mesg(1) [x11r4 man page]

MESG(1)                                                            User Commands                                                           MESG(1)

NAME

       mesg - display (or do not display) messages from other users

SYNOPSIS

       mesg [option] [n|y]

DESCRIPTION

       The mesg utility is invoked by a user to control write access others have to the terminal device associated with standard error output.  If
       write access is allowed, then programs such as talk(1) and write(1) may display messages on the terminal.

       Traditionally, write access is allowed by default.  However, as users become more conscious of various security risks, there is a trend  to
       remove write access by default, at least for the primary login shell.  To make sure your ttys are set the way you want them to be set, mesg
       should be executed in your login scripts.

ARGUMENTS

       n      Disallow messages.

       y      Allow messages to be displayed.

       If no arguments are given, mesg shows the current message status on standard error output.

OPTIONS

       -v, --verbose
              Explain what is being done.

       -V, --version
              Display version information and exit.

       -h, --help
              Display help text and exit.

EXIT STATUS

       The mesg utility exits with one of the following values:

            0     Messages are allowed.

            1     Messages are not allowed.

           >1     An error has occurred.

FILES

       /dev/[pt]ty[pq]?

SEE ALSO

       login(1), talk(1), write(1), wall(1), xterm(1)

HISTORY

       A mesg command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

AVAILABILITY

       The mesg command is part of the util-linux package and is available from https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.

util-linux                                                           July 2014                                                             MESG(1)

WRITE(1)							   User Commands							  WRITE(1)

NAME

       write - send a message to another user

SYNOPSIS

       write user [ttyname]

DESCRIPTION

       Write allows you to communicate with other users, by copying lines from your terminal to theirs.

       When you run the write command, the user you are writing to gets a message of the form:

	      Message from yourname@yourhost on yourtty at hh:mm ...

       Any  further  lines  you  enter	will be copied to the specified user's terminal.  If the other user wants to reply, they must run write as
       well.

       When you are done, type an end-of-file or interrupt character.  The other user will see the message EOF indicating that the conversation is
       over.

       You  can  prevent people (other than the super-user) from writing to you with the mesg(1) command.  Some commands, for example nroff(1) and
       pr(1), may disallow writing automatically, so that your output isn't overwritten.

       If the user you want to write to is logged in on more than one terminal, you can specify which terminal to write to by specifying the  ter-
       minal name as the second operand to the write command.  Alternatively, you can let write select one of the terminals - it will pick the one
       with the shortest idle time.  This is so that if the user is logged in at work and also dialed up from home, the message  will  go  to  the
       right place.

       The  traditional  protocol  for	writing to someone is that the string `-o', either at the end of a line or on a line by itself, means that
       it's the other person's turn to talk.  The string `oo' means that the person believes the conversation to be over.

SEE ALSO

       mesg(1), talk(1), who(1)

HISTORY

       A write command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

AVAILABILITY

       The write command is part of the util-linux package and is available from ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.

util-linux							    March 1995								  WRITE(1)