List of IRC commands

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 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.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items.

Syntax:

/admin

Gives administrative details about the server the user is currently connected to.

Syntax:

/ignore <nick!user@hostmask>

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).

Syntax:

/join <#channel>

Joins <#channel>.

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.

Syntax:

/motd [server]

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

Syntax:

/names <channel>

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

Syntax:

/nick <nickname>

Sets your nickname to <nickname>.

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.

Syntax:

/part <#channel> [reason]

Parts <#channel>. You have to be on <channel> to use /part. If no reason is given, a default (usually user-defined) is used.

Syntax:

/query <nickname>

Starts a private chat with the selected

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.

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")

Syntax:

/whois <nick!ident@hostmask>

Displays a short information about the given nick.

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

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.

Syntax:

/ban [#channel] <nick!user@hostmask>

Sets a channel ban on the specified mask. This command will only set the ban, you must kick the user afterwards. If the user is not kicked, the ban acts as a targeted channel moderation - that user cannot talk unless s/he is voiced, opped, or half-opped. You can also achieve this command using the /mode command shown below with the +b channel mode.

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.

Syntax:

/mode [#channel|nick!ident@host] <+/-> [parameters]

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.

The most common modes are:

Name	Type	Description
+b [hostmask]	Channel	Sets a ban on anybody matching [hostmask]
+o	Nick	Gives a nick operator status
+v	Nick	Voices nick
+h	Nick	Gives nick half-operator status
+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
+p	Channel	Makes the channel private (you can't /who it if you're not in the channel) (depreciated)
+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
+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.
+x	User	Obfuscates the user's hostmask so as to make it impossible to find an IP from it.

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.

Syntax:

/oper <nick!ident@host> <password>

This will make the specified user an IRCop.

Syntax:

/kill <nick!ident@host> [reason]

This will disconnect a user from the network you issued the kill command on.

Syntax:

/gline <nick!user@host>  [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 1d2h4m5s (1 day 2 hours 4 minutes 5 seconds).

Syntax

/kline <nick!user@host>  [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 somebody in Armenia can't connect to a Canadian server.

Syntax:

/shun <nick!ident@host>  [reason]

shun forces the server to ignore any commands from the given nick/host except for ping responses and the /admin command. Shunned users are not notified of the shunning, though they could figure it out rather easily.