Commands
Irc/mIRC commands
This is the basic...you just HAVE to know this, or you
won't be able to do much on IRC at all, beyond
joining a channel and talking :). For scripting, knowing these commands well
means being able to pull the
most out of your client, you can't do ANYthing in a script without this.
IRC commands
These are general, specific for the IRC medium, and are
mainly focused on the interaction between you and
the server and other users. These commands are detailed in the mIRC help file,
and I'll leave most of them
alone for your studying, however there are a few commands that are not mentioned
in the helpfile (and that
are not common on all networks), and I'll mention them briefly:
-Silence:
This is working basically just like /ignore,
but has a few important differences. First of all,
while /ignore is a
client-side protection, meaning that you will still receive the incoming
requests, your client will not process them, /silence
is a server-side protection, meaning if an
user matching your silence list tries to send you a request, it will never be
sent to you. Second,
a /silence works only
on CTCP's,
nothing else. Third, a /silence
list is cleared on disconnect
(similar to /watch)
meaning you'll have to re-set it on each connect, if you have a list of
'permanent' silences. Usage: /silence
nick/host to add a nick/host to your silence list, or
/silence -nick/host
to remove, or just /silence
to view the current silence list.
-Watch:
This is a more 'efficient' version of the notify
system, currently only available on DALnet. The
watchlist is cleared on disconnect from a server, meaning that your
client/script must
remember the list, and reset it on reconnect to DALnet (mIRC does this by defalt
from v5.5).
The watch list is limited to 128 entries (nicknames to watch for). Usage:
/watch <+nick1>
[+nick2....+nickN] to
add single nicks to the watchlist, /watch
<#channelname>
to watch an
entire channel, /watch
<-nick> [-nick2....-nickN]
to remove nicks from the watch list, or just
/watch to show your
watch list. While notify only takes in account the nick of the notify-entry,
watch also takes in account the host of the watch-entry, when notifying you of
users in your
list signing on.
mIRC commands
These commands are specific to mIRC, and while many of
them can be used directly to affect your IRC
session immediately, a good many of them are directed at scripters, and will
have only limited / no meaning
for many regular IRC'ers. These are explained well in the mIRC help file, so I
will only comment on a very
few commands here:
-Alias:
( /alias [filename (optional)] <name of alias
(what you type to execute it)>
<command(s)> )
This command allows you to add or modify aliases from the command line. This
allow you to
make small shortcuts to make your everyday IRC session easier, and while you
can't use this
to create very advanced aliases for use in your script, many people find it
handy to save them
typing and time. To add more than one command to be performed by the alias, use
a ' | ' to
separate the commands, ie;
/alias hop part #
| join
#$1
-Help:
( /help [keyword] )
The helpfile does have it's weaknesses. But reading
it, often and thoroughly, can help you
solve problems you have, or just learning scripting. If you're making something
that should
react to a ban being made, type /help
on ban and get help on the ban event, test it out, see
how it works, read some more, until you've got it right. If you're stuck, ask,
for instance in a
helping channel like #HelpDesk
Or #Q8scripting but be
sure you've read the help before you do :) Of course,
never be afraid to ask, the helpfile is far from perfect, but it's actually
quite good :). /help just
opens the helpfile in the contents listing, while /help
<keyword> gives help on keyword.
-Run:
( /run [-n (optional)] <file to run
(including path, if necessary)> [parameters
(optional)] )
This command runs a program, or a file (in which case
it will effectively execute the program
associated with the file, using the filename as primary parameters), with
optional parameters as
well. The -n switch minimizes the program/file being run, in most cases. The
only reason why I
mention this command specifically is a little thing I've noticed; many scripts
seem to tend to use
/run program.exe
filename, in other words, running a program with an additional filename as
the file to open. While this is all fine and ok, it is in most cases very
unnecessary. If you want
to open a .txt file in notepad, and .txt files are associated with notepad
(which they are on
most winXX computers), then just using /run
filename.txt is a more effecient way of doing this.
This also saves you from the trouble of locating the program you want to run the
file with, but
instead letting the O/S choose the appropriate way to start it. Of course,
nothing stops you
from adding a program if you want to force a file to be opened by a specific
program..
-Echo:
( /echo [colour (optional)] [parameters (optional)] <Text>
)
Echo is particularly handy for one thing, namely
evaluating identifiers and expressions you use
in your script. For instance, you want to know what the $server
identifier does, simple, use
//echo $server,
and voilą, you can see that it returns the name of the server you're currently
connected to. While this was a simple example, you can put together complex
constructions of
identifiers for use in your script, and to evaluate them without having to run
your script, you
may use the echo command. If you're online, you can of course use //say,
but //echo shows
the result to you only, and works while offline (note though that some
identifiers only will
evaluate while online, such as $server for instance :)), //say
requires you to be online and
shows the result to everybody in the same channel as you or to the nick of the
user you're
having a query window open with. Use echo :). Please note that yes, you will
have to use //
instead of just /, the double slashes forces mIRC to evaluate your input, if you
used a single
slash, you would get returned just $server, instead of the server you currently
were connected
to.