Pinging a IP address rather then a Domain

[Krisando]

I have managed to return the users ip address when the person enters the website but Im havign a problem trying to ping a ip address, pingDomain works for Domains only I need to somehow ping an ip address heres the problemed code

$status = pingDomain($ip);

[NogDog]

Well, since pingDomain() is not a built-in function, you might want to find where it's defined in your application and see if it could be modified to allow IP addresses.

[Krisando]

Do you know if php has any built in functions or ways to ping?