Mesg

lastmod 2026-11-10created 2025-12-042 edits

mesg is a command on Unix-like systems that sets whether other users can send messages to your terminal with the write or wall commands. mesg y allows it, mesg n blocks it, and running it without arguments prints the current state. Internally, it works by changing the group write permission of the terminal device file.

See also

• linux
• write
• wall
• mesg
• mail
• biff
• who
• w
• last