If you know the exact context of the data you want (which is a pretty reasonable assumption for ping's summary info), you can use a m// match to extract the info you want. In my opinion, using split is the wrong way to do this.

  #!/usr/bin/perl

  my $host = 'dslreports.com';
  my $ping_data = `ping -c4 $host`;
  
  my ($sent, $rev, $lost, $min, $max, $avg);
  
  if ( $ping_data =~
           /(\d+) packets transmitted, (\d+) packets received, (\d+)%/
+ )
  {
      ($sent, $recv, $lost) = ($1, $2, $3);
      print "\$sent=$sent, \$recv=$recv, \$lost=$lost\n";
  }
  
  if ( $ping_data =~ 
           m{round-trip min/avg/max = ([0-9\.]+)/([0-9\.]+)/([0-9\.]+)
+} )
  {
      ($min, $avg, $max) = ($1, $2, $3);
      print "\$min=$min, \$avg=$avg, \$max=$max\n";
  }

   ## do what you will with those variables now...
[download]

On my system, this outputs:

  $sent=4, $recv=4, $lost=0
  $min=47.0, $avg=47.6, $max=48.4
[download]

You should probably read this section of perlop pertaining to the m// operator.

PS: I admit those long regexes could be broken up, simplified, /x'ed, etc, but hopefully you get the point! Update: no more wrapping within the <code>, at least under my settings.

blokhead