ultrix man page for write

write(1)						      General Commands Manual							  write(1)

Name
       write - write message to another user

Syntax
       write user [ttyname]

Description
       The command copies lines from your terminal to that of another user.  When first called, it sends the message
       Message from yoursystem!yourname yourttyname...

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

       If you want to write to a user who is logged in more than once, the ttyname argument may be used to indicate the appropriate terminal name.

       Permission to write may be denied or granted by use of the mesg command.  At the outset writing is allowed.  Certain commands, in  particu-
       lar and disallow messages in order to prevent messy output.

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

       The  following  protocol  is  suggested for using when you first write to another user, wait for him to write back before starting to send.
       Each party should end each message with a distinctive signal. The letter `o' is the convention for `over' which indicates that the  message
       is complete.  The letters `oo' are the convention for `over and out' which is used when the conversation is about to be terminated.

Files
       /etc/utmp to find user
       /bin/sh	      to execute `!'

See Also
       mail(1), mesg(1), who(1)

																	  write(1)