xref: /netbsd-src/usr.bin/talk/talk.1 (revision ae1bfcddc410612bc8c58b807e1830becb69a24c)
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32.\"     from: @(#)talk.1	6.6 (Berkeley) 4/22/91
33.\"	$Id: talk.1,v 1.2 1993/08/01 07:28:12 mycroft Exp $
34.\"
35.Dd April 22, 1991
36.Dt TALK 1
37.Os BSD 4.2
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm talk
40.Nd talk to another user
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm talk
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 .
60.It Ar ttyname
61If you wish to talk to a user who is logged in more than once, the
62.Ar ttyname
63argument may be used to indicate the appropriate terminal
64name, where
65.Ar ttyname
66is of the form
67.Ql ttyXX .
68.El
69.Pp
70When first called,
71.Nm talk
72sends the message
73.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
74Message from TalkDaemon@his_machine...
75talk: connection requested by your_name@your_machine.
76talk: respond with: talk your_name@your_machine
77.Ed
78.Pp
79to the user you wish to talk to. At this point, the recipient
80of the message should reply by typing
81.Pp
82.Dl talk \ your_name@your_machine
83.Pp
84It doesn't matter from which machine the recipient replies, as
85long as his login-name is the same.  Once communication is established,
86the two parties may type simultaneously, with their output appearing
87in separate windows.  Typing control-L
88.Ql ^L
89will cause the screen to
90be reprinted, while your erase, kill, and word kill characters will
91behave normally.  To exit, just type your interrupt character;
92.Nm talk
93then moves the cursor to the bottom of the screen and restores the
94terminal to its previous state.
95.Pp
96Permission to talk may be denied or granted by use of the
97.Xr mesg 1
98command.  At the outset talking is allowed.  Certain commands, in
99particular
100.Xr nroff 1
101and
102.Xr pr 1 ,
103disallow messages in order to
104prevent messy output.
105.Pp
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 BUGS
119The version of
120.Xr talk 1
121released with
122.Bx 4.3
123uses a protocol that
124is incompatible with the protocol used in the version released with
125.Bx 4.2 .
126.Sh HISTORY
127The
128.Nm
129command appeared in
130.Bx 4.2 .
131