why??? I don't get it..

while read line
do
count=$(ping -c 3 $line | grep 'received' | awk -F ',' '{print $2}' | awk '{print $1}')
if [ $count -eq 0 ] ; then
echo "Host: $line is down"
else
echo "Host: $line is up"
fi
done<host.list

sh -x ./hoststatus
./hoststatus: syntax error at line 5: `count=$' unexpected
~

what's the format of your host.list and your shell?

hello,

#! /bin/sh

and

host file looks like

server1
server2
server3
server4

and so on

another way to write:

for line  in $(tr '\n' ' ' < "file")
do
 count=$(ping -c 3 $line | grep 'received' | awk -F ',' '{print $2}' | awk '{print $1}')
 if [ $count -eq 0 ] ; then
   echo "Host: $line is down"
 else
   echo "Host: $line is up"
 fi
done

I will try that.. but can you please explain why my script did not work?

var=$(command)
is not supported by the old Bourne shell. On your OS, /bin/sh may be the old Borne shell... Solaris comes to mind as an example of that. Switch to ksh or bash and see if that helps.

For Bourne shell, replace :

$(command...)

`command...`