TALK(1) TALK(1) NAME talk - talk to another user SYNOPSIS talk person [ ttyname ] DESCRIPTION _T_a_l_k is a visual communication program which copies lines from your terminal to that of another user. If you wish to talk to someone on you own machine, then _p_e_r_s_o_n is just the person’s login name. If you wish to talk to a user on another host, then _p_e_r_s_o_n is of the form : _h_o_s_t_!_u_s_e_r or _h_o_s_t_._u_s_e_r or _h_o_s_t_:_u_s_e_r or _u_s_e_r_@_h_o_s_t though _h_o_s_t_@_u_s_e_r is perhaps preferred. If you want to talk to a user who is logged in more than once, the _t_t_y_‐ _n_a_m_e argument may be used to indicate the appropriate terminal name. When first called, it sends the message Message from TalkDaemon@his_machine... talk: connection requested by your_name@your_machine. talk: respond with: talk your_name@your_machine to the user you wish to talk to. At this point, the recipient of the message should reply by typing talk your_name@your_machine It doesn’t matter from which machine the recipient replies, as long as his login-name is the same. Once communication is established, the two parties may type simultaneously, with their output appearing in sepa‐ rate windows. Typing control L will cause the screen to be reprinted, while your erase, kill, and word kill characters will work in talk as normal. To exit, just type your interrupt character; _t_a_l_k then moves the cursor to the bottom of the screen and restores the terminal. Permission to talk may be denied or granted by use of the _m_e_s_g command. At the outset talking is allowed. Certain commands, in particular _n_r_o_f_f and _p_r(1) disallow messages in order to prevent messy output. FILES /etc/hosts to find the recipient’s machine /etc/utmp to find the recipient’s tty SEE ALSO mesg(1), who(1), mail(1), write(1) BUGS The version of _t_a_l_k(1) released with 4.3BSD uses a protocol that is incompatible with the protocol used in the version released with 4.2BSD. 4.2 Berkeley Distribution May 5, 1986 TALK(1)