motd (Unix)

motd (Unix)

The /etc/motd is a file on Unix-like systems that contains a "message of the day", used to send a common message to all users, in a more efficient manner than sending them all an e-mail message.

Contents

Usage

The contents of the file /etc/motd are displayed by the Unix login command after a successful login, and just before it executes the login shell.[1]

The MOTD has also become a common feature of the online component of Windows PC games, such as Half-Life, Call of Duty, and Battlefield. A similar feature called MOTD is displayed when logging on to some IRC servers.

Format

  • It is a simple text file.
  • Some interpreters have a limit of 255 or 1024 characters.[citation needed]

See also

System console

References

  1. ^ The complete FreeBSD: documentation from the source, By Greg Lehey, p.572

External links