LEAVE(1)

📦
version 1.12 · 4 versions
, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 LEAVE(1) — the General Commands Manual glow-up 💖

okay bestie, so this is leave, and it lives in section 1 of the General Commands Manual, and it is literally the most emotionally supportive utility on your whole system. let's get into it 🦋

✨ NAME ✨

leave — reminds you when you have to leave 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

leave [[+]hhmm]

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so here's the vibe: leave waits until the time you told it about (and we're talking within the next 12 hours, no further, okay?) and then it reminds you that you have to go, by writing to the TTY that you ran leave on. like, specifically that TTY. it knows where you are. iconic honestly.

the way it reminds you is 5 minutes and 1 minute before the actual time, then at the time, and then every minute after that. it will simply keep going. it's committed. main character energy fr fr 💅

and when you log off, leave exits just before it would have printed the next message. so it never gets to say the next thing. so dramatic of it 😭

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • hhmm — the time of day, in the form hhmm, where hh is a time in hours (you can use a 12 hour or a 24 hour clock, we're not gonna gatekeep) and mm are the minutes.
but listen — all times get converted to a 12 hour clock, and assumed to be in the next 12 hours. if you try to set an alarm for farther into the future than that, it gets truncated to within the next 12 hours. so no, you cannot schedule your departure for next Tuesday. sorry bestie 😭
  • + — if the time is preceded by +, the alarm goes off in hours and minutes from the current time. so it's a countdown, not a clock time. different vibe entirely ⏳

if you give it no argument at all, leave prompts you with:

When do you have to leave?

and if you reply with just a newline, leave exits. otherwise, your reply is assumed to be a time. this form is suitable for inclusion in a ~/.login or ~/.profile — so it can just casually live in your startup files and start looking out for you the second you log in. she's proactive 💖

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

✨ HISTORY ✨

the leave command appeared in 3.0BSD. she's an elder. she's been doing this since before you were born and she has never once missed a reminder. respect her 👑

✨ BUGS ✨

okay so here's the tea, and it's kind of a big one 😭

in the modern age, with X(1) and window multiplexing programs like window(1) and screen(1), leave's reminders and admonitions might not be seen if the user has the window where leave was started minimized or obscured. like she's screaming into the void. she's doing her best and nobody's looking 💀

and this all begs for a more general user notifications system to be implemented. that's what the page says. it's been begging. since January 19, 2002. we're all still waiting 🥲

okay that's the whole page bestie, go set an alarm and actually leave on time for once 💅✨

signing off from the Debian edition of this manual page, dated January 19, 2002 — yes she's an old queen and she still ate 🎀🦋

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