xref: /openbsd-src/usr.bin/talk/talk.1 (revision a28daedfc357b214be5c701aa8ba8adb29a7f1c2)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: talk.1,v 1.23 2009/02/10 19:24:17 jmc Exp $
2.\"	$NetBSD: talk.1,v 1.3 1994/12/09 02:14:23 jtc Exp $
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31.\"     @(#)talk.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
32.\"
33.Dd $Mdocdate: February 10 2009 $
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, in particular
115.Xr nroff 1
116and
117.Xr pr 1 ,
118disallow messages in order to
119prevent messy output.
120.Sh FILES
121.Bl -tag -width /var/run/utmp -compact
122.It Pa /etc/hosts
123to find the recipient's machine
124.It Pa /var/run/utmp
125to find the recipient's tty
126.El
127.Sh SEE ALSO
128.Xr mail 1 ,
129.Xr mesg 1 ,
130.Xr who 1 ,
131.Xr write 1 ,
132.Xr talkd 8
133.Sh STANDARDS
134The
135.Nm
136utility is compliant with the
137.St -p1003.1-2008
138specification,
139though its presence is optional.
140.Pp
141The flags
142.Op Fl Hs
143are extensions to that specification.
144.Sh HISTORY
145The
146.Nm
147command appeared in
148.Bx 4.2 .
149.Sh BUGS
150The version of
151.Nm talk
152released with
153.Bx 4.3
154uses a protocol that
155is incompatible with the protocol used in the version released with
156.Bx 4.2 .
157