xref: /openbsd/usr.bin/talk/talk.1 (revision d415bd75)
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31.\"     @(#)talk.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
32.\"
33.Dd $Mdocdate: May 25 2017 $
34.Dt TALK 1
35.Os
36.Sh NAME
37.Nm talk
38.Nd talk to another user
39.Sh SYNOPSIS
40.Nm talk
41.Op Fl Hs
42.Ar person
43.Op Ar ttyname
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45.Nm
46is a visual communication program which copies lines from your
47terminal to that of another user.
48.Pp
49The command arguments are as follows:
50.Bl -tag -width ttyname
51.It Fl H
52Don't escape characters with the high bit set.
53This may be useful for certain character sets, but could cause erratic
54behaviour on some terminals.
55.It Fl s
56Use smooth scrolling in the
57.Nm
58window.
59The default is to clear the next two rows and jump from the bottom of
60the window to the top.
61.It Ar person
62If you wish to talk to someone on your own machine, then
63.Ar person
64is just the person's login name.
65If you wish to talk to a user on another host, then
66.Ar person
67is of the form
68.Ql user@host .
69.It Ar ttyname
70If you wish to talk to a user who is logged in more than once, the
71.Ar ttyname
72argument may be used to indicate the appropriate terminal
73name, where
74.Ar ttyname
75is of the form
76.Ql ttyXX .
77.El
78.Pp
79When first called,
80.Nm
81sends the message
82.Bd -literal -offset indent
83Message from Talk_Daemon@localhost...
84talk: connection requested by your_name@your_machine.
85talk: respond with: talk your_name@your_machine
86.Ed
87.Pp
88to the user you wish to talk to.
89At this point, the recipient of the message should reply by typing
90.Pp
91.Dl $ talk \ your_name@your_machine
92.Pp
93It doesn't matter from which machine the recipient replies, as
94long as the login name is the same.
95If the machine is not the one to which
96the talk request was sent, it is noted on the screen.
97Once communication is established,
98the two parties may type simultaneously, with their output appearing
99in separate windows.
100Typing control-L
101.Pq Ql ^L
102will cause the screen to
103be reprinted, while the erase, kill, and word kill characters will
104behave normally.
105To exit, just type the 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.
114Certain commands, such as
115.Xr pr 1 ,
116disallow messages in order to
117prevent messy output.
118.Sh ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
119.Bl -tag -width SIGINTXXX
120.It Dv SIGINT
121Terminate
122.Nm
123and exit with a zero status.
124.El
125.Sh FILES
126.Bl -tag -width /var/run/utmp -compact
127.It Pa /etc/hosts
128to find the recipient's machine
129.It Pa /var/run/utmp
130to find the recipient's tty
131.El
132.Sh EXIT STATUS
133The
134.Nm
135utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if either an error occurred or
136.Nm
137is
138invoked on an unsupported terminal.
139.Sh SEE ALSO
140.Xr mail 1 ,
141.Xr mesg 1 ,
142.Xr who 1 ,
143.Xr write 1 ,
144.Xr talkd 8
145.Sh STANDARDS
146The
147.Nm
148utility is compliant with the
149.St -p1003.1-2008
150specification,
151though its presence is optional.
152.Pp
153The flags
154.Op Fl Hs
155are extensions to that specification.
156.Sh HISTORY
157The
158.Nm
159command appeared in
160.Bx 4.2 .
161