talk

Real-time terminal text communication

TLDR

Talk to a local user

$ talk [username]

Talk to a user on a specific terminal

$ talk [username] [tty3]

Talk to a user on a remote host

$ talk [username]@[hostname]

SYNOPSIS

talk user [ttyname]talk user@host [ttyname]

talk is a visual communication program that copies text between terminals of two users in real-time. The screen is split into two halves: the top shows what you type, the bottom shows the other user's text.The target user receives a message inviting them to talk, which they must accept by running `talk` back to you.

PARAMETERS

user

Username of the person to talk to. Can include @hostname for remote users.

ttyname

Specific terminal to reach the user on, if they are logged in on multiple terminals.

CAVEATS

Both users must be logged in. Requires the talk daemon (talkd) to be running. The mesg command controls whether users can receive talk requests. Largely obsolete, replaced by instant messaging.

HISTORY

talk originated in BSD Unix in the 1980s as an early form of instant messaging. It was part of the standard Unix networking tools and is now included in GNU inetutils.