What are IRC clients ?

IRC

Developed in August 1988, by Jarkko Oikarinen, IRC is short for Internet Relay Chatand is a popular chat service still in use today that enables users to connect to an IRC server using a software program or web service and communicate with each other live. For example, the Computer Hope chat room uses an IRC server to allow its users to talk and ask computer questions live.

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. We suggest theHydraIRC program.

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 commands may be invalid.

Command	Explanation
/away (message)	Leaves a message explaining to others why you are gone.
/clear	Clears the text from the current window.
/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 or unignore 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 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 log into an IRC server frequently and use the same nick, make sure to register the nick with nickserv to prevent others from using the same name. See the nickserv definition for further information about this command.

Finally, if you're running your own IRC channel and want to register the channel use the chanserv command. See the chanserv definition for further information about this command.