talk(1) — Commands
OSF
NAME
talk − Converses with another user
SYNOPSIS
talk user [tty_name]
DESCRIPTION
The talk command allows two users to enter text simultaneously into windows displayed on each other’s terminals. To initiate a conversation, one user executes talk and specifies the second user’s username. If the second user is on a remote host, the name of the host must be specified in one of the following ways:
user@host
host!user
host.user
host:user
When using full domain names, the only valid form for specifying the user and host is user@host. For example, andy@host17.dev.abc.com initiates a conversation with user andy at host host17 in the dev.abc.com domain.
When the first user initiates the conversation, a message is sent to the second user. If the first user also specifies tty_name, the invitation message is sent to the specified terminal. Otherwise, the invitation is sent to the terminal on the remote host on which the second user first logged in. Once this invitation is received, talk displays two windows on the first user’s terminal and displays progress messages until the second user responds to the initial message.
If the second user wants to have the conversation, the second user also executes talk from any terminal and specifies the first user’s account name and hostname, if appropriate. If the second user accepts the invitation, talk displays two windows on the second user’s terminal. One window displays what is typed by the local user; the other displays what is typed by the remote user. To end the conversation and close the connection, either user can press the Interrupt key sequence.
If the second user does not want to permit talk invitations, that user should issue the mesg n command.
Japanese Language Support
If the users involved in the conversation are using the Japanese Language Support capabilities, their terminals must support the display of Japanese Kanji characters.
EXAMPLES
1.If john at host1 wants to talk to fred, who is logged in on host2, john enters:
$ talk fred@host2
The following message is displayed on fred’s terminal:
Message from TalkDaemon@host1 at 15:16...
talk: connection requested by john@host1.
talk: respond with: talk john@host1
To accept the invitation, fred enters:
$ talk john@host1
2.To talk to fred only if he is logged in on the console at host2, enter:
$ talk fred@host2 console
NOTES
The talk command uses the talk 4.3BSD protocol, which is not compatible with 4.2BSD versions of talk.