July 26th, 1991 - written by Ronald van Loon (rvl). [ PART ONE : BASIC COMMANDS, PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS ] IRC for beginners - an introduction =================================== [NOTE: IRC II, the client we are using in our group, has most of this information on-line. If you are stuck, type /HELP and hit return - if that doesn't work, just try again till it does. To escape from /HELP mode, keep pressing return until your edit line (the line at the bottom of the screen) is empty.] Most of the information in this file can be found in the following files : /HELP INTRO /HELP NEWUSER IRC - what is it ================ Irc is a multi-user, multi-channel chatting network. It allows people all over the internet to talk to one another in real-time. Each irc user has a nickname they use. All communication with another user is either by nickname or by the channel that they or you are on. More about channels later on. IRC - some basics ================= IRC is based on a client-server model. Clients are programs that connect to a server, a server is a program that transports data (messages) from one user (client) to another. The client we use at 3DCV is called IRC II (version 2.1.x), originally written by Michael Sandrov. IRC II ====== All IRCII commands begin with a "/" character. Anthing that does not begin with a / is assumed to be a message to someone and send to your current channel, or to a person you are QUERYing. In the following I will describe the more common commands used in every-day IRC-life. If you are not sure about the spelling of an IRC II command, type the prefix of that command - and press the ESCape key twice. IRC II (from now on IRC) will give you a listing of COMMANDS and ALIASes that start with that prefix. Don't forget the "/" in front of the command, though. Example : /W IRC: *** Commands: IRC: *** WAIT WALLOPS WHILE WHO IRC: *** WHOIS WHOWAS IRC: *** Aliases: IRC: *** W WA WH WI IRC: *** WLOFF WLOG WLON WS [Note : This is an example. Your screen may show more Aliases, and less Commands than shown here, or less Aliases and more Commands - in other words "your mileage may vary" ;-)] BASIC IRC COMMANDS ================== In the following, everything you have to type is preceded with a colon (:), everything that the client program does is preceded with IRC: ----- /LIST Lists all current irc channels, number of users, and topic. ----- Example : : /LIST IRC: *** Channel Users Topic IRC: *** +test 1 this is a test channel IRC: *** #KOFFIE 1 ----- /NAMES Shows the nicknames of all users on each channel ----- Example : : /NAMES IRC: Pub: +test @rvloon IRC: Prv: * ronaldvl fred ----- /NICK Change your nickname (everyone who wants to talk to you sees this name - also, at the moment, nicknames are limited to 9 characters max. Your nickname will be the same as your login by default. You can also set an environment variable, IRCNICK, which value will be used instead.) ----- Example: : /NICK harry IRC: *** rvloon is now known as harry ----- /QUIT Exits irc. You can also use /BYE, /SIGNOFF and /EXIT. ----- /HELP Gets help on all IRCII commands. ----- Example : : /HELP HELP IRC: *** Help on HELP IRC: Usage: HELP [command] IRC: Shows help on the given command. [ To save space, rest of explanation deleted ] ----- /WHOIS Shows the "true" indentity of someone ----- Example : : /WHOIS fred IRC:*** fred is fred@131.211.145.24 (Fred Appelman) on channel *private* IRC:*** on irc via server prisma.cv.ruu.nl (The CV stand-alone IRC-server) IRC:*** Command last received: 6322 :is the idle time f ----- /AWAY Leave a message explaining that you are not currently paying attention to IRC. ----- Example : : /AWAY I am answering Mother Nature's call. Back in 5 minutes. IRC: You have been marked as being away ----- /AWAY without any additional argument will remove the away-message. ----- Example : : /AWAY IRC: You are no longer marked as being away ----- COMMUNICATION - PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS ===================================== Use the /MSG command (usually /M is an alias for /MSG) to send someone a message that only that person can read. Usage : ----- /MSG ----- Example : : /MSG rvloon Where did you put the Motif C++ headerfiles ? This will appear on your screen as : IRC: -> *rvloon* Where did you put the Motif C++ headerfiles ? And on rvloon's screen as : IRC: *YourName* Where did you put the Motif C++ headerfiles ? (provided your nickname is "YourName" of course). ----- To answer to such a message, you have two options : 1) You type /MSG 2) You type /MSG , The comma (,) is an abbreviation for "last person who sent me a message". In a similar fashion, the dot (.) in a /MSG command is an abbreviation for "last person who I sent a message". QUERY ----- You can have a private conversation by only using /MSG. However, typing "/MSG ," or "/MSG " gets cumbersome. That's where the QUERY command comes in handy. Usage : /QUERY All subsequent text will be send as private messages to ; all subsequent text, that is everything you type in the bottom line which doesn't start with a '/'. Also, messages are not sent until you press or . Use /QUERY with no arguments to end a private conversation. I will now show you an example of a private conversation, and the output on both screens : 1) : /NAMES 2) : /QUERY rvloon 3) : Goodmorning 4) : Pretty good, even the weather's fine 5) : /WHOIS rvloon 6) : I have to get back to work, I'll drop by later 7) : /QUERY Output on my screen : 1) Prv: * ronaldvl rvloon 2) *** Starting conversation with rvloon 3) -> *rvloon* Goodmorning *rvloon* morning, how is life ? 4) -> *rvloon* Pretty good, even the weather's fine 5) *** rvloon is rvloon@131.211.145.35 (Ronald van Loon) on channel *private* 5) *** on irc via server prisma.cv.ruu.nl (The CV stand-alone IRC-server) 5) *** Command last received: 46 :is the idle time for *rvloon* do you have time for some coffee ? 6) -> *rvloon* I have to get back to work, I'll drop by later 7) *** Ending conversation with rvloon Output on rvloon's screen : 3) *YourName* Goodmorning -> *YourName* morning, how is life ? 4) *YourName* Pretty good, even the weather's fine -> *YourName* do you have time for some coffee ? 6) *YourName* I have to get back to work, I'll drop by later [ END OF PART ONE. PART TWO WILL DEAL WITH PUBLIC CONVERSATION ] Ronald van Loon (rvloon@cv.ruu.nl, rloon@cs.ruu.nl) 3D Computer Vision Research Group, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.