mesg(1) BSD General Commands Manual mesg(1)
NAME
mesg -- display (do not display) messages from other users
SYNOPSIS
mesg [n | y]
DESCRIPTION
The mesg utility is invoked by a user to control write access others have
to a terminal device. Write access is allowed by default, and programs
such as talk(1) and write(1) may display messages on the terminal.
The first terminal device in the sequence of devices associated with
standard input, standard output and standard error is affected.
Options available:
n Disallows messages.
y Permits messages to be displayed.
If no arguments are given, mesg displays the present message status to
the standard output.
EXAMPLES
Disallow messages from other users to the current terminal:
mesg n
Allow messages from other users to ttyp1 (assuming you are also logged in
on that terminal):
mesg y </dev/ttyp1
DIAGNOSTICS
The mesg utility exits with one of the following values:
0 Messages are allowed.
1 Messages are not allowed.
>1 An error has occurred.
COMPATIBILITY
Previous versions of the mesg utility wrote the message status to the
standard error output and affected the terminal attached to standard
error without first trying the standard input or output devices.
SEE ALSO
biff(1), talk(1), wall(1), write(1)
STANDARDS
The mesg utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (``POSIX.1'').
HISTORY
A mesg command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.
BSD May 5, 2002 BSD
Mac OS X 10.7 - Generated Thu Aug 11 13:37:08 CDT 2011