xref: /minix3/usr.bin/write/write.1 (revision 00709a7737e9715e29a192fe59a95679b88d2887)
1*00709a77SThomas Cort.\"	$NetBSD: write.1,v 1.6 2003/08/07 11:17:48 agc Exp $
2*00709a77SThomas Cort.\"
3*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1993
4*00709a77SThomas Cort.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
5*00709a77SThomas Cort.\"
6*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
7*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" Jef Poskanzer and Craig Leres of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.
8*00709a77SThomas Cort.\"
9*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
10*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
11*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" are met:
12*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
13*00709a77SThomas Cort.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
14*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
15*00709a77SThomas Cort.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
16*00709a77SThomas Cort.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
17*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
18*00709a77SThomas Cort.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
19*00709a77SThomas Cort.\"    without specific prior written permission.
20*00709a77SThomas Cort.\"
21*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
22*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
23*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
24*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
25*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
26*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
27*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
28*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
29*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
30*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
31*00709a77SThomas Cort.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
32*00709a77SThomas Cort.\"
33*00709a77SThomas Cort.\"     from: @(#)write.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
34*00709a77SThomas Cort.\"
35*00709a77SThomas Cort.Dd June 6, 1993
36*00709a77SThomas Cort.Dt WRITE 1
37*00709a77SThomas Cort.Os
38*00709a77SThomas Cort.Sh NAME
39*00709a77SThomas Cort.Nm write
40*00709a77SThomas Cort.Nd send a message to another user
41*00709a77SThomas Cort.Sh SYNOPSIS
42*00709a77SThomas Cort.Nm
43*00709a77SThomas Cort.Ar user
44*00709a77SThomas Cort.Op Ar ttyname
45*00709a77SThomas Cort.Sh DESCRIPTION
46*00709a77SThomas Cort.Nm
47*00709a77SThomas Cortallows you to communicate with other users, by copying lines from
48*00709a77SThomas Cortyour terminal to theirs.
49*00709a77SThomas Cort.Pp
50*00709a77SThomas CortWhen you run the
51*00709a77SThomas Cort.Nm
52*00709a77SThomas Cortcommand, the user you are writing to gets a message of the form:
53*00709a77SThomas Cort.Pp
54*00709a77SThomas Cort.Dl Message from yourname@yourhost on yourtty at hh:mm ...
55*00709a77SThomas Cort.Pp
56*00709a77SThomas CortAny further lines you enter will be copied to the specified user's
57*00709a77SThomas Cortterminal.
58*00709a77SThomas CortIf the other user wants to reply, they must run
59*00709a77SThomas Cort.Nm
60*00709a77SThomas Cortas well.
61*00709a77SThomas Cort.Pp
62*00709a77SThomas CortWhen you are done, type an end-of-file or interrupt character.
63*00709a77SThomas CortThe other user will see the message
64*00709a77SThomas Cort.Ql EOF
65*00709a77SThomas Cortindicating that the
66*00709a77SThomas Cortconversation is over.
67*00709a77SThomas Cort.Pp
68*00709a77SThomas CortYou can prevent people (other than the super-user) from writing to you
69*00709a77SThomas Cortwith the
70*00709a77SThomas Cort.Xr mesg 1
71*00709a77SThomas Cortcommand.
72*00709a77SThomas CortSome commands, for example
73*00709a77SThomas Cort.Xr nroff 1
74*00709a77SThomas Cortand
75*00709a77SThomas Cort.Xr pr 1 ,
76*00709a77SThomas Cortdisallow writing automatically, so that your output isn't overwritten.
77*00709a77SThomas Cort.Pp
78*00709a77SThomas CortIf the user you want to write to is logged in on more than one terminal,
79*00709a77SThomas Cortyou can specify which terminal to write to by specifying the terminal
80*00709a77SThomas Cortname as the second operand to the
81*00709a77SThomas Cort.Nm
82*00709a77SThomas Cortcommand.
83*00709a77SThomas CortAlternatively, you can let
84*00709a77SThomas Cort.Nm
85*00709a77SThomas Cortselect one of the terminals \- it will pick the one with the shortest
86*00709a77SThomas Cortidle time.
87*00709a77SThomas CortThis is so that if the user is logged in at work and also dialed up from
88*00709a77SThomas Corthome, the message will go to the right place.
89*00709a77SThomas Cort.Pp
90*00709a77SThomas CortThe traditional protocol for writing to someone is that the string
91*00709a77SThomas Cort.Ql \-o ,
92*00709a77SThomas Corteither at the end of a line or on a line by itself, means that it's the
93*00709a77SThomas Cortother person's turn to talk.
94*00709a77SThomas CortThe string
95*00709a77SThomas Cort.Ql oo
96*00709a77SThomas Cortmeans that the person believes the conversation to be
97*00709a77SThomas Cortover.
98*00709a77SThomas Cort.Sh SEE ALSO
99*00709a77SThomas Cort.Xr mesg 1 ,
100*00709a77SThomas Cort.Xr talk 1 ,
101*00709a77SThomas Cort.Xr who 1
102*00709a77SThomas Cort.Sh HISTORY
103*00709a77SThomas CortA
104*00709a77SThomas Cort.Nm
105*00709a77SThomas Cortcommand appeared in
106*00709a77SThomas Cort.At v6 .
107