MESG(1) 		  BSD General Commands Manual		       MESG(1)

NAME
     mesg — display (do not display) messages from other users

SYNOPSIS
     mesg [n | y]

DESCRIPTION
     The mesg utility is invoked by a user to control write access others have
     to a terminal device.  Write access is allowed by default, and programs
     such as talk(1) and write(1) may display messages on the terminal.

     The first terminal device in the sequence of devices associated with
     standard input, standard output and standard error is affected.

     The following options are available:

     n	     Disallow messages.

     y	     Permit messages to be displayed.

     If no arguments are given, mesg displays the present message status to
     the standard output.

EXIT STATUS
     The mesg utility exits with one of the following values:

	    0	 Messages are allowed.
	    1	 Messages are not allowed.
	   >1	 An error has occurred.

EXAMPLES
     Disallow messages from other users to the current terminal:

	   mesg n

     Allow messages from other users to ttyp1 (assuming you are also logged in
     on that terminal):

	   mesg y </dev/ttyp1

COMPATIBILITY
     Previous versions of the mesg utility wrote the message status to the
     standard error output and affected the terminal attached to standard
     error without first trying the standard input or output devices.

SEE ALSO
     biff(1), talk(1), wall(1), write(1)

STANDARDS
     The mesg utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (“POSIX.1”).

HISTORY
     A mesg command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.

BSD				  May 5, 2002				   BSD