xref: /openbsd-src/usr.bin/talk/talk.1 (revision b2ea75c1b17e1a9a339660e7ed45cd24946b230e)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: talk.1,v 1.13 2000/12/31 00:24:51 hugh Exp $
2.\"	$NetBSD: talk.1,v 1.3 1994/12/09 02:14:23 jtc Exp $
3.\"
4.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1990, 1993
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35.\"     @(#)talk.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
36.\"
37.Dd June 6, 1993
38.Dt TALK 1
39.Os
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm talk
42.Nd talk to another user
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.Nm talk
45.Op Fl H
46.Ar person
47.Op Ar ttyname
48.Sh DESCRIPTION
49.Nm
50is a visual communication program which copies lines from your
51terminal to that of another user.
52.Pp
53The command arguments are as follows:
54.Bl -tag -width ttyname
55.It Ar person
56If you wish to talk to someone on your own machine, then
57.Ar person
58is just the person's login name.
59If you wish to talk to a user on another host, then
60.Ar person
61is of the form
62.Ql user@host .
63.It Ar ttyname
64If you wish to talk to a user who is logged in more than once, the
65.Ar ttyname
66argument may be used to indicate the appropriate terminal
67name, where
68.Ar ttyname
69is of the form
70.Ql ttyXX .
71.El
72.Pp
73If the
74.Fl H
75argument is given, talk will not escape high characters.
76This may be useful for certain character sets, but could cause erratic
77behaviour on some terminals.
78.Pp
79When first called,
80.Nm
81sends the message
82.Pp
83.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
84Message from Talk_Daemon@localhost...
85talk: connection requested by your_name@your_machine.
86talk: respond with: talk your_name@your_machine
87.Ed
88.Pp
89to the user you wish to talk to.
90At this point, the recipient of the message should reply by typing
91.Pp
92.Dl talk \ your_name@your_machine
93.Pp
94It doesn't matter from which machine the recipient replies, as
95long as the login name is the same.
96If the machine is not the one to which
97the talk request was sent, it is noted on the screen.
98Once communication is established,
99the two parties may type simultaneously, with their output appearing
100in separate windows.
101Typing control-L
102.Pq Ql ^L
103will cause the screen to
104be reprinted, while the erase, kill, and word kill characters will
105behave normally.
106To exit, just type the interrupt character;
107.Nm
108then moves the cursor to the bottom of the screen and restores the
109terminal to its previous state.
110.Pp
111Permission to talk may be denied or granted by use of the
112.Xr mesg 1
113command.
114At the outset talking is allowed.
115Certain commands, in particular
116.Xr nroff 1
117and
118.Xr pr 1 ,
119disallow messages in order to
120prevent messy output.
121.Sh FILES
122.Bl -tag -width /var/run/utmp -compact
123.It Pa /etc/hosts
124to find the recipient's machine
125.It Pa /var/run/utmp
126to find the recipient's tty
127.El
128.Sh SEE ALSO
129.Xr mail 1 ,
130.Xr mesg 1 ,
131.Xr who 1 ,
132.Xr write 1
133.Sh HISTORY
134The
135.Nm
136command appeared in
137.Bx 4.2 .
138.Sh BUGS
139The version of
140.Xr talk 1
141released with
142.Bx 4.3
143uses a protocol that
144is incompatible with the protocol used in the version released with
145.Bx 4.2 .
146