IRC Commands

General Commands

/AWAY [away message]

Leave a message explaining that you are not currently paying attention to  IRC. Whenever  someone sends you a MSG or does a WHOIS on you, they automatically see  whatever  message  you  set.
Using  /AWAY  with  no parameters marks you as no longer being away. 
example:  /away off to get something to eat, back in a moment! 

/IGNORE nickname

This command will 'silence' another chatter, so that you cannot see anything they type. Very handy command.:) 

/INVITE nickname #channel

Invites  another  user to a channel.

/JOIN #channel

Join the specified channel.  
example:  /join #irchelp  

This will make you join the #irchelp channel. Once on a channel, anything you type will be seen by all the users on this channel.  

Some channels may also have keys ie. a password, which you need to specify when using the /join command.  
example:  /join #irchelp trout  

This will make you join the #irchelp channel using "trout" as the password.  

/LIST

Lists currently available channels.  

/ME action

Tells the current channel or query about what you are doing. 
example:  /me smiles happily 

/MSG nickname message

Send a private message to this user without opening a query window. 

/NICK nickname

Changes your nickname to a new nickname.  

/PART #channel

Leave a channel.  
example:  /part #irchelp  

/QUERY nickname message

Open a query window to this user and send them a private message. 

/QUIT [reason]

This will disconnect you from IRC and will give the optional message as the reason for your departure. (this message only appears to people who are on the same channels as you). 
example: /quit That's all folks! 

/TOPIC #channel newtopic

Changes the topic for the channel. 
example: /topic #friendly Oh what a beautiful day!

/WHOIS nickname

Shows information about someone.