write (Unix)
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write can refer to several Unix commands. All known variations of write are used to write messages to another user. The most popular variation sends a message directly to another user's TTY.
Usage
The syntax for the write command is:
$ write user [tty] message
The write session is terminated by sending EOF, which can be done by pressing Ctrl+D. The tty argument is only necessary when a user is logged into more than one terminal.
Example
A conversation initiated between two users on the same machine:
11:19 AM# write root pts/7
test
Will show up to the user on that console as:
Message from root@punch on pts/8 at 11:19 ...
test
History
A version of the write command appeared in the First Edition of the Research Unix operating system. Another variation of write writes a message to a user on a Windows network, using the SMB packet format[citation needed].
Programmer's Workbench UNIX contained a program wall that wrote a message to all users in the same way.
The "Orville write" implementation of write dates from ca 1985.[1]
See also
- List of Unix programs
- talk command
- wall command
Footnotes
- ^
Jan, Wolter (2004-09-28). "Orville Write Homepage". Retrieved 2012-04-17.
Orville write is a reimplementation of the Unix write program adds many nice features while remaining close to the standard Unix program in spirit. It has been very heavily used on M-Net since 1985 and on Grex since 1991, as well as a few other systems.
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