write(1)                                                           write(1)




 NAME    [Toc]    [Back]
      write - interactively write (talk) to another user

 SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]
      write user [terminal]

 DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]
      The write command copies lines from your terminal to that of another
      user.  When first called, it sends the message:

           Message from yourname (yourterminal) [ date ] ...

      to the receiving user's terminal.  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.

      To set up two-way communication, the recipient of the message (user)
      must execute the command:

           write yourname [yourterminal]

      (yourterminal is only required if the originator is logged in more
      than once.)

      Communication continues until an end of file is read from the
      terminal, an interrupt is sent, or the recipient executes mesg n.  At
      that point, write writes <EOT> on the other terminal and exits.

      To write to a user who is logged in more than once, use the terminal
      argument to indicate which line or terminal to send to (e.g., tty00).
      Otherwise, the first writable instance of the user found in utmps
      database is assumed and the following message is displayed:

           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 with the mesg command
      (see mesg(1)).  Writing to others is normally allowed by default.
      Certain commands, in particular nroff and pr disallow messages in
      order to prevent interference with their output.  However, if the user
      has the appropriate privileges, messages can be forced onto a writeinhibited
 terminal.

      If the character ! is found at the beginning of a line, write calls
      the POSIX shell (see sh-posix(1)) to execute the rest of the line as a
      command.





 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 1 -   HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003






 write(1)                                                           write(1)




      The following protocol is suggested for using write: When you first
      write to another user, wait for the user to write back before starting
      to send.  Each person should end a message with a distinctive signal
      (such as "(o)" for "over") so that the other person knows when to
      reply.  Similarly, the signal "(oo)" (for "over and out") can be used
      to indicate the end of the conversation.

 EXTERNAL INFLUENCES    [Toc]    [Back]
    Environment Variables
      LANG determines the locale to use for the locale categories when both
      LC_ALL and the corresponding environment variable (beginning with LC_)
      do not specify a locale.  If LANG is not set or is set to the empty
      string, a default of "C" (see lang(5)) is used.

      LC_TIME determines the format and contents of date and time strings.

      LC_MESSAGES determines the language in which messages are displayed.

      If any internationalization variable contains an invalid setting,
      write behaves as if all internationalization variables are set to "C".
      See environ(5).

    International Code Set Support    [Toc]    [Back]
      Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported.

 DIAGNOSTICS    [Toc]    [Back]
      user is not logged on.
           The user you are trying to write to is not logged on.

      Can no longer write to terminal
           Your correspondent has denied write permission (mesg n) after
           your write session started.  Your write session is ended.

      <EOT>
           Your correspondent sent end-of-file, or you set your terminal to
           mesg n and your correspondent tried to write to you.  If you have
           a write session established, you can continue to write to your
           correspondent.

      Permission denied.    [Toc]    [Back]
           The user you are trying to write to has denied write permission
           (with mesg n).

      Warning: You have your terminal set to "mesg -n". No reply possible.
           Your terminal is set to mesg n and the recipient cannot respond
           to you.

 EXAMPLES    [Toc]    [Back]
      By issuing the command:





 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 2 -   HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003






 write(1)                                                           write(1)




           write matthew

      user linda sends a message to user matthew's screen.  If matthew
      responds:

           write linda

      two-way communication between matthew and linda is established.

 FILES    [Toc]    [Back]
      utmps database      To find user
      /usr/bin/sh         To execute ! shell commands

 SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]
      elm(1), mail(1), mailx(1), mesg(1), nroff(1), pr(1), sh-posix(1),
      sh(1), who(1), utmpd(1M), getutsent(3C).

 STANDARDS CONFORMANCE    [Toc]    [Back]
      write: SVID2, SVID3, XPG2, XPG3, XPG4, POSIX.2


 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 3 -   HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003