the User Commands section of the manual, and it's genuinely the cutest little tool. it checks if a host is reachable, but it does it using your ssh_config, which is lowkey iconic of it. let's go 🦋

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✨ NAME ✨

ssh-ping — check if host is reachable using ssh_config 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

ssh-ping [OPTIONS] [user@]hostname

that's it. that's the whole vibe. options go first, then the host, and the [user@] part is optional because sometimes you just wanna let the config do its thing, periodt.

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

check if host is reachable using ssh_config.

like. that's the whole job. it's a ping but make it ssh. no cap. 🔥

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

okay this is the part where I need you to lock in, because there are a LOT of these and every single one matters. no skimming, bestie 🫶

• -4 — IPv4 only. old reliable energy.
• -6 — IPv6 only. futuristic queen behavior.
• -c count — stop after sending count request packets. so like, -c 1 means one and done, know your limits 💅
• -C — connect as soon as the host responds, and try reconnecting after a SSH session ends (e.g. rebooting). useful also for IDRAC, IPMI, ILO devices, Switches, etc... which don't have a full shell environment. CTRL+C stops reconnect attempts. this one is persistent and a little obsessive but we respect it 💀
• -E — exit immediately after first successful ping (can be used to trigger a follow up task like rsync). this is the "ok you're up, let's GO" flag fr fr.
• -F configfile — specifies an alternative per-user configuration file. if a configuration file is given on the command line, the system-wide configuration file ( /etc/ssh/ssh_config ) will be ignored. the default for the per-user configuration file is ~/.ssh/config. so like, choose your own adventure, but know that picking one means the system one is out of the group chat 😭
• -h — show this message. hi, hello, help is here 🎀
• -i interval — wait interval seconds between sending each request. the default is 1 second. patience is a virtue or whatever ✨
• -l user — try login with user as username. the default is the current value of $USER. main character energy, literally.
• -D — print timestamp (unix time + microseconds as in gettimeofday) before each line. nerdy and precise, we love her 🧚
• -H — print timestamp (human readable) before each line. same but for people who don't read raw microseconds at brunch 🌸
• -W timeout — time to wait for a response, in seconds. don't wait forever, bestie, it's not that serious 💅
• -p port — port to connect to on the remote host. this can be specified on a per-host basis in the configuration file. versatile icon 👑
• -q — quiet output. nothing is displayed except the summary lines at startup time and when finished. the strong silent type. 🤫
• -n — no colors. (e.g. for black on white terminals). respectfully, monochrome moment 🖤
• -v — verbose output. tell me EVERYTHING. give me the lore. 🗣️
• --version — show version information. who are you, where did you come from, what's your sign 🌈

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✨ TAB_COMPLETIONS ✨

Ubuntu (and maybe other distros) already ship shell completions for ssh which can be used. so you don't even have to type the whole hostname like a peasant, slay 🎀

• Bash — complete -F _known_hosts ssh-ping
• Zsh — compdef _ssh_hosts ssh-ping
• Fish — complete -c ssh-ping -a "(__fish_print_hostnames)"

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✨ ENVIRONMENT ✨

• SSH_PING_NO_COLORS — if set, no colors are shown (like -n). it's giving "I said what I said" 🌈

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✨ EXIT_CODES ✨

okay these are important because scripts LIVE and DIE by these. pay attention bestie 👑

• 0 — no requests lost. perfect. flawless. ate. ✨
• 1 — more than 1 request lost. hmm. something's up. 😭
• 2 — all requests lost. it's giving ghosted. absolutely nobody home. 💀

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✨ EXAMPLES ✨

here's the good stuff, copy these and go be great 🫶

ssh-ping -E hostname && echo "First successful ping. Starting rsync..."

ssh-ping -q -c 1 hostname >/dev/null && echo "Host is up!"

ssh-ping -q -c 1 hostname >/dev/null || echo "Host is down!"

SSH_PING_NO_COLORS=true ssh-ping -c 1 hostname

the && one is for when it's up, the || one is for when it's not, and the last one is for when you simply cannot with colors today. iconic scripting behavior, no notes 💅

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🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

hmm, there's no SEE ALSO section in this one bestie, it's a short and sweet little page. we keep it exactly as it is — no invented references, that's the rule 🎀

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okay that's the whole page!! this one comes to you from the SSH-TOOLS collection, dated March 2024 💖 go forth and ping your hosts, bestie. bye!! 🦋✨🎀