xref: /netbsd/usr.bin/talk/talk.1 (revision bf9ec67e)
1.\"	$NetBSD: talk.1,v 1.6 2001/12/08 19:17:46 wiz Exp $
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3.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1990, 1993
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34.\"     @(#)talk.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
35.\"
36.Dd June 6, 1993
37.Dt TALK 1
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm talk
41.Nd talk to another user
42.Sh SYNOPSIS
43.Nm
44.Ar person
45.Op Ar ttyname
46.Sh DESCRIPTION
47.Nm
48is a visual communication program which copies lines from your
49terminal to that of another user.
50.Pp
51Options available:
52.Bl -tag -width ttyname
53.It Ar person
54If you wish to talk to someone on your own machine, then
55.Ar person
56is just the person's login name.  If you wish to talk to a user on
57another host, then
58.Ar person
59is of the form
60.Ql user@host .
61.It Ar ttyname
62If you wish to talk to a user who is logged in more than once, the
63.Ar ttyname
64argument may be used to indicate the appropriate terminal
65name, where
66.Ar ttyname
67is of the form
68.Ql ttyXX .
69.El
70.Pp
71When first called,
72.Nm
73sends the message
74.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
75Message from TalkDaemon@his_machine...
76talk: connection requested by your_name@your_machine.
77talk: respond with: talk your_name@your_machine
78.Ed
79.Pp
80to the user you wish to talk to. At this point, the recipient
81of the message should reply by typing
82.Pp
83.Dl talk \ your_name@your_machine
84.Pp
85It doesn't matter from which machine the recipient replies, as
86long as his login-name is the same.  Once communication is established,
87the two parties may type simultaneously, with their output appearing
88in separate windows.  Typing control-L
89.Ql ^L
90will cause the screen to
91be reprinted, while your erase, kill, and word kill characters will
92behave normally.  To exit, just type your interrupt character;
93.Nm
94then moves the cursor to the bottom of the screen and restores the
95terminal to its previous state.
96.Pp
97Permission to talk may be denied or granted by use of the
98.Xr mesg 1
99command.  At the outset talking is allowed.  Certain commands, in
100particular
101.Xr nroff 1
102and
103.Xr pr 1 ,
104disallow messages in order to
105prevent messy output.
106.Sh FILES
107.Bl -tag -width /var/run/utmp -compact
108.It Pa /etc/hosts
109to find the recipient's machine
110.It Pa /var/run/utmp
111to find the recipient's tty
112.El
113.Sh SEE ALSO
114.Xr mail 1 ,
115.Xr mesg 1 ,
116.Xr who 1 ,
117.Xr write 1
118.Sh HISTORY
119The
120.Nm
121command appeared in
122.Bx 4.2 .
123.Sh BUGS
124The version of
125.Xr talk 1
126released with
127.Bx 4.3
128uses a protocol that
129is incompatible with the protocol used in the version released with
130.Bx 4.2 .
131