WRITE(1)              (Essential Utilities)              WRITE(1)



  NAME
       write - write to another user

  SYNOPSIS
       write user [ line ]

  DESCRIPTION
       write copies lines from your terminal to that of another
       user.  When first called, it sends the message:

            Message from yourname (tty??)  [ date ]...

       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.

       The recipient of the message should write back at this
       point.  Communication continues until an end of file is read
       from the terminal, an interrupt is sent, or the recipient
       has executed "mesg n".  At that point write writes EOT on
       the other terminal and exits.

       If you want to write to a user who is logged in more than
       once, the line argument may be used to indicate which line
       or terminal to send to (e.g., tty00); otherwise, the first
       writable instance of the user found in /etc/utmp is assumed
       and the following message posted:

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

       Permission to write may be denied or granted by use of the
       mesg(1) command.  Writing to others is normally allowed by
       default.  Certain commands, such as 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.


  Page 1                                                   May 1989

  WRITE(1)              (Essential Utilities)              WRITE(1)



       If the character ! is found at the beginning of a line,
       write calls the shell to execute the rest of the line as a
       command.

       The following protocol is suggested for using write:  when
       you first write to another user, wait for them to write back
       before starting to send.  Each person should end a message
       with a distinctive signal (i.e., (o) for ``over'') so that
       the other person knows when to reply.  The signal (oo) (for
       ``over and out'') is suggested when conversation is to be
       terminated.

  FILES
       /etc/utmp to find user
       /bin/sh   to execute !

  SEE ALSO
       mail(1), mesg(1), pr(1), sh(1), who(1).

  DIAGNOSTICS
       ``user is not logged on'' if the person you are trying to
              write to is not logged on.
       ``Permission denied'' if the person you are trying to write
              to denies that permission (with mesg).
       ``Warning: cannot respond, set mesg -y'' if your terminal is
              set to mesg n and the recipient cannot respond to
              you.
       ``Can no longer write to user'' if the recipient has denied
              permission (mesg n) after you had started writing.













  Page 2                                                   May 1989