Internet Relay Chat

In order to connect and chat with other IRC users you must either have an IRC client or a web interface that connects you to IRC servers. There are numerous software IRC clients that enable users to connect and communicate to other IRC servers. You can find such IRC clients in our recommended download section.

Below is a listing of some of the IRC commands that can be used while connected to an IRC server. Although most of these commands will work with most IRC clients and IRC servers some may encounter errors or generate other errors

Command	Explanation
/away (message)	Leaves a message explaining to others why you are gone.
/clear	Clears the text from the current window that you are in.
/clearall	Clears all the text from all open windows on your screen.
/dcc chat (user name)	Opens a chat window with the username that you specify.
/help	Brings up a list of all the commands or the help window.
/ignore (on/off) (username)	Allows you to ignore / not ignore a user.
/ignore (+/-) (username)	An alternative to ignoring or not ignoring a user.
/join (#channel)	Joins a particular chat group, and open's the chat in a new windows.
/me (action text)	Allows you to do different actions showing the text in a different color.
/msg (user name) (message)	Sends a message to the user of your choice without anyone else seeing it.
/nick (user name)	Changes your name / user name.
/part (channel)	Leaves the specified channel.
/ping (user name)	Pings the specified user and telling you how far they are in seconds, so if it returns 10 seconds, it would take 10 seconds for that user to see your message.
/ping (channel)	Pings all the users in a specified channel.
/query (user name) (message)	Opens a new chat window to this user and then sends a private message.
/whois (user name)	Shows information about the specified user.
/whowas (user name)	Shows information about a specified user that was in earlier.

If you're on an IRC server that you participate on a lot and wish to register your nick so you're the only user who can use it you would use the nickserv command. See our nickserv dictionary definition for additional information about this command.

Finally, if you're running your own IRC channel and wish to register the channel so you can always have control of it use the chanserv command. See our chanserv dictionary definition for additional information about this command.