#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; my $ping = "/bin/ping"; while () { chomp; my $ping_out = `$ping $_ 2> /dev/null`; chomp ($ping_out); if ($ping_out !~ /bytes from/) { print "$_ isn't pinging\n"; } else { print "$_ is up\n"; } # <--- You're missing a '}' right here to end the while { } loop __DATA__ SERVER01 SERVER02