write man page on OSF1

Man page or keyword search:  
man Server   12896 pages
apropos Keyword Search (all sections)
Output format
OSF1 logo
[printable version]

write(1)							      write(1)

NAME
       write - Sends messages to other users

SYNOPSIS
       write [-r] [-n node] user [line]

       write user@node [line]

       write -h	 handle,reply

       write -q	 [-n node]

       The  write  command  allows  you	 to  converse with another user who is
       logged in.

       [Tru64 UNIX]  The write -r command allows you to send messages to users
       on  other  hosts (usually from a shell script) and to wait for replies;
       use write -h to reply to such messages.

STANDARDS
       Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry	 stan‐
       dards as follows:

       write:  XCU5.0

       Refer  to  the  standards(5)  reference page for more information about
       industry standards and associated tags.

OPTIONS
       [Tru64 UNIX]  Replies to a message sent by a utility  or	 shell	script
       with write -r.  The value to be used for handle is generated internally
       and supplied to you in the text of the original message.

	      [Tru64 UNIX]  The reply can be ok, cancel, or query. (See	 EXAM‐
	      PLES  and	 EXIT STATUS.)	[Tru64 UNIX]  Specifies a remote host.
	      The node field may be a nickname or a node ID.  This  option  is
	      used in place of the user@node argument; the two cannot be spec‐
	      ified together.  [Tru64  UNIX]  Queries  all  messages  awaiting
	      replies  from  users on a node and displays them with their han‐
	      dles.  [Tru64 UNIX]  Generates a message handle,	places	it  in
	      the  message  header,  sends the message, and waits for a reply.
	      This option can be used for operator messages and can be put  in
	      shell  scripts.  It  is  not used for interactive conversations.
	      (See EXAMPLES and EXIT STATUS).

OPERANDS
       Login name of the user with whom you wish to converse. This operand  is
       in the form written by the who utility.

	      [Tru64 UNIX]  You may append an optional @node if the user is on
	      a different host.	 The format of @node is as much of the	remote
	      hostname	and domainname as may be required by your system.  The
	      terminal identification of the terminal where the other user  is
	      logged in.  You only need to specify this parameter if the other
	      user has several sessions operating on  the  target  host.   See
	      DESCRIPTION for a further explanation.

DESCRIPTION
       When  two  users	 converse  with write, each user alternately sends and
       receives short messages from their respective terminals.

       [Tru64 UNIX]  For another user to receive your message, that user  must
       be logged in and must not have refused message permission.  When a per‐
       son you are trying to reach is not logged in, you get the message  user
       is  not logged on.  When the person you are trying to reach has refused
       message permission, you get the message Write: Permission denied.

       When you run the write command, it immediately sends the following mes‐
       sage to the person whose login name you entered.

       Message from sender on node (ttynn) [date]...

       [Tru64  UNIX]  The  message  is	accompanied by attention-getting sound
       (three ASCII BEL characters).

       After successful connection, the write command then sends two ASCII BEL
       characters to your terminal to alert you that whatever you enter now is
       being sent to the other user.  Sending continues until  you  enter  the
       End-of-File  key	 sequence,  at	which point write sends an End-of-Text
       sequence to the other terminal and exits.

       At any point, the other user can respond by  sending  a	write  message
       back.

       [Tru64  UNIX]  For  this	 type of exchange, the following convention is
       useful.	When you first write to others, wait for them  to  write  back
       before sending any text.	 End a message with a prearranged signal (such
       as o for over) to alert the other user to reply.

       [Tru64 UNIX]  If the !  (exclamation point) character is found  at  the
       beginning  of  an input line, write calls the shell to execute the rest
       of the line as a command.

       When you use the write command to contact a user logged in at more than
       one  terminal,  write  uses  the	 first	login  instance	 found	in the
       /var/adm/utmp file as the message delivery point, and you get the  mes‐
       sage:

       user  is	 logged	 on  more  than	 one place.  You are connected to tty.
       Other locations are: tty ...

       You can contact this user at another location by specifying  the	 line.
       The parameter line indicates to which terminal (tty00, for example) the
       message should be sent.

       Permission to use the write command to contact another user is  granted
       or  denied  by the other user with the mesg command. Some commands deny
       message permission while they are running to prevent interference  with
       their output.

       [Tru64  UNIX]  If  you  have  superuser authority, you can write to any
       terminal regardless of the terminal's message permission.

       [Tru64 UNIX]  The write command	filters	 nonprintable  characters  and
       transmits  them	in  their printed form (that is, ASCII sequence 001 is
       transmitted as ^A).

       [Tru64 UNIX]  When the write -r command is used to send you a  message,
       you  can	 send  a  reply	 of  ok, cancel, or query with write -h.  (See
       OPTIONS, EXAMPLES and EXIT STATUS).

       [Tru64 UNIX]  An argument of a - (dash)	following  the	write  command
       allows you to specify a specific terminal to which you want to write as
       the second argument.

       Typing characters from LC_TYPE classifications print  or	 space	causes
       those characters to be sent to the recipient's terminal.

NOTES
       The  talk  utility  is  considered to be a more usable utility on full-
       screen terminals.

RESTRICTIONS
       [Tru64 UNIX]  The writesrv daemon must be running on the target host in
       order  for any of the options to work.  If you are not using either the
       -n option or @host, but using -h, -q, or -r, the writesrv  daemon  must
       be running on your host.

       [Tru64  UNIX]  See  writesrv(8) for information on how to start or stop
       the writesrv daemon.

EXIT STATUS
       [Tru64 UNIX]  The write -r command is used to send  messages  to	 users
       and  to	wait  for  replies.  Their responses determine the exit value:
       [Tru64 UNIX]  Exit status  0  (zero).   [Tru64  UNIX]  Exit  status  1.
       [Tru64 UNIX]  Message for handle redisplays; write does not exit.

       An exit status of 2 indicates that the user could not be contacted.

EXAMPLES
       The  following  examples	 assume	 that  the End-of-File key sequence is
       <Ctrl-d>.  The actual key sequence may  be  different.	lucy  on  tty3
       writes a message to sue on the same node: write sue Meet me in the com‐
       puter room at 12:30.  <Ctrl-d>

	      sue sees: Message from lucy on node (tty3) [Thu Aug 17  11:55:24
	      1990]  Meet  me  in the computer room at 12:30.  <EOT> Holding a
	      conversation: write sue Meet me in the computer room  at	12:30.
	      over

	      lucy then waits for a response from sue, who replies: write lucy
	      I'm running tests at 12:30.  Can we meet at 3?  over

	      sue then waits for lucy, who  replies  and  terminates:  OK--the
	      computer room at 3.  bye <Ctrl-d>

	      sue  then	 terminates  their side of the conversation.  To write
	      someone a prepared message, enter: write sue <message.text

	      This writes the contents of the file message.text to sue's  ter‐
	      minal.   To write to the person using a certain terminal, enter:
	      write - console The printer in building 998 has jammed.	Please
	      send help.  <Ctrl-d>

	      This  writes  the	 message to the person logged in on the system
	      console.	To send a message to user sue at node, enter: write -n
	      node sue

	      or  write sue@node To get a reply to a message, lucy might enter
	      the following: write -r sue console Please insert next tape.

	      sue terminates lucy's message with write -h 12345,ok <Ctrl-d>

	      or write -h 12345,cancel

	      or write -h 12345,query

	      sue then terminates as usual.

	      Note that with the -h option, there is no	 need  to  supply  the
	      hostname or user ID.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The following environment variables affect the execution of write: Pro‐
       vides a default value for the internationalization variables  that  are
       unset  or  null. If LANG is unset or null, the corresponding value from
       the default locale is used.  If any of the  internationalization	 vari‐
       ables contain an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of the
       variables had been defined.  If set to a non-empty string value,	 over‐
       rides  the  values  of  all  the	 other internationalization variables.
       Determines the locale for the interpretation of sequences of  bytes  of
       text  data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multi‐
       byte characters in arguments).  If the recipient's locale does not  use
       an  equivalent  LC_CTYPE,  the  results	are undefined.	Determines the
       locale for the format and contents of diagnostic	 messages  written  to
       standard	 error.	 Determines the location of message catalogues for the
       processing of LC_MESSAGES.

FILES
       Contains user and accounting information.

SEE ALSO
       Commands:  mesg(1), login(1), sh(1b), sh(1p), talk(1), wall(1), who(1),
       writesrv(8)

       Files:  utmp(4)

       Standards:  standards(5)

								      write(1)
[top]
                             _         _         _ 
                            | |       | |       | |     
                            | |       | |       | |     
                         __ | | __ __ | | __ __ | | __  
                         \ \| |/ / \ \| |/ / \ \| |/ /  
                          \ \ / /   \ \ / /   \ \ / /   
                           \   /     \   /     \   /    
                            \_/       \_/       \_/ 
More information is available in HTML format for server OSF1

List of man pages available for OSF1

Copyright (c) for man pages and the logo by the respective OS vendor.

For those who want to learn more, the polarhome community provides shell access and support.

[legal] [privacy] [GNU] [policy] [cookies] [netiquette] [sponsors] [FAQ]
Tweet
Polarhome, production since 1999.
Member of Polarhome portal.
Based on Fawad Halim's script.
....................................................................
Vote for polarhome
Free Shell Accounts :: the biggest list on the net