Section (1) wall
Name
wall — write a message to all users
Synopsis
wall
[−n
] [ −t
timeout ] [ −g
group ] [ message | file ]
DESCRIPTION
wall
displays a message
,
or the contents of a file
, or otherwise its standard
input, on the terminals of all currently logged in users. The
command will wrap lines that are longer than 79 characters.
Short lines are whitespace padded to have 79 characters. The
command will always put a carriage return and new line at the
end of each line.
Only the superuser can write on the terminals of users who have chosen to deny messages or are using a program which automatically denies messages.
Reading from a file
is refused when the
invoker is not superuser and the program is set-user-ID or
set-group-ID.
OPTIONS
−n, −−nobanner
-
Suppress the banner.
−t, −−timeout
timeout
-
Abandon the write attempt to the terminals after
timeout
seconds. Thistimeout
must be a positive integer. The default value is 300 seconds, which is a legacy from the time when people ran terminals over modem lines. −g, −−group
group
-
Limit printing message to members of group defined as a
group
argument. The argument can be group name or GID. −V, −−version
-
Display version information and exit.
−h, −−help
-
Display help text and exit.
NOTES
Some sessions, such as wdm, that have in the beginning of utmp(5) ut_type data a _zsingle_quotesz_:_zsingle_quotesz_ character will not get the message from wall. This is done to avoid write errors.
AVAILABILITY
The wall command is part of the util-linux package and is available from Linux Kernel Archive
Copyright (c) 1989, 1990 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement: This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors. 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS_zsingle_quotesz__zsingle_quotesz_ AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. (#)wall.1 6.5 (Berkeley) 4/23/91 |