Graphical representation of Ping

Hello ,

I hope anyone can answer this question!!

I want to represent ping result of an IP address using matlab in a graphical way .i am pinging the IP:192.168.1.1 using this command : [status, result] = dos('ping 192.168.1.1', '-echo') and getting the following :

 >>result

result =

Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=64

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=64

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Is there any way to take the time variable that is inside the result and plot a graph so the output of the graph looks close to this :

TIME

10ms|            *
 8ms|                *
 6ms|
 4ms|        *
 2ms|    *
   -|-----------------------> PING NUMBER
        1st  2nd 3rd 4th# Item one
# Item two

[Daniel Shub]

If you have an array of time values, could you make the plot look like you want?

[tyler]

yes , but i need to extract the time array from the result variable. do you have any idea how can i do that?

thanks for replying

[tyler]

Do i have to modify that expression?

because after i tried it i got this:

>> time = cellfun(@(y)(str2double(y{2})), regexp(result, '(time=)(\d[\d]*\.\d[\d]*)', 'tokens'))

time =

     []

I really appreciate your help Daniel :)

[tyler]

I also tried time[=<] instead of time=

but still getting an empty array for the time variable .

please advise :) Thanks

Answer 1

[Daniel Shub]

You can extract the time data with a regular expression

time = cellfun(@(y)(str2double(y{2})), regexp(result, '(time[=<])([\d]*\.[\d]*)', 'tokens'))

[Jason Ross]

The ping command can also have "time<":

Reply from xyz.xy.xy.xy: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

[Daniel Shub]

Same concept, slightly different regular expression. See edit.

[Jason Ross]

Yep. Just being pedantic so no data gets lost / missed. Otherwise tyler might be =< when things go missing.

[Daniel Shub]

Sorry Jason, I didn't realize that the comment was from you and not the OP.... There must be a more robust regular expression that would at least alert you to missed data. Maybe going between "time" and "ms".

[Jason Ross]

No problem! If I was approached with this problem. I'd look at gathering the ping data in a format that didn't throw me this curve. I'd do one of the following

• Try using NET.AddAssembly() with System.Net.NetworkInformation Ping class to make the ping and get the data back, skipping the regex altogether. This isn't my strongest skill so I'd likely end up banging around in the dark a little, then I'd eventually get my answer.
• Use Perl and WMI to call into Win32_PingStatus and get the answers back that way, then call the Perl script from MATLAB. More indirect but I already have a pile of Perl scripts that do this, so it's not hard to modify (and MS's Scriptomatic tool can generate this for you in many different formats)
• I'd pipe ping through find so I only get the "time" line:

ping  hostname | find Reply

this will end up with four responses by default so I know something is fishy if I don't get that.

I'd also make sure to test things like pinging an unreachable host, and taking too long to reach a host.

Also, check the exit status -- I'd expect it to be non-zero if something goes wrong, and do the right thing (likely stop execution / error) if you can't find the host.

[tyler]

Hello Daniel,

Can you please tell me what is y inside the expression you wrote before ,i am trying different things to get an array with value ,but still nothing there.

thank you for your help

[Walter Roberson]

Tyler, Daniel's expression

time = cellfun(@(y)(str2double(y{2})), regexp(result, '(time[=<])([\d]*\.[\d]*)', 'tokens'))

is like writing

time = cellfun( @Convert_To_Number, regexp(result, '(time[=<])([\d]*\.[\d]*)', 'tokens') );

function result = Convert_To_Number( y )
  result = str2double( y{2} );
end

That is, "y" is just the name of the variable used temporarily to perform the function.

[Daniel Shub]

My regexp is wrong. I don't use Windows so my ping returns something slightly different from yours. I didn't check to compare. My ping returns time as 20.2ms while yours does not have the decimal. The regexp looks for the word "time" followed by either = or <, and then followed by and number of digits (\d) a decimal point (\.) and en any number of digits. Since your ping does not return a decimal point just remove the \.[\d]* from the regexp. The y is just a fancy way of making cell fun work. Focus on getting regexp to return something meaningful.

Answer 2

[Walter Roberson]

Example:

plot(rand(1,10), 'LineStyle', 'none', 'Marker', '*')