Basic IRC Commands


Welcome to The EsperNet IRC Network. IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat, a internet-based chat medium consisting of clients (users like you) and an interconnected network of servers as the medium for chat. In addition to this page, you may also find this primer [irchelp.org] helpful.

To connect to EsperNet, you'll first need an IRC client. Check out this page [ircreviews.org] to find a client for your system. Alternatively you can connect using our web browser client at webchat.esper.net

Once you have your client installed, type this into it to get on EsperNet:

/SERVER irc.esper.net 5555

Once you're on EsperNet, you'll need a few basic commands to get started. Note, all the commands in this list must be prefixed with a forward-slash (/). For example, JOIN, takes the form:

/JOIN

All commands listed here are not case sensitve, and are just capitlized for clarity.

Command Usage and Description
JOIN JOIN [#channel]

Joins the requested channel. Example:

/JOIN #esper
PART PART [#channel] [reason]

Leaves the requested channel. If reason is provided, it will be announced in your part message. Example:

/PART #esper See-ya!
ME ME [is doing this]

Announces the text like an action, e.g;
* Thomas is reading email

Example:

/ME is reading email
MSG MSG [nickname] [message]

This command is also called QUERY.

Sends a private message to nick. Example:

/MSG NickServ HELP
WHOIS WHOIS [nickname]

Displays brief, useful information about the target user such as their hostname, public channels they are in, as well as what NickServ account they are identfied to.

/WHOIS Thomas

MODE MODE [nickname/#channel] [+/- modes]

This command can be used both on yourself, as a user, or on a channel you have channel operator status on. For a list of all availbe channel modes, issue the command /QUOTE help cmode, or /QUOTE help cmode for channel modes.

Examples:

/MODE Thomas +g
/MODE #esper +mk