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IRC Commands

Note: Hit enter after each command.

/away

When you're called away to put out a grease fire in the kitchen, issue this command to let others know you're still connected but just away from your terminal or computer for awhile.

/help

Brings up a list of commands for which there is a help file. You will get a "topic:" prompt. Type in the subject for which you want information and hit enter. Hit enter by itself to exit help.

/invite

Asks another IRC to join you in a conversation.

/invite fleepo #hottub

would send a message to fleepo asking him to join you on the #hottub channel. The channel name is optional.

/join

Use this to switch to or create a particular channel, like this: `/join #hottub'

If one of these channels exists and is not a private one, you will enter it. Otherwise, you have just created it. Note you have to use a `#' as the first character.

/list

This will give you a list of all available public channels, their topics (if any) and the number of users currently on them. Hidden and private channels are not shown.

/m name

Send a private message to that user.

/mode

This lets you determine who can join a channel you've created.

/mode #channel +s

creates a secret channel.

/mode #channel +p

makes the channel private

/nick

This lets you change the name by which others see you.

`/nick fleepo' would change your name for the present session to fleepo. People can still use /whois to find your e-mail address. If you try to enter a channel where somebody else is already using that nickname, IRC will ask you to select another name.

/query

This sets up a private conversation between you and another IRC user. To do this, type `/query nickname'

Every message you type after that will go only to that person. If she then types `/query nickname' where nickname is yours, then you have established a private conversation. To exit this mode, type `/query' by itself. While in query mode, you and the other person can continue to "listen" to the discussion on whatever public channels you were on, although neither of you will be able to respond to any of the messages there.

/quit

Exit IRC.

/signoff

Exit IRC.

/summon

Asks somebody connected to a host system with IRC to join you on IRC. You must use the person's entire e-mail address.

`/summon fleepo@foo.bar.com' would send a message to fleepo asking him to start IRC. Usually not a good idea to just summon people unless you know they're already amenable to the idea; otherwise you may wind up annoying them no end. This command does not work on all sites.

/topic

When you've started a new channel, use this command to let others know what it's about.

`/topic #Amiga' would tell people who use /list that your channel is meant for discussing Amiga computers.

/who <chan>

Shows you the e-mail address of people on a particular channel.

`/who #foo' would show you the addresses of everybody on channel foo.

`/who' by itself shows you every e-mail address for every person on IRC at the time, although be careful: on a busy night you might get a list of 500 names!

/whois

Use this to get some information about a specific IRC user or to see who is online.

`/whois nickname' will give you the e-mail address for the person using that nickname.

`/whois *' will list everybody on every channel.

/whowas

Similar to `/whois'; gives information for people who recently signed off IRC.

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