term% cat index.txt CON(1) General Commands Manual CON(1)
NAME
con, telnet, cu, rx, xms, xmr - remote login, execution, and XMODEM
file transfer
SYNOPSIS
con [ -dCrvs ] [ -l [ remuser ] ] [ -c cmd ] [net!]machine
telnet [ -dCrn ] [net!]machine
cu number
rx [ -n ] [net!]machine [ command-word ... ]
xms file
xmr file
DESCRIPTION
Con connects to the computer whose network address is net!machine and
logs in if possible. With no options, the account name used on the re‐
mote system is the same as that on the local system. Standard input
and output go to the local machine.
Options are:
-l with an argument causes remuser to be used as the account name
on the remote system. Without an argument this option disables
automatic login and a normal login session ensues.
-C forces cooked mode, that is, local echo.
-c runs cmd as if it had been typed as a command from the escape
mode. This is used by cu.
-v (verbose mode) causes information about connection attempts to
be output to standard error. This can be useful when trying to
debug network connectivity.
-d causes debugging information to be output to standard error.
-r suppresses printing of any carriage return followed by a new
line. This is useful since carriage return is a printable char‐
acter in Plan 9.
-s strips received characters to 7 bits to forestall misinterpreta‐
tion of ASCII with parity as UTF.
The control-\ character is a local escape. It prompts with the local
machine name and >>>. Legitimate responses to the prompt are
i Send a quit [sic] signal to the remote machine.
q Exit.
b Send a break.
. Return from the escape.
!cmd Run the command with the network connection as its standard in‐
put and standard output. Standard error will go to the screen.
This is useful for transmitting and receiving files over the
connections using programs such as xms.
Telnet is similar to con, but uses the telnet protocol to communicate
with the remote machine. If standard input is a file or a pipe, the -n
option causes telnet not to hang up the connection when it receives EOF
on its standard input; instead it waits for the remote end to hang up.
It shares con's -C, -d, and -r options.
Cu is a shell script that uses telco(4) and con to connect to a machine
via a modem. If the machine is equipped with a local modem, it is
used. Otherwise, the call is placed through Datakit.
Rx executes one shell command on the remote machine as if logged in
there, but with local standard input and output. A rudimentary shell
environment is provided. If the target is a Plan 9 machine, $service
there will be rx.
Network addresses for both con and rx have the form network!machine.
Supported networks are those listed in /net.
The commands xms and xmr respectively send and receive a single file
using the XMODEM protocol. They use standard input and standard output
for communication and are intended for use with con.
EXAMPLES
rx kremvax cat file1 >file2
Copy remote file1 to local file2.
rx kremvax cat file1 '>file2'
Copy remote file1 to remote file2.
eqn paper | rx kremvax troff -ms | rx deepthought lp
Parallel processing: do each stage of a pipeline on a different
machine.
SOURCE
/sys/src/cmd/con
for con, xms, and xmr.
/sys/src/cmd/ip
for telnet.
/rc/bin/cu
BUGS
Under rx, a program that should behave specially towards terminals may
not: e.g., remote shells will not prompt. Also under rx, the remote
standard error and standard output are combined and go inseparably to
the local standard output.
CON(1)