File: inetutils.info,  Node: talk invocation,  Next: telnet invocation,  Prev: rsh invocation,  Up: Top

16 'talk': a communication program
**********************************

'talk' is a visual communication program which copies lines from your
terminal to that of another user.

Synopsis:

     talk PERSON [TTYNAME]

16.1 Invoking
=============

The command line arguments are as follows:

PERSON
     If you wish to talk to someone on your own machine, then PERSON is
     just the other person's login name.  If you wish to talk to a user
     on another host, then PERSON is of the form 'user@host'.

TTYNAME
     If you wish to talk to a local user who is logged in more than
     once, the argument TTYNAME may be used to indicate the appropriate
     terminal name, where TTYNAME typically is of the form 'ttyXX', or
     'pts/X'.

   When first called, 'talk' sends a message to the addressed user:

     Message from TalkDaemon@his_machine...
     talk: connection requested by your_name@your_machine.
     talk: respond with: talk your_name@your_machine

At this point, the recipient of the message could elect to accept the
call and to establish a connection 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 text simultaneously, with their output appearing in
separate windows.  Typing 'C-L' will cause the screen to be reprinted,
while erase, kill, and word kill characters will behave normally.  In
addition, 'C-D' will cause both windows to be locally cleared of all
text.  This keystroke will appear as a simple '^D' on the remote
terminal, though.  It signals to the other party that you yourself have
just cleared your terminal of all text.

   To exit, just type an interrupt character 'C-C'; 'talk' then moves
the cursor to the bottom of the screen and restores the terminal to its
previous state.

   The ability to talk may be enabled or disabled by use of the 'mesg'
command.  It is system dependent whether this message passing is enabled
at the outset of a terminal session.  Certain commands, in particular
'nroff' and 'pr', disable messages in order to prevent messy output.