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

Contents 1 Usage 2 Example 3 History 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Usage

The correct 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.

[edit] 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

[edit] 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.

[edit] See also

• List of Unix programs
• talk command

[edit] External links

• write(1): send a message to another user – Linux man page on usr-share-man.org

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