FPing is a ping-like program that uses the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request to determine if a target host is responding. FPing differs from ping in that you can specify any number of targets on the command line or specify a file containing a list of targets to ping. Instead of sending pings to one target until it times out or replies, FPing sends a ping packet and moves on to the next target in a round-robin fashion.

In the default mode, if a target replies, it is noted and removed from the list of targets to check. If a target does not respond within a certain time limit or retry limit, it is designated as unreachable.

FPing also supports sending a specified number of pings to a target or looping indefinitely (as in ping).

Unlike ping, FPing is meant to be used in scripts. Its output is designed to be easy to parse.