WRITE(1) DOMAIN/IX Reference Manual (SYS5) WRITE(1)
NAME
write - write to another user
USAGE
write user@node [ line ]
write node!user [ line ]
DESCRIPTION
The write command copies lines from your node or terminal to
that of another user. To write to a another user who is
logged in, use either of the forms shown above.
When first called, write sends the following message to the
specified recipient:
Message from user (display/tty??/sio??) date ...
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,
write sends an EOT (end-of-transmission) to the other termi-
nal or node, and then exits.
If you want to write to a user who is logged in more than
once, you may use the line argument to indicate which termi-
nal or line to send to (e.g., tty00, sio1). If you do not
specify line, the write command assumes the first instance
of the user found in /etc/utmp and posts the following mes-
sage:
user is logged on more than one place.
You are connected to terminal.
Other locations are:
terminal
If it finds an exclamation point (!) at the beginning of a
line, write calls the shell, sh(1), to execute the rest of
the line as a command.
When you first write to another user, wait for a reply
before sending another message. End your message with a
distinctive signal, so that the other person knows when to
reply. For example, you may use (o) to indicate ``over'',
and (oo) for ``over and out'' when conversation is to be
terminated.
To enable a write to a node other than your own, the reci-
pient node must be running the write program daemon
(writed(1M)), as well as an mbx_helper program. Similarly,
you must be running writed on your node to receive messages
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WRITE(1) DOMAIN/IX Reference Manual (SYS5) WRITE(1)
from someone on another node. The mbx_helper is a program
residing in the /sys/mbx directory of your node. When it is
run, it allows your node to handle interprocess communica-
tions with other nodes in your network also running
mbx_helper.
FILES
/etc/utmp record of who is currently using the node
(link to `node_data/etc.utmp)
/bin/sh to execute !
DIAGNOSTICS
user not logged in Intended receipient is not logged in.
RELATED INFORMATION
mail(1)
nroff(1)
pr(1)
sh(1)
who(1)
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