List of Internet Relay Chat commands

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This is a list of universal commands used in IRC.

  • The leading "/" is the command indicator. In most cases, you can change this, e.g. to "$", so that "/me" would change to "$me". "/" is almost always the default.
  • Those arguments with <> around them are in most cases required for the command to work properly, and those with [] around them usually do not need to be in there. Always refer to your client's help file(s) for information on commands and what to do, etc.
  • Hostmasks come in the form nick!ident@host. They accept the wildcard characters * and ?, which match any string of characters and any single character respectively. For example, *!MrWiki@Wikipedia.org would match any nick with that ident and host. Note that you can just say "nick", and it will be matched to a hostmask automatically by the server.

Contents

[edit] User commands

[edit] admin

Syntax:

/admin [server]

Gives administrative details about the server the user is currently connected to or the specified server that is given.

[edit] ctcp

Further information: Client-To-Client Protocol

Syntax:

/ctcp <user> <command> [other]

Sends a CTCP <command> to <user>.

[edit] disconnect

Syntax:

/disconnect

Disconnects user from current server.

[edit] help

Syntax:

/help (or /raw help)

Returns a list of available IRC commands.

[edit] ignore

Syntax:

/ignore <nick!ident@host>

Your client will not display lines from the specified user. This command varies from client to client, for more information on what commands an irc client uses see its help file(s).

/ignore -r <nick!ident@host>

to remove the ignore

[edit] join

Syntax:

/join <#channel>[,#channel2,#channel3] [key]

Joins <#channel>.

[edit] list

Syntax:

/list <#channel> <-min#> <-max#>

Lists title and number of users on a channel.

[edit] links

Syntax:

/links

Retrieves list of all linked servers, and in what manner/order they relate to the currently connected server. On larger IRC networks, /links has been disabled to deter DDOS attacks.

[edit] lusers

Syntax:

/lusers

Lists local users in their various forms, online operators/admins, number of channels, and in how many servers.

An example of how it displays in mIRC:
There are 1014 users and 3 invisible on 1 servers
6 operator(s) online
32 channels formed
I have 1017 clients and 0 servers

[edit] me

Syntax:

/me <text>

Displays the nickname, followed by <text>.

For example, when the user "MrWiki" writes "/me is going to go watch TV", it would be seen as "* MrWiki is going to go watch TV" by the channel. The way the output and input of an action may vary from client to client.

It is implemented with the CTCP ACTION command.

[edit] motd

Syntax:

/motd [server]

Returns the Message of the Day for the server the user is currently connected to or the specified server if given.

[edit] names

Syntax:

/names <#channel>

Returns a list of nicknames on that channel, prefixed by @ and + for operator and voice modes respectively.

[edit] nick

Syntax:

/nick <nickname>

Sets your nickname to <nickname>.

[edit] notice

Syntax:

/notice <#channel|nick!ident@host> <text>

Sends a notice to the specified channel or user. Generally, this isn't used except by service bots and IRCops. Any unnecessary use of the /notice command is looked down on, and can lead to a g-lining.

[edit] part

Syntax:

/part <#channel> [reason]

Parts the specified channel, or if the channel parameter isn't present it will part the active channel. If no reason is given, a default (usually user-defined) is used.

[edit] query

Syntax:

/query <nickname>

Starts a private chat with the selected user.

[edit] quit

Syntax:

/quit [reason]

This will make the server disconnect you from it. At times if a server is laggy you won't disconnect right off the bat, so instead some clients have the /disconnect command which forces the client to disconnect from the server. If no reason is given, a default (usually user-defined) is used.

In Mozilla's Chatzilla IRC client, this command will cause you to exit Chatzilla completely.

[edit] quote

Syntax:

/quote <command> (or /raw <command>)

Sends the given command directly to the server so it will be not processed by the client program (for example client command "/connect" has different function than server command "/quote connect").

[edit] stats

Syntax:

/stats <letter>

Acquires server stat information based on the associated letter input given. (For example: "/stats o" will list operators from the server's configuration.)


Common server stats include:

Stats letter Description
g Lists G-Lines on the server
k Lists K-lines on the server
m Lists the server's specific available commands
p Lists IRC operators on the server
u Lists the server's uptime

Note: /stats k and g usually require IRC-Operator status.

[edit] whois

Syntax:

/whois <nick>

Displays a short information about the given nick.

[edit] Channel operator commands

These commands can only be issued by users with operator or half-op privileges.

[edit] invite

Syntax:

/invite <nick> <#channel>

Invites <nick> to join <#channel>.

[edit] kick

Syntax:

/kick <#channel> <nick> [reason]

Removes <nick> from <#channel>. The kicked user can, of course, rejoin, so this is rarely effective in keeping someone out, but it does serve as a warning.

[edit] topic

Syntax:

/topic [#channel] <text>

Sets the current topic to <text>. Only available to ops/halfops when channel mode +t is set; otherwise, anyone can use it. When no text is given, returns the current topic on the channel.

[edit] mode

Syntax:

/mode <#channel|nick> <+/-parameters> <nick> 

This sets a mode on [#channel], or on the specified user. The required level depends on the modes. Note that you can use it on yourself without any channel modes set on you (mIRC users can use //mode $me <+/-parameters> to set modes).

The most common modes are:

Name Type Description
+b [hostmask] Channel Sets a ban on anybody matching [hostmask]. [hostmask] needs to be in the form of user!ident@host, but you can use wildcards, ie. *@host.
+o [nick] Channel Gives a nick operator status in the channel.
+v [nick] Channel Voices nick.
+h [nick] Channel Gives nick half-operator status.
+c Channel Blocks colour from being sent to the channel.
+O Channel Only IRC operators can join the channel.
+m Channel Makes channel moderated (only ops, half-ops and voiced people can speak).
+t Channel Only ops can change the topic.
+i Channel Makes the channel invite-only.
+I [mask] Channel Everybody matching [mask] can join a +i channel without invite.
+p Channel Makes the channel private (you can't /who it if you're not in the channel) (deprecated).
+s Channel Makes the channel secret (it doesn't turn up in /list). Mode +p and +s cannot be used on the same channel.
+l [number] Channel Limits the number of people who can be in the channel to [number].
+k [key] Channel Key-locks the channel. You need to join using "/join #channel [key]".
+e [mask] Channel Makes everybody matching [mask] unbannable.
+d User Makes the user deaf. Channel messages will be blocked, however the user will still receive private messages.
+g User Displays desynch wallops messages. e.g. !irc.server.xx! Nick (user@host) is now an IRC operator (O)
+i User Makes the user invisible, i.e. nobody can use wildcards to match the nick in a /who or /whois command; they must know the exact nick.
+k User Network service mode on ircu based IRCd's. Prevents a user from being deopped, kicked or killed.
+R User Prevents non registered users from messaging registered users on some networks.
+s User Allows the user to view server notices such as server links/delinks, glines, and notices regarding High-Traffic Mode.
+W User Returns who is /whois'ing you on Nefarious IRCd.
+w User Allows the user to view "wallops", or notices sent between Opers.
+o User Sets the user as an IRC Operator. This mode should not be confused with the channel mode +o, which sets a user as a channel operator.
+x User Obfuscates the user's hostmask so as to make it impossible to find an IP from it.

These modes may differ from network to network

[edit] IRC operator commands

IRC operators (IRCops) are given a special set of commands for server and network maintenance. Many of these can be abused quite easily, so care must be taken before making somebody an IRCop.

[edit] oper

Syntax:

/oper <username> <password>

This will allow the user issuing the command to gain IRC Operator privileges.

[edit] kill

Syntax:

/kill <nick> <reason>

This will disconnect a user from the network you issued the kill command on. But the user is allowed to reconnect after the kill

[edit] gline

Syntax:

/gline <nick!user@host> <time> [reason]

This command globally bans anybody matching that hostmask from all servers linked to the IRC network. All such users will be automatically disconnected.

Time has to be specified in seconds or on most modern IRCDs can be specified like 1d2h3m4s (1 day 2 hours 3 minutes 4 seconds).

[edit] kline

Syntax:

/kline <nick!user@host> <time> [reason]

Like gline, but only bans the given hostmask from the server the command was issued from. If there is more than one server linked to the network, the user can reconnect and get on another server. K-lines are commonly used to enforce geographical limits, so that, for example, somebody in Armenia can't connect to a Canadian server.

[edit] shun

Syntax:

/shun <ident@host> <duration> [reason]

Shun forces the server to ignore any commands from the given context except for ping responses and the /admin command. Shunned users are not notified of the use of the command, though they could figure it out rather easily. Shuns are not implemented on many IRC networks for their end result doesn't provide much more functionality than a G-line or K-line.

[edit] wallops

Syntax:

/wallops <message>

Sends a message to all IRC operators online. This message will also be received by any user who has set mode +w on themself.