Net::Ping might work better than a system call.. Some recent threads related to Net::Ping: Net::Ping and STDOUT, net ping question, Net::Ping with threads

as for your code, why are you fork'ing? Is system (exec never returns -- system does) more what you're looking for? Or even just backticks (see perlop)? 
open PING, ">>dummy";
print PING `ping $host`;
close PING;

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In reply to Re: storing result in variable by davidrw
in thread storing result in variable by Anonymous Monk

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