TELL Command

The TELL command looks like this:

TELL name message

You can enter a TELL command on the CMS command line, on the FILELIST large arrow command line, or on the XEDIT large arrow command line. The name can be a nickname from your names file. Or, if the person shares your computer, the name can be the person's user ID. After the name, you type the message. For example,

tell snoozy Wake up! It's lunch time!

After you type your message, press Enter.

Shortly after you send the message, Snoozy sees the following on his screen:

 11:56:03  * MSG FROM SNOWHITE:  Wake up! It's lunch time!

The first part tells Snoozy the time and who the message is from. It is always the sender's user ID, not the sender's nickname. Now Snoozy knows who sent the message and can send one back, if he wants to.

If Snoozy was not logged on, Snow White would see this message:

SNOOZY not logged on

The message would not be saved and given to Snoozy when he does log on. You have to send it again when he does.

If you need to send a message to someone at a different node than yours, and you do not have an entry for this person in your names file, you must use the form:

TELL userid AT node message

For example:

tell smiley at cottage How are you doing?

What happens if someone sends you a message while you are editing a file? You would not get the message until you press Enter or a PF key. The screen clears, and the message appears. The notice HOLDING appears at the bottom right corner of the screen. After you read the message, press CLEAR, and your file returns to the screen.