xref: /dragonfly/usr.bin/talk/talk.1 (revision 63e03116) 
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28.\"     @(#)talk.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
29.\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.bin/talk/talk.1,v 1.6.2.5 2002/07/15 07:57:15 keramida Exp $
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31.Dd September 11, 2019
32.Dt TALK 1
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm talk
36.Nd talk to another user
37.Sh SYNOPSIS
38.Nm
39.Ar person
40.Op Ar ttyname
41.Sh DESCRIPTION
42The
43.Nm
44utility is a visual communication program which copies lines from your
45terminal to that of another user.
46.Pp
47Options available:
48.Bl -tag -width ttyname
49.It Ar person
50If you wish to talk to someone on your own machine, then
51.Ar person
52is just the person's login name.
53If you wish to talk to a user on
54another host, then
55.Ar person
56is of the form
57.Ql user@host
58or
59.Ql host!user
60or
61.Ql host:user .
62.It Ar ttyname
63If you wish to talk to a user who is logged in more than once, the
64.Ar ttyname
65argument may be used to indicate the appropriate terminal
66name, where
67.Ar ttyname
68is of the form
69.Ql ttyXX .
70.El
71.Pp
72When first called,
73.Nm
74sends the message
75.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
76Message from TalkDaemon@his_machine...
77talk: connection requested by your_name@your_machine.
78talk: respond with: talk your_name@your_machine
79.Ed
80.Pp
81to the user you wish to talk to.
82At this point, the recipient
83of the message should reply by typing
84.Pp
85.Dl talk \ your_name@your_machine
86.Pp
87It doesn't matter from which machine the recipient replies, as
88long as his login-name is the same.
89Once communication is established,
90the two parties may type simultaneously, with their output appearing
91in separate windows.
92Typing control-L
93.Ql ^L
94will cause the screen to
95be reprinted.
96Typing control-D
97.Ql ^D
98will clear both parts of your screen to be cleared, while
99the control-D character will be sent to the remote side
100(and just displayed by this
101.Nm
102client).
103Your erase, kill, and word kill characters will
104behave normally.
105To exit, just type your interrupt character;
106.Nm
107then moves the cursor to the bottom of the screen and restores the
108terminal to its previous state.
109.Pp
110Permission to talk may be denied or granted by use of the
111.Xr mesg 1
112command.
113At the outset talking is allowed.
114.Sh FILES
115.Bl -tag -width /var/run/utmpx -compact
116.It Pa /etc/hosts
117to find the recipient's machine
118.It Pa /var/run/utmpx
119to find the recipient's tty
120.El
121.Sh SEE ALSO
122.Xr mail 1 ,
123.Xr mesg 1 ,
124.Xr wall 1 ,
125.Xr who 1 ,
126.Xr write 1 ,
127.Xr talkd 8
128.Sh HISTORY
129The
130.Nm
131command appeared in
132.Bx 4.2 .
133.Sh BUGS
134The version of
135.Nm
136released with
137.Bx 4.3
138uses a protocol that
139is incompatible with the protocol used in the version released with
140.Bx 4.2 .
141