The point of IRC is to chat, and as mentioned before, you may join in public discussions on channels or talk privately to one person at a time. We will show you how to do both here.
Public Conversations
We previously learned how to find channels using the /list command. Here will talk about how to join those channels and talk on them.
There can be many thousands of channels on the largest networks, each with anywhere from one to hundreds of people. Each channel is controlled by channel operators or "ops" who have absolute authority over their channels. We will discuss more about that later. You should always observe basic netiquette when visiting other people's channels.
/JOIN #channelname
Changes your current channel to the channel specified. If the channel does not exist already, it will be created and you will be in charge of the new channel and be a channel operator or "op" - more on that later.
/JOIN #new2irc
*** YourNick (foo@hot.school.edu) has joined channel #new2irc
*** Topic for #new2irc: New users welcome! Questions answered with a smile!
) RC
*** Topic for #new2irc set by Otiose on Sun Aug 16 10:28:06 1998
*** Users on #new2irc: YourNick FunGuy
@pixE @MsingLnk @^Chipster
[rest of list truncated]
When you join a channel, everything that everybody says is preceded by their nicknames so others can tell who is saying what. For some IRC programs, it doesn't show your own nickname, but don't worry, other people still see it!
You type:
hello world!
but everybody else sees:
<YourNick> hello world!
/ME does something
Performs an action on a channel. Unlike talking normally, actions do not start with <YourNick>. Use /ME in the third person (verbs like "is", "does", "runs", etc.).
/ME is a pink bunny
YourNick is a pink bunny
/LEAVE [#channel_name]
Leaves the specified channel, or if no channel is specified, leaves the current channel.
[ contents | 1 | 2 | 3 | bottom ]
Private Conversations
/MSG nickname message
Use the /MSG command to send someone a message that only that person can read. Say you are "YourNick" and you want to talk to your friend "buddy".
/MSG buddy hello, how are you?
On your screen, you would see:
-> *buddy* Hello, how are you?
On buddy's screen, if he is using ircII he sees:
*YourNick* Hello, how are you?
To answer such a message using ircII, buddy would type:
/MSG YourNick Fine, thanks!
If buddy is using mIRC, he will instead get a new "query" window dedicated to this private conversation with you. Everything you /MSG him goes to that window. As soon as he responds to you in that window, if you are also using mIRC you will likewise also get a "query" window.
/QUERY nickname and /QUERY
In mIRC, if you initiate a /MSG you don't get a "query" window until the other person responds to you. You can set up a "query" window on your side right from the beginning by using the /QUERY command:
/QUERY buddy
In ircII, you can have a private conversation by using /MSG nickname repeatedly, but that can get cumbersome. That's where the QUERY command comes in handy. When you issue the above command, all subsequent text will be send as private messages to that nickname, except for "/irchelp/" commands. Use /QUERY with no nickname to end a private conversation.
Here's an example of a private conversation between you as "YourNick" and your friend "buddy", as seen from your point of view. Statements from your IRC client program start with "***", outgoing messages from you to buddy start with "-> *buddy*", and incoming messages to you from buddy start with "*buddy*".
/QUERY buddy
*** Starting conversation with buddy
Good morning
-> *buddy* Good morning, buddy.
*buddy* Hi, YourNick. How is life ?
Pretty good. I have to get back to work, bye.
-> *buddy* Pretty good. I have to get back to work, bye.
*buddy* OK, talk to you later.
/QUERY
*** Ending conversation with buddy
/CTCP nickname PING
/CTCP #channel-name PING
Sometimes you are talking to your friend and suddenly it seems like he's not paying attention. This may be due to server "lag" on either end, which is the roundtrip delay between when you say something and your friend sees that message. Normally lag is less than a few seconds even when you are talking to people on the other side of the planet, but sometimes the servers temporarily suffer from serious lag. If you suspect this is the problem, you can test your lag with a sonar-like ping signal under the Client-to-Client Protocol (CTCP). If you are just talking to one person, ping that person. If you suspect you are generally lagged to a lot of people, ping a channel with say 10 people which is the same as pinging each person on that channel separately. The range in ping response times will tell you if you are lagged in general.
/CTCP buddy PING
*** CTCP PING from YourNick!foo@hot.school.edu to buddy: 903330542
*** CTCP PING reply from buddy: 1 second
The last line is the part you care about. It says you are lagged less than 1 second to buddy, which is very good. Note that in most clients including most versions of ircII and mIRC, this is aliased to /PING nickname, or /PING #channel-name, but not always. Some Mac clients such as Ircle use /CPING instead.
DCC CHAT
/DCC CHAT nickname
/MSG =nickname message
/DCC CLOSE CHAT nickname
DCC stands for Direct Client Communication, where you and your friend's client programs connect directly to each other, bypassing IRC servers and their occasional "lag" or "split" problems. Like /MSG, the DCC chat is completely private.
If you are "Yournick" and your friend is "buddy", here's how to use DCC chat:
You type:
/DCC CHAT buddy
You see:
*** Sent DCC CHAT request to buddy
While buddy sees:
*** DCC CHAT (chat) request received from YourNick
Now buddy types the same thing but using your nick:
/DCC CHAT YourNick
The connection goes through and you see this (he sees something similar). The numbers are his IP number (the numeric version of his computer's hostname) and his port number.
*** DCC CHAT connection with buddy[123.4.56.78,54321] established
Now to talk to buddy, in graphical clients like mIRC you will probably have a separate window for the DCC chat so that everything you type is sent to buddy. Just type normally in that window. Alternatively, from any window you may use a /MSG with an equals sign immediately before his nick, which distinguishes this DCC CHAT message from a regular /MSG buddy whatever:
/MSG =buddy now we're talking!
When you're done talking, either close the graphical window (if there is one available) or manually close the connection:
/DCC CLOSE CHAT buddy
*** DCC chat:<any> to buddy closed
[ contents | 1 | 2 | 3 | bottom ]
2.3. File Transfer
In addition to talking, IRC has also become a popular and convenient way to exchange a wide variety of files. Be forewarned, however, that many people are getting into serious trouble by downloading files that seem interesting or enticing, only to find out they are trojan horse attacks. These hacks allow strangers to take over your channels, force you to disconnect, erase your hard disk, or worse. The moral is clear: Never accept candy from strangers. For more information, see our Downloading Files from IRC guide.
DCC SEND and GET
Like with DCC chat described above, DCC file transfer requires an exchange of commands between the sender and getter of each file. For example, if you as "YourNick" want to send the file "foo.jpg" to your friend "buddy", you would type:
/DCC SEND buddy foo.jpg
*** Sent DCC SEND request to buddy
If you specify the filename without a directory path, it will assume the file is in the default directory. For mIRC that is usually c:\mirc and for ircII it is usually your home directory. If the file is somewhere else, you will need to specify the path to that file, such as:
/DCC SEND buddy c:\other\directory\foo.jpg
Now for buddy to get the offered file. If he is using mIRC, a dialog will open asking him whether he wishes to accept the file, cancel the offer, or even ignore the offerer. In ircII, buddy will see the following request and types this in response:
*** DCC SEND (foo.jpg 180) request received from YourNick
/DCC GET YourNick
You will then see the following as the DCC connection is established and the transfer eventually completed. On the other end, buddy sees something similar too.
*** DCC SEND connection to buddy[123.4.56.78,54321] established
*** DCC SEND:foo.jpg to buddy completed 1.234 kb/sec
Comments
PlayingClub.NET
FineTemplates.NET
WholeFiles Inc.
HollyBolly
UploadFree
AmDomain