pdp11v/usr/man/u_man/man1/write.1

.TH WRITE 1
.SH NAME
write \- write to another user
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B write 
user [ line ]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Write 
copies lines from your terminal to that of another user.
When first called, it sends the message:
.PP
.RS
.B Message from 
.I yourname 
.BR (tty ?? )
[
.I date
.RB ] \&.\|.\|.
.RE
.PP
to the person you want to talk to.  When it has successfully
completed the connection it also sends two bells to your own
terminal to indicate that what you are typing is being sent.
.PP
The recipient of the message should write back at this point.
Communication continues until an end of file is read from the
terminal or an interrupt is sent.  At that point 
.I write 
writes \fB\s-1EOT\s+1\fP on the other terminal and exits.
.PP
If you want to write to a user who is logged in more than once,
the 
.I line
argument may be used to indicate which line or terminal
to send to (e.g.,
.BR tty00 );
otherwise, the first instance of
the user found in
.B  /etc/utmp 
is assumed and the
following message posted:
.PP
.RS
.nf
\f2user\fP is logged on more than one place.
You are connected to "\f2terminal\fP\^".
Other locations are:
\f2terminal\fP
.fi
.RE
.PP
Permission to write may be denied or granted by use of the 
.I mesg(1) 
command.
Writing to others is normally allowed by default.
Certain commands, in
particular 
.IR nroff (1) 
and 
.IR pr (1) 
disallow messages in order to prevent
interference with their output.  However, if the user has super-user permissions,
messages can be forced onto a write inhibited terminal.
.PP
If the character \fB!\fP is found at the beginning of a line, 
.I write
calls the shell to execute the rest of the line as a command.
.PP
The following protocol is suggested for using 
.IR write :
when you first \fIwrite\fP to another user, wait for them to
\fIwrite\fP back before starting to send.
Each person should end a message with a distinctive
signal
(i.e.,
.B (o)
for ``over'') so that the other person knows when to reply.
The signal
.B (oo)
(for ``over and out'') is suggested when conversation
is to be terminated.
.SH FILES
.PD 0
.TP 9
/etc/utmp	to find user
.TP
/bin/sh	to execute \fB!\fP
.PD
.SH SEE ALSO
mail(1),
mesg(1),
nroff(1),
pr(1),
sh(1),
who(1).
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
.RI `` "user not logged in" ''
if the person you are trying to
.I write
to is not logged in.
.\"	@(#)write.1	5.2 of 5/18/82