Quick Start

We will assume you or your provider has installed one of the mainstream IRC clients already. If not, see the links in the previous section. Once installed, most clients have shortcuts for getting started quickly, using default nicknames, servers, and ports on those servers. (To help distribute the load better, each server permits connections on many different openings or "ports", usually leading to redundant connections to the same IRC network.)

For example, mIRC has a connection dialog that lets you pick your nickname and suggests some server choices. From the UNIX prompt, ircII may be launched just by typing irc which should connect you using your login name as your nickname and a default server. Ircle has a few icons in its folder such as #macintosh and all you need to do is double-click on them to join that channel, which happens to be on a network called Undernet.

If these quick starts don't immediately work for you, don't worry, they are just like teaser movie previews compared to the full IRC experience. In the next section, we will show you how to make a proper connection to a server, then how to list available channels and join them, as well as how to find your friends and like-minded people.

How to get started.

Unlike the World-Wide Web, which first-time users can pick up quickly, Internet Relay Chat may seem difficult the first time you log on. Once you've mastered a few basic commands, however, IRC becomes very easy to use.

Logging on. Just like you need a Web browser like Netscape or MS Internet Explorer to use the World Wide Web, you need an IRC client to connect to an IRC server. Once you have downloaded and installed an IRC client you can log on to some IRC server and talk away. The first thing you'll want to do is choose a nickname; everyone on IRC uses one. People will soon recognize you by your nick, or even search for your nickname on IRC. Choose your nick with care; it will be the virtual -you-.

Finding a channel. It is not uncommon for an IRC server to have dozens, hundreds or even thousands of chat channels open simultaneously. There are some more or less permanent channels, but others come and go. Although a channel's name usually reflects the general nature of the conversation within, each channel can also have a specific topic. Channel names tend to remain constant, while topics change continuously. For example, in a channel called "PC Users" the topic might be "Windows 95 Bug Fixes" one day and "How to Choose a High Speed Modem" the next day.

You'll notice that all channel names begin with #. One popular and longstanding channel, for instance, is #chat. If you decide to wade in, just type: '/JOIN #chat' and voila, you're in. Type in some greetings and you'll see them appear on screen, along with whatever everyone else types. You'll probably feel lost at first, since you're popping in on a conversation that's already in progress. In fact, several conversations may be going on at once.

It would be great if you could get a list of all those channels containing only the funny, witty and wise, but you can't. Instead, you have to use the '/LIST' command, which lists all public channels, the number of users on each and a topic description for those that provide it.

Channel topics are set by the person who creates or moderates the channel, called the channel operator or 'op'. Chat participants can exchange ideas about common interests, making chat sessions an ideal means to hold forums and group discussions. For example, many businesses now hold scheduled chat sessions, wherein customers can chat with company representatives about a new product, or exchange technical information and advice.

On IRC many people can simultaneously participate in discussions over a channel or even multiple channels. There are no limits to the number of people who can join a discussion and there is no limit to the number of channels that can be made. You are only limited by your typing speed. IRC can be fun and informative and is rapidly becoming one of the most popular areas of the Internet. And IRC will undoubtedly evolve over the next year or two with advancing technology...

Private Conversations. The conversations are not limited to whats is going on on channels. You can have private conversations at the same time! If, lets say, you want to speak to Speedy privately, you can send him a message, as follows: '/MSG Speedy What do you say we hide in privacy for awhile?'. The /MSG will open a private conversation to Speedy. Nobody can interfere in your private chitchat now ! In my view, private conversations are one of the handiest things about IRC.

Aside from meeting new people, then, IRC is also good for saving on phone bills, holding conferences or practicing a foreign language. If you're in New York and your former college roommates are in Boston, Dallas and Seattle, you can make an IRC date, set up your own IRC channel and even use /NOTIFY to be informed when they log onto IRC so you can /INVITE them into your private channel!

Basic IRC Commands

Every IRC client has an input area where you can type what you want to say or issue IRC commands. You issue IRC commands by typing on a new line something beginning with a / (forward slash) character. Anything that does not begin with a / is assumed to be a message you are typing to someone or some channel. In the following I will describe the more common commands used in everyday IRC life. Commands you are supposed to type will be shown in red, while text which you will see in response will be shown in blue.

In addition, the graphical clients such as mIRC or Ircle allow you to use a mouse to point and click your way around IRC, so that you don't have to type many of these commands manually. You should still learn the commands properly, because often they are the only way to specify precisely what you want done, and also they are often faster and easier than navigating through the labyrinth of buttons, menus, and dialogs that are supposed to make your life easier.

/HELP [optional command name]

The first and most useful command is the on-line help built into all good IRC clients just by typing /help where you normally type to chat. This should bring up a list of all commands. You can also get specific help for a command, such as /help who for the /who command.

You can get a quick introduction to IRC built into your client. mIRC users type /ircintro while ircII users type /help intro or /help newuser.

If you are not sure about the spelling of a mIRC command, just type in the first few letters. The help window, which shows commands arranged alphabetically, will open to approximately the right place so that you can choose to learn about a specific command.

If you are not sure about the spelling of an ircII command, type the first few letters and press the ESCape key twice. ircII will give you a listing of COMMANDS and ALIASes that start with that prefix. Don't forget the "/irchelp/" in front of the command, though.

For example, you type the following:

/W <ESC><ESC>

You get as a response the following (this is just an example. Your screen may show more or less aliases or commands):

*** Commands:
***     WAIT           WALLOPS        WHILE          WHO
***     WHOIS          WHOWAS
*** Aliases:
***     W              WA             WH             WI

/SERVER new-server-hostname

Each server is known by a "hostname" such as irc.ais.net, us.undernet.org, irc.dal.net, or irc.webbernet.net, which are sample servers for the networks EFnet, Undernet, DALnet, and IRCnet, respectfully. Just specify the hostname to connect or switch to that server. For example:

/SERVER irc.psinet.com

You then see the following messages indicating your client has successfully connected to that server.

*** Looking up your hostname...
*** Found your hostname, cached
*** Checking Ident
*** Got Ident response
*** Welcome to EFNet IRC - the Internet Relay Chat Network foo
*** Your host is irc.psinet.com, running version 2.8/hybrid-5.3
[remaining server messages truncated]

/NICK new-nickname

Change the nickname by which you are known. Nicknames are usually limited to 9 characters. For example, if your default nick was "foo" and you want to change it to "YourNick":

 

/NICK YourNick
*** foo is now known as YourNick

/LIST

Lists IRC channels, number of users, and topic for each. This is how you find places to go meet people and chat.

 

/LIST
*** Channel    Users  Topic
*** #test      1      this is a test channel
*** #IRChelp   18     Ask questions on the channel or see www.irchelp.org
[remainder of list not shown]

If you're on a big network, this list may be very long, up to many thousands of channels! It may even cause you to flood yourself off so that you get disconnected from the server. If that happens, try using different servers on that network, or instead use the searchable EFnet channel list web page which is updated hourly, or the less frequently updated but more comprehensive Liszt channel list.

You can also search for specific keywords by using /LIST keyword in mIRC, or /LIST *keyword* in ircII. Note this may or may not be any faster or safer than a full list depending on the network. On networks like EFnet and IRCnet, for example, your client gets the full list first and then does the filtering internally before displaying matches to you. On Undernet, the server filters the list and sends only the matches to you, which can be much faster if you're on a slow modem.

/NAMES #channel-name

Shows the nicknames of all users on that channel. While theoretically this is supposed to work whether or not you are on that channel, in practice most people these days are set to be "invisible" and thus do not show up on such queries unless you are in the same channel already.

 

/NAMES #demo
Pub: #demo   @YourNick +buddy DeepMpact @FunGuy PrettyGrl

The "@" symbols show that YourNick and FunGuy are "channel ops", and that buddy has been given a "voice". These terms will be described in more detail in the channel modes section later.

/WHOIS nickname

Shows information about the nick specified.

 

/WHOIS buddy
*** buddy is abcd@dialup-6.provider.com (Think different.)
*** on channels: @#demo #test123
*** on irc via server irc.psinet.com (PSI Net EFNet IRC Server)

The "abcd@dialup-6.provider.com" looks like an email address but actually abcd is buddy's identifying "username" on dialup-6.provider.com, which is the "hostname" of the computer buddy is using for IRC. One cannot arbitarily change the hostname, because it is the computer's address on the Internet, and it is required in order for the IRC server to communicate with one's computer properly. Next, in the parentheses, buddy shows a personal message instead of the real name which is supposed to go there.

The second line shows he is on the "public" channels #demo and #test123, and the @ symbol means he is an operator on #demo. It doesn't show other, "secret" channels he might be on. Finally the third line shows which IRC server he is using. 

/AWAY away-message-here

Leave a message explaining that you are not currently paying attention to IRC.

 

/AWAY getting coffee, be back in 5 mins
You have been marked as being away

If your friend does /whois YourNick now, they will get the 3 lines as described in the /whois section above, plus a final line saying:
*** YourNick is away: getting coffee, be back in 5 mins

/AWAY without any additional argument will remove the away message.

 

/AWAY
You are no longer marked as being away (or something to that effect)

/QUIT [optional farewell message]

Exits IRC (also leaves any channels you may be on).

 

/QUIT hasta la vista, baby!
*** Signoff: YourNick (hasta la vista, baby!)

Chatting on IRC

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.

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

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

Channel Operators 

Channel operators or "ops" have absolute power over their channel, including the right to decide who gets to come in, who must leave, who may talk, etc. When you first start out, it's best to chat on other people's channels and heed their rules, or else you may find yourself kicked out. If that happens and you cannot settle your differences with the ops, just go to another channel. 

At some point you will probably want to try your hand at being a channel op, either by creating your own new channel or by gaining the trust of the ops on an existing channel. You need to know a whole different set of commands. With this power comes the sometimes frustrating responsibility of maintaining the channel against intentional abuse as well as the usual IRC mishaps. 

Some networks such as Undernet and DALnet support channel registration, whereby you can "reserve" a channel. The advantage is that you are assured control over the channel as long as you show up once in a while, the disadvantage is that many popular channel names are probably already registered by others. 

Two of the largest nets EFnet and IRCnet do not support channel registration (or any other services). On these nets, there is no way to ensure you will always control a channel. Some channels try hard with all sorts of bots (which are explicitly banned by most servers) and protective scripts, but it's really just a matter of time before somebody with the right combination of lameness and knowledge comes along and takes over the channel. 



An IRC channel operator (commonly abbreviated to op) is a person that runs an (Click link for more info and facts about IRC) IRC channel on a given IRC network. They are responsible for maintaining the modes of the channel, the banlist, and are responsible for kicking out people that do not behave.

The person that first created a channel automatically gets operator status, and is later referred to as the channel founder, which usually gives them further privileges on networks with (Click link for more info and facts about ChanServ) ChanServ. Existing channel operators can set user modes on other users and also make them operators by setting the +o mode.

Some servers feature halfops. These users are privileged in a certain channel, though not as powerful as ops. Halfops may kick other users out of the channel and set most channel modes. They are not allowed to make other users ops or halfops. This is supported on IRCds such as UnrealIRCd. Other IRCds such as Bahamut (DALnet) do not have halfops. 

Channel Maintenance 


This section will cover the basic commands used by channel ops to maintain a channel. Try them on a test channel! 

Two of the most common things that ops do are setting the channel topic and kicking out abusive people. For the purposes of this section, let's say you have ops on the channel #demo. 


/TOPIC #channelname whatever topic for channel

Channels have topics which indicate the current topic of conversation. Theoretically anybody can change the topic on a channel with the /TOPIC command, but usually the channel operators make it so that only they can change the topic. This topic is shown when anybody first joins the channel, and it is also shown constantly at the bottom of the window for graphical clients like mIRC and Ircle. 

/TOPIC #demo hello, testing
*** YourNick has changed the topic on #demo to hello, testing

/KICK nickname [optional reason]

Forcibly kick that nickname out of the current channel with the reason specified. If no reason is given, it will just use your nickname as the default reason. 

/KICK buddy go away, you're annoying me
*** buddy has been kicked off #demo by YourNick (go away, you're annoying me)

Channel Modes

In addition to the above commands, the behavior on each channel is governed by many "modes", each denoted by a single character such as "x" which can be turned on or off using "+x" and "-x" respectively. You can see the modes currently in effect on a channel by issuing the /MODE command without any flags. For example: 

/mode #demo
*** Mode for channel #demo is "+tn" 

What does the "+tn" mean? Those and other modes are described below. 

Public

This is the default channel mode. Public means that everyone can see the channel in the /NAMES and /LIST lists. These channels usually welcome newcomers. 

Private (p) or Secret (s)

The "+p" or "+s" will be explained later, for now consider them to be flags denoting the nature of the channel. These channels provide privacy and security for insiders and may or may not welcome newcomers. If you don't know the names of these exclusive channels already, you won't find them using /LIST. Even if you know the channel name, you still cannot use /WHO #channelname to see who is presently in there unless you join the channel yourself. Note: private and secret are not the same thing, but the difference is pretty arcane. 
To make #demo a secret channel:

/MODE #demo +s
*** Mode change "+s" on channel #demo by YourNick


To make #demo a public channel again (removing the secret mode):
/MODE #demo -s
*** Mode change "-s" on channel #demo by YourNick


In the following examples I'll leave out the responses in blue since they are all similar to the above.

No external messages to the channel (n)

People outside the channel cannot do /MSG #channel_name [whatever] which would otherwise be sent to everybody on the channel 

Topic control (t)

Only channel ops are allowed to change the topic 

Channel ops (o [nickname])

Any op can give ops to anybody else, and once that other person gains ops, he has the same power as you do, including the ability to remove your ops or "deop" you, or even to kick you out. This is known as a takeover. Don't share ops with others unless you trust them fully!

/MODE #demo +o buddy

You can also do a few of these together on the same line, such as:
/MODE #demo +ooo larry curley moe


Moderated (m)

On a moderated channel, only channel operators can talk publicly, others can only listen and will get "cannot send to channel" errors if they try to talk. The exception is if you are given a voice (+v). Moderated mode is useful for conferencing or keeping control over very busy channels. 

Invite Only (i)

People can only join your channel if an op permits it. To set it:
/MODE #demo +i

Then to let buddy in, use the /INVITE command:
/INVITE buddy #demo

Limited (l [number])

Only that number of people are allowed to /JOIN the channel.
/MODE #demo +l 20 
Later to remove the limit (note you don't need to specify the number):
/MODE #demo -l.

Keyword or Password Protected (k keyword)

You must know the keyword to /JOIN the channel. To set the keyword as "trustno1":
/MODE #demo +k trustno1 
Then in order for somebody outside to join, they must type:
/JOIN #demo trustno1 

And to remove the keyword:
/MODE #demo -k trustno1

Channel bans (b [nick!user@host])

I've saved this for last becuase it's the most complicated. After a kick, the offender can still rejoin the channel immediately unless you first set a ban to keep them out (remember to ban then kick, not the other way around). You need to specify a ban "mask" that matches the offender's nickname, username, and hostname (if you are not crystal clear on the distinction between those three, revisit the /WHOIS command in part 1 now or else what follows will only confuse you more). You also need to use wildcards like the "*" character to replace any part the offender can easily change. 

For example, if you want to ban buddy, and his /WHOIS says:
*** buddy is abcd@dialup-6.provider.com (Think different.)

Then the most specific ban mask would be "buddy!abcd@dialup-6.provider.com" (note the use of "!" and "@" to separate the nickname, username, and hostname). If he changes any of those three, however, he can slip right back in! For example, he could change his nickname "buddy" using /NICK. If he's using a graphical client like mIRC he can change his username "abcd" after a quick /QUIT and reconnect. He can even change the first part of his hostname ("dialup-6") by dialing up to his provider again. That's why it might make more sense to do:

/MODE #demo +b *!*abcd@dialup*.provider.com

Or even a domain ban against everybody from that provider (use sparingly since you may keep out a lot of innocent people):

/MODE #demo +b *!*@*.provider.com


You may view the current bans (from on or off the channel) by leaving off the ban mask. In the example below, there are 2 bans on #demo, the first an old ban restored by the server irc.mcs.net when it rejoined after a split, the second ban was set by buddy against anybody from the blah.net domain whose username contains "foo":


/MODE #demo +b

Current bans on #demo are:
*** #demo *!*@*.dummy.com irc.mcs.net 903321784
*** #demo *!*foo*@*.blah.net buddy!abcd@dialup-6.provider.com 903310028

If you want to remove the first ban, you have to use the exact same ban mask, namely:
/MODE #demo -b *!*@*.dummy.com

Most of the above modes can be combined. For example, to remove the invite-only restriction, while at the same making the channel with topic changed only by ops, not allowing external messages, and password protected with "trustno1" as the key:
/MODE #demo -i+tnk trustno1