[python] Python Function to test ping

I'm trying to create a function that I can call on a timed basis to check for good ping and return the result so I can update the on-screen display. I am new to python so I don't fully understand how to return a value or set a variable in a function.

Here is my code that works:

import os
hostname = "google.com"
response = os.system("ping -c 1 " + hostname)
if response == 0:
    pingstatus = "Network Active"
else:
    pingstatus = "Network Error"

Here is my attempt at creating a function:

def check_ping():
    hostname = "google.com"
    response = os.system("ping -c 1 " + hostname)
    # and then check the response...
    if response == 0:
        pingstatus = "Network Active"
    else:
        pingstatus = "Network Error"

And here is how I display pingstatus:

label = font_status.render("%s" % pingstatus, 1, (0,0,0))

So what I am looking for is how to return pingstatus from the function. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Adding on to the other answers, you can check the OS and decide whether to use "-c" or "-n":

import os, platform
host = "8.8.8.8"
os.system("ping " + ("-n 1 " if  platform.system().lower()=="windows" else "-c 1 ") + host)

This will work on Windows, OS X, and Linux

You can also use sys:

import os, sys
host = "8.8.8.8"
os.system("ping " + ("-n 1 " if  sys.platform().lower()=="win32" else "-c 1 ") + host)

This is my version of check ping function. May be if well be usefull for someone:

def check_ping(host):
if platform.system().lower() == "windows":
response = os.system("ping -n 1 -w 500 " + host + " > nul")
if response == 0:
return "alive"
else:
return "not alive"
else:
response = os.system("ping -c 1 -W 0.5" + host + "> /dev/null")
if response == 1:
return "alive"
else:
return "not alive"

Here is a simplified function that returns a boolean and has no output pushed to stdout:

import subprocess, platform
def pingOk(sHost):
    try:
        output = subprocess.check_output("ping -{} 1 {}".format('n' if platform.system().lower()=="windows" else 'c', sHost), shell=True)

    except Exception, e:
        return False

    return True

Try this

def ping(server='example.com', count=1, wait_sec=1):
    """

    :rtype: dict or None
    """
    cmd = "ping -c {} -W {} {}".format(count, wait_sec, server).split(' ')
    try:
        output = subprocess.check_output(cmd).decode().strip()
        lines = output.split("\n")
        total = lines[-2].split(',')[3].split()[1]
        loss = lines[-2].split(',')[2].split()[0]
        timing = lines[-1].split()[3].split('/')
        return {
            'type': 'rtt',
            'min': timing[0],
            'avg': timing[1],
            'max': timing[2],
            'mdev': timing[3],
            'total': total,
            'loss': loss,
        }
    except Exception as e:
        print(e)
        return None