if ( !( system("ping -q -w 1 $host > /dev/null 2>&1") ) ) {
        #do something
}
else {
        #report the failure
}

##</code><code>##

`ping -q -w 1 -c 1 $host`; #(void context)

##</code><code>##

my $dummy_var=`ping -q -w 1 -c 1 $host`;