ping

Ping is a basic Internet program that allows a user to verify that a particular IP address exists and can accept requests.

Ping is used diagnostically to ensure that a host computer the user is trying to reach is actually operating. Ping works by sending an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Request to a specified interface on the network and waiting for a reply. Ping can be used for troubleshooting to test connectivity and determine response time.

As a verb, ping means "to get the attention of" or "to check for the presence of" another party online. The computer acronym (for Packet Internet or Inter-Network Groper) was contrived to match the submariners' term for the sound of a returned sonar pulse.

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Tip: To find out the dot address (such as 205.245.172.72) for a given domain name, Windows users can go to their command prompt screen (start/run/cmd) and enter ping xxxxx.yyy (where xxxxx is the second-level domain name like "whatis" and yyy is the top-level domain name like "com").