xref: /netbsd-src/usr.bin/talk/talk.1 (revision e3717c1851b6a406aec6c8ba8e410cc6787edc27)
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30.\"     @(#)talk.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
31.\"
32.Dd January 7, 2007
33.Dt TALK 1
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm talk
37.Nd talk to another user
38.Sh SYNOPSIS
39.Nm
40.Ar person
41.Op Ar ttyname
42.Sh DESCRIPTION
43.Nm
44is 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 another host, then
54.Ar person
55is of the form
56.Ql user@host .
57.It Ar ttyname
58If you wish to talk to a user who is logged in more than once, the
59.Ar ttyname
60argument may be used to indicate the appropriate terminal
61name, where
62.Ar ttyname
63is of the form
64.Ql ttyXX .
65.El
66.Pp
67When first called,
68.Nm
69sends the message
70.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
71Message from TalkDaemon@his_machine...
72talk: connection requested by your_name@your_machine.
73talk: respond with: talk your_name@your_machine
74.Ed
75.Pp
76to the user you wish to talk to.
77At this point, the recipient
78of the message should reply by typing
79.Pp
80.Dl talk \ your_name@your_machine
81.Pp
82It doesn't matter from which machine the recipient replies, as
83long as his login-name is the same.
84Once communication is established,
85the two parties may type simultaneously, with their output appearing
86in separate windows.
87Typing control-L
88.Ql ^L
89will cause the screen to
90be reprinted, while your erase, kill, and word kill characters will
91behave normally.
92To 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.
100At the outset talking is allowed.
101Certain commands, in
102particular
103.Xr nroff 1
104and
105.Xr pr 1 ,
106disallow messages in order to
107prevent messy output.
108.Sh ENVIRONMENT
109If the
110.Ev TALKHOST
111environment variable is set, its value is used as the
112.Ar hostname
113the
114.Nm
115packets appear to be originating from.
116This is useful if you wish to talk to someone on another machine and
117your internal hostname does not resolve to the address of your
118external interface as seen from the other machine.
119.Sh FILES
120.Bl -tag -width /var/run/utmp -compact
121.It Pa /etc/hosts
122to find the recipient's machine
123.It Pa /var/run/utmp
124to find the recipient's tty
125.El
126.Sh SEE ALSO
127.Xr mail 1 ,
128.Xr mesg 1 ,
129.Xr who 1 ,
130.Xr write 1
131.Sh HISTORY
132The
133.Nm
134command appeared in
135.Bx 4.2 .
136.Sh BUGS
137The version of
138.Nm
139released with
140.Bx 4.3
141uses a protocol that
142is incompatible with the protocol used in the version released with
143.Bx 4.2 .
144