How to use the wall command in Linux

Contents

Linux terminal running on a laptop

Do you need to send a quick message to all registered users? De Linux wall The command is more powerful than email and automatically targets logged in users. Broadcast a message to everyone who uses a terminal on a system.

The command of the wall

If you need to send a message, quickly, to users who have logged into your computer, as it does? The email does not meet the requirements. You don't know when the email will be read. If you need people to know something right now, that's not enough. And anyway, you don't want to clog the inboxes of disconnected users who don't need to see the message.

Without going the extra mile and wasting some time, you will not know who is connected and from where. Your system could be located at Aberdeen, Washington but it is possible that there are remote users connected from Aberdeen, Scotland. Then, How can you target a message specifically to users who are logged in?

Linux and other Unix-like operating systems offer you a simple way to do this. the wall The command is like a blunt telegram. It will send a message to all users of the terminal and leave it right under their noses. Users can't miss it and you know they have it. They don't have to choose to open an app to see if they have a message waiting.

Delivery is as subtle as a custard pie on your face.

Sending a message

The test machine this post was investigated on was installed with Fedora Linux, but wall The command will behave exactly the same in other distributions.

The only difference you can find is that some Linux distributions require you to use sudo in the option to send a message from a text file, while other distributions require you to always use sudo with wall all the time. Actually, that's a difference between linux distributions, not a difference with the operation of the wall command himself.

To send a message to all users, scribe wall, a space, later the message you want to send. With Fedora Linux, must use sudo.

sudo wall Main printer offline until further notice.

Your message will be sent to all users who have a terminal window open.

Local users RIa and Tom receive the message, same way as remote user Dick, you are working on an Ubuntu computer.

Everyone receives the message at the same time, and you do not stay wondering if they have visualized it.

Sending a message from a file

You can prepare your message in a text file and store it ready to send. If you have a repeating cycle of messages that need to be sent, you can create a library of prepackaged messages so you don't have to retype them over and over again.

The message in the text file message.txt has been displayed in the terminal window with the cat command to make sure it's the one we want to send.

Next, the message is sent by passing the name of the text file to the wall command as command line parameter:

cat message.txt
sudo wall message.txt

As before, local users Ria and Tom (and everyone else that is connected with an open terminal window) and remote user Dick get the message.

Courier label

Because the wall The command will send the message to all terminal users no matter what, it can be a jarring experience to receive one. Use of wall The command should be kept to a minimum and should only be used when there is a real need. Opposite case, it will quickly become very squeaky.

A wall The message will be sealed over whatever else is on the user's terminal. Actually, does not overwrite anything, will not change the text you have landed on, but will hide it. And that can be alarming for a user who does not know..

Imagine that one of our local users is editing an important file in Vi just like him wall the message is sent.

The message arrives right in the middle of your file.

All our user needs to do to restore the correct view of the file is back and forth through the file a bit..

It is quite simple to restore the screen to a state where work can continue and blood pressure can reduce, but too many interruptions of that type will leave you with a very angry user group.

Then, as useful as wall In other words, use it sparingly.

What about graphical desktop users?

the wall The command reaches everyone who has logged in with an open terminal, but it won't reach anyone who is using a graphical desktop environment without a terminal window open.

If someone is using a graphical desktop and has a terminal window open, you will see it in the terminal window, but that's all. Do not count on wall to reach anyone outside the terminal.

It's not subtle, but there is no denying that he conveys the message, In other words, in a traditional terminal environment.

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