What are IRC clients ?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.875em; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: 1.1; margin: 0px 0px 0.9em; padding: 0px 0px 0.17em;"> IRC</h1> <div class="intro" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 1.09em; line-height: 1.7em; padding: 0px 7em 2em 0px;"> Developed in August <a href="http://www.computerhope.com/history/198090.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(219, 219, 219); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #663366; text-decoration: none;">1988</a>, by <a href="http://www.computerhope.com/people/jarkko_oikarinen.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(219, 219, 219); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #663366; text-decoration: none;">Jarkko Oikarinen</a>, <b>IRC</b> is short for <b>Internet Relay Chat</b>and is a popular <a href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/c/chat.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(219, 219, 219); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #663366; text-decoration: none;">chat</a> 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 <a href="http://www.computerhope.com/chat.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(219, 219, 219); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #663366; text-decoration: none;">Computer Hope chat room</a> uses an IRC server to allow its users to talk and ask computer questions live.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7em; padding: 0px 7em 2em 0px;"> In order to connect and chat with other IRC users, you must either have an <b>IRC client</b> 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 the<a href="http://www.hydrairc.com/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(219, 219, 219); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #663366; text-decoration: none;">HydraIRC</a> program.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7em; padding: 0px 7em 2em 0px;"> 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.</div> <table class="mtable" style="-webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; background-color: #e5e5e5; border: 0px solid silver; clear: left; color: #454545; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 858px;"><tbody style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><th style="background-color: #005cb9; border: 0px; color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">Command</th><th style="background-color: #005cb9; border: 0px; color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">Explanation</th></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/away (message)</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">Leaves a message explaining to others why you are gone.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/clear</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">Clears the text from the current window.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/clearall</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">Clears all the text from all open windows on your screen.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/dcc chat (user name)</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">Opens a chat window with the username that you specify.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/help</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">Brings up a list of all the commands or the help window.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/ignore (on/off) (username)</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">Allows you to ignore or unignore a user.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/ignore (+/-) (username)</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">An alternative to ignoring or not ignoring a user.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/join (#channel)</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">Joins a particular chat group, and open's the chat in a new windows.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/me (action text)</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">Allows you to do different actions showing the text in a different color.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/<a href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/m/msg.htm" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; color: #663366; text-decoration: none;">msg</a> (user name) (message)</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">Sends a message to the user of your choice without anyone else seeing it.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/nick (user name)</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">Changes your user name.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/part (channel)</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">Leaves the specified channel.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/ping (user name)</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">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.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/ping (channel)</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">Pings all the users in a specified channel.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/query (user name) (message)</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">Opens a new chat window to this user and then sends a private message.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/whois (user name)</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">Shows information about the specified user.</td></tr> <tr class="tcw" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;"><b>/whowas (user name)</b></td><td style="border-spacing: 5px 10px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 9px; vertical-align: top;">Shows information about a specified user that was in earlier.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7em; padding: 0px 7em 2em 0px;"> If you log into an IRC server frequently and use the same <a href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/a/alias.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(219, 219, 219); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #663366; text-decoration: none;">nick</a>, make sure to register the nick with nickserv to prevent others from using the same name. See the <a href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/n/nickserv.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(219, 219, 219); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #663366; text-decoration: none;">nickserv</a> definition for further information about this command.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7em; padding: 0px 7em 2em 0px;"> Finally, if you're running your own IRC <a href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/c/channel.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(219, 219, 219); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #663366; text-decoration: none;">channel</a> and want to register the channel use the chanserv command. See the <a href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/c/chanserv.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(219, 219, 219); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #663366; text-decoration: none;">chanserv</a> definition for further information about this command.</div> </div>

What are IRC clients ?

IRC Developed in August  1988 , by  Jarkko Oikarinen ,  IRC  is short for  Internet Relay Chat and is a popular  chat  service still in ...

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