xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/talk/talk.1 (revision 6990ffd8a95caaba6858ad44ff1b3157d1efba8f)
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32.\"     @(#)talk.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd June 6, 1993
36.Dt TALK 1
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm talk
40.Nd talk to another user
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Ar person
44.Op Ar ttyname
45.Sh DESCRIPTION
46.Nm Talk
47is a visual communication program which copies lines from your
48terminal to that of another user.
49.Pp
50Options available:
51.Bl -tag -width ttyname
52.It Ar person
53If you wish to talk to someone on your own machine, then
54.Ar person
55is just the person's login name.  If you wish to talk to a user on
56another host, then
57.Ar person
58is of the form
59.Ql user@host
60or
61.Ql host!user
62or
63.Ql host:user .
64.It Ar ttyname
65If you wish to talk to a user who is logged in more than once, the
66.Ar ttyname
67argument may be used to indicate the appropriate terminal
68name, where
69.Ar ttyname
70is of the form
71.Ql ttyXX .
72.El
73.Pp
74When first called,
75.Nm
76sends the message
77.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
78Message from TalkDaemon@his_machine...
79talk: connection requested by your_name@your_machine.
80talk: respond with: talk your_name@your_machine
81.Ed
82.Pp
83to the user you wish to talk to.
84At this point, the recipient
85of the message should reply by typing
86.Pp
87.Dl talk \ your_name@your_machine
88.Pp
89It doesn't matter from which machine the recipient replies, as
90long as his login-name is the same.  Once communication is established,
91the two parties may type simultaneously, with their output appearing
92in separate windows.  Typing control-L
93.Ql ^L
94will cause the screen to
95be reprinted, while your erase, kill, and word kill characters will
96behave normally.  To exit, just type your interrupt character;
97.Nm
98then moves the cursor to the bottom of the screen and restores the
99terminal to its previous state.
100.Pp
101Permission to talk may be denied or granted by use of the
102.Xr mesg 1
103command.  At the outset talking is allowed.  Certain commands, in
104particular
105.Xr nroff 1
106and
107.Xr pr 1 ,
108disallow messages in order to
109prevent messy output.
110.Sh FILES
111.Bl -tag -width /var/run/utmp -compact
112.It Pa /etc/hosts
113to find the recipient's machine
114.It Pa /var/run/utmp
115to find the recipient's tty
116.El
117.Sh SEE ALSO
118.Xr mail 1 ,
119.Xr mesg 1 ,
120.Xr who 1 ,
121.Xr write 1
122.Sh BUGS
123The version of
124.Xr talk 1
125released with
126.Bx 4.3
127uses a protocol that
128is incompatible with the protocol used in the version released with
129.Bx 4.2 .
130.Sh HISTORY
131The
132.Nm
133command appeared in
134.Bx 4.2 .
135