---
name: "ircII"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "ircii"
version: "20240918-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ircII"
---

# ircII(1)

interface to the Internet Relay Chat system

## NAME

**ircII** – interface to the Internet Relay Chat system

## SYNOPSIS

**irc** \[**-abdFfqrSsTtv**\] \[**-c** *chan*\] \[**-D** *level*\] \[**-e** *protocol* *level*\] \[**-H** *host*\[*:port*\]\] \[**-h** *host*\[*:port*\]\] \[**-I** *ircrcquick*\] \[**-icb**\] \[**-irc**\] \[**-l** *ircrc*\] \[**-o** *file*\] \[**-P** *portno*\] \[**-p** *portno*\] \[**-R** *host*\[*:port*\]\] \[*nickname* \[*server* *list*\]\] \[**-****-**\]

## DESCRIPTION

The **ircII** program is a full screen, termcap based interface to Internet Relay Chat. It gives full access to all of the normal IRC functions, plus a variety of additional options.

## OPTIONS

The following options are supported:

- **-a**

  This adds the normal irc server list to the command line list of irc servers.

- **-b**

  Load the *.ircrc* file before connection to a server, not afterwards.

- **-c** *chan*

  Automatically join channel *chan*.

- **-d**

  Start in non-full screen mode. All input is taken directly from stdin and all output goes to stdout without using any of the [termcap(5)](/termcap/5.md) screen control codes.

- **-D** *level*

  Enable debugging of *level*. This option is only available if **ircII** is built with -DDEBUG.

- **-e** *protocol* *level*

  For protocol *protocol*, set the default encryption (SSL) level to *level*. Currently, only "IRC" is supported for the *protocol* and the values that *level* can take are "check", "nocheck", and "off". Please also see the description of the "server list" below.

- **-F**

  Don't use flow control (^S and ^Q) to stop start the display. This switch is ignored if the **-d** switch is used.

- **-f**

  Use flow control (^S and ^Q) to stop/start the display. Normally these are both bound to other functions within **ircII**. This switch is ignored if the **-d** switch is used.

- **-H** *host*\[*:port*\]

  This option instructs **ircII** to use the given *host* as the local address for DCC, and works otherwise identically to the **-h** option.

- **-h** *host*\[*:port*\]

  This option instructs **ircII** to use the given *host* as the local address. Useful only on multi-homed hosts. If the optional port segment is included, **ircII** will attempt to bind to this local port as well as local host address. If *host* is an IPv6 "number", it must be provided in the common *file ...* \[12:34:ab:cd\] format. This means for an IPv6 "number" and port, it would be written *\[12:34:ab:cd\]:6669*.

- **-icb**

  Use ICB connections by default.

- **-irc**

  Use IRC connections by default.

- **-l** *ircrc*

  Use *ircrc* Instead of the default *~/.ircrc*.

- **-o** *file*

  Set the debug output file to *file*. This option is only available if **ircII** is built with -DDEBUG.

- **-P** *portno*

  Set the ICB port number to *portno* (default: 7326, the standard ICB port).

- **-p** *portno*

  Set the IRC port number to *portno* (default: 6667, the standard IRC port). Only supply this if you connect to a server which uses a port other than 6667.

- **-q**

  Start up **ircII** quickly. Don't load the IRCRC file, only the quick IRCRC file set by the

- **-I**

  option.

- **-R** *host*\[*:port*\]

  Set the default HTTP proxy host for server connections to *host:port*.

- **-r**

  Reverse the normal default foreground and background colours.

- **-S**

  Start up the ircio process to connect to the IRC server.

- **-s**

  Don't start up the ircio process to connect to the IRC server (default).

- **-T**

  Do use the termcap ti and te sequences when starting and exiting if they exist.

- **-t**

  Don't use the termcap ti and te sequences when starting and exiting (default).

- **-v**

  Print the version and release date of **ircII** and exit.

- **-****-**

  End all option processing.

The remaining command line arguments are:

- *nickname* Set the nickname (overrides the environment variable IRCNICK; default: the username).

- *server* *list* Set the list of servers with which **ircII** will try to connect upon startup. This list is also used by the program's **/server** command.

For IRC connections, the format is: *host*\[*:portno*\[*:password*\[*:nick*\]\]\]

For ICB connections, the format is: *ICB/host* \[*:portno*\[*:nick*\[*:group*\[*:mode*\]\]\]\] with *group* being the initial group and *mode* being the initial group mode. See **/HELP** **ICB** for more information about ICB.

If the *host* is in the format *:servergroup:host.com* then *servergroup* is taken to be the Server Group for this server entry.

If the *host* is prefixed with **SSLIRC/** or **SSLIRCNOCHECK/** then an attempt will be made to initiate an SSL/TLS connection for this host. The **SSLIRCNOCHECK/** form does not verify the remote server's certificate, which may have security implications. Please see SSL/TLS documentation for more information.

If the *host* is prefixed with **PROXY/host:port/** then this server will be connected via specified HTTP proxy server. The **NO\_PROXY/** prefix will disable any global proxy setting for this server.

## DETAILED DESCRIPTION

### The Screen

The screen is split into two parts, separated by an inverse-video status line (if supported). The upper (larger) part of the screen displays responses from the IRC server. The lower part of the screen (a single line) accepts keyboard input.

Some terminals do not support certain features required by **ircII**, in which case you receive a message stating this. If this occurs, try changing the terminal type or run **ircII** with the **-d** option.

### IRC Commands

Any line beginning with the slash character (‘/’) is regarded as an **ircII** command (the command character may be changed; type **/help** **set** **cmdchar**). Any line not beginning with this character is treated as a message to be sent to the current channel. To produce a listing of commands, type **/help** **?**. To receive information about the commands type **/help** **\<command\>**.

### The .ircrc File

When **ircII** is executed, it checks the user's home directory for a *.ircrc* file, executing the commands in the file. Commands in this file do not need to have a leading slash character (‘/’). This allows predefinition of aliases and other features.

## ENVIRONMENT

It can be helpful to predefine certain variables in in the *.cshrc*, *.profile*, or *.login* file:

- IRCNICK

  The user's **ircII** nickname.

- IRCNAME

  The user's IRC realname (otherwise retrieved from */etc/passwd*)

- IRCSERVER

  The default IRC server(s) (see server option for details)

- IRCSERVERSFILE

  The file containing the default list of server(s), usually *PREFIX/share/irc/ircII.servers*. This file should contain one server entry per line.

- HOME

  Overrides the default home path in */etc/passwd*.

- TERM

  The type of terminal in use.

## FILES

- *~/.ircrc*

  default initialization file

- *~/.irc/*

  directory into which you can put your own **ircII** scripts, that can then be loaded with **/load**

- *.../share/irc/*

  directory containing message-of-the-day, master initialization, help files, and **ircII** scripts

- *.../share/irc/script/global*

  file loaded at the start of every **ircII** session.

- *PREFIX/share/irc/ircII.servers*

  The initial list of servers if none are provided on the command line.

- *PREFIX/share/irc/ircII.motd*

  Message of the day. This file is displayed only once each time it is changed.

## EXAMPLES

Connect IRC to port number 5555 of the default host and enter on channel #users:

```
irc -c #users -p 5555
```

Use the nickname “Mermaid”:

```
irc Mermaid
```

Use the nickname “Mermaid” and the modified server list:

```
irc Mermaid server1:5000 server2::passwd server3
```

Use the nickname “piglet3”, initially connecting to irc.au.lamenet.org, with also irc.us.lamenet.org added to the server list, both having a server group name “ln”:

```
irc piglet3 :ln:irc1.lamenet.org :ln:irc.us.lamenet.org
```

Use the nick “oink” making an ICB connection to evolve.icb.net:

```
irc oink ICB/evolve.icb.net
```

Use dumb mode:

```
irc -d
```

Allow use of ^S/^Q to stop/start screen display:

```
irc -f
```

Set the username (if not specified elsewhere) to “Mermaid”. The user's name (when provided inside parentheses in response to a **WHOIS** command) is set to “The one and only :)”:

```
setenv IRCNICK Mermaid
setenv IRCNAME "The one and only :)"
irc
```

## THE HELP FILES

All of the **ircII** commands are fully described in the help files package. The best way to start here is with the **/HELP** **?** command as this prints a listing of all available help files.

Access to HTML version of the help files is available from **http://eterna23.net/ircii/help/**. Note that these are generated from the builtin help files and may have formatting issues.

## SIGNALS

**ircII** handles the following signals

- SIGUSR1

  Closes all DCC connections and EXEC'ed processes.

- SIGUSR2

  Drops **ircII** back to the command line.

## SEE ALSO

[irc(1)](/irc/1.md), [ircd(8)](/ircd/8.md)

## AUTHORS

Program written by Michael Sandrof ⟨*ms5n+@andrew.cmu.edu*⟩. Now being maintained by Matthew R. Green ⟨*mrg@eterna23.net*⟩. Names of contributors and contact address can be retrieved with the **/info** command. This manual page written by Darren Reed ⟨*avalon@coombs.anu.EDU.AU*⟩, revised by R. P. C. Rodgers ⟨*rodgers@maxwell.mmwb.ucsf.edu*⟩, by the lynX, and by Matthew R. Green ⟨*mrg@eterna23.net*⟩.

## BUGS

Please notify the current developer of the software of any bugs in current versions.