Documentation for Irssi newbies (!!)

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+
+ To new Irssi users (not to new IRC users ..)
+
+ Copyright (c) 2000 by Timo Sirainen
+
+I've explained all this to different people too many times, so finally
+I bothered to write this small HOWTO :) For more details about some
+things (still not all) see manual.txt.
+
+
+ --- For all the lazy people ---
+
+These settings should give you pretty good defaults (the ones I use):
+
+/SET autocreate_own_query OFF
+/SET -c autocreate_query_level
+/SET use_status_window OFF
+/SET use_msgs_window ON
+/SET autoclose_windows ON
+/SET reuse_unused_windows ON
+
+And example how to add servers:
+
+/IRCNET ADD -autosendcmd "/^msg nickserv ident password" opn
+
+/SERVER ADD -auto -ircnet ircnet irc.kpnqwest.fi 6667
+/SERVER ADD -ircnet ircnet irc.funet.fi 6667
+/SERVER ADD -auto -ircnet efnet efnet.cs.hut.fi 6667
+
+And channels:
+
+/CHANNEL ADD -auto #irssi ircnet
+/CHANNEL ADD -auto -bots *!*@bot@host.org -botcmd "/^msg $0 op pass"
+	     #irssi efnet
+
+
+ --- Server and channel automation ---
+
+Irssi's multiple IRC network support is IMHO very good - at least
+compared to other clients :) Even if you're only in one IRC network you
+should group all your servers to be in the same IRC network as this
+helps with reconnecting if your primary server breaks and is probably
+useful in some other ways too :)
+
+First you need to have your IRC network set, use /IRCNET command to see
+if it's already there. If it isn't, use /IRCNET ADD yourircnet. To make
+Irssi work properly with different IRC networks, you might need to give
+some special settings to /IRCNET ADD, see manual.txt for more
+information about them. Irssi defaults to IRCNet's behaviour.
+
+After that you need to add your servers. For example:
+
+/SERVER ADD -auto -ircnet ircnet irc.kpnqwest.fi 6667
+
+The -auto option specifies that this server is connected at startup.
+You don't need to make more than one server with -auto switch, other
+servers are automatically connected in same IRC network if the -auto
+server fails.
+
+And finally channels:
+
+/CHANNEL ADD -auto -bots *!*@bot@host.org -botcmd "/^msg $0 op pass"
+	     #irssi efnet
+
+-bots and -botcmd should be the only ones needing a bit of explaining.
+They're used to send commands automatically to bot when channel is
+joined, usually to get ops automatically. You can specify multiple bot
+masks with -bots option separated with spaces (and remember to quote
+the string then). The $0 in -botcmd specifies the first found bot in
+the list. If you don't need the bot masks (ie. the bot is always with
+the same nick, like chanserv) you can give only the -botcmd option and
+the command is always sent.
+
+If the channel needs a key you can give it after the irc network.
+
+
+ --- Placing the channels in the windows *I* want them to be in ---
+
+First move the windows where you want them to be with /WINDOW MOVE
+LEFT/RIGHT/number commands. After that use /SAVEWINDOWS command and
+Irssi remembers the window positions the next time you start it.
+
+This doesn't work very well with split windows currently.
+
+
+ --- Jumping around in scrollback ---
+
+Many clients have /LASTLOG command to find text from scrollback, but
+with no easy way to jump to the position in scrollback where the
+conversation was done in lastlog, except with keeping page up key down
+for a long time.
+
+Irssi has /SCROLLBACK (or alias /SB) commands for jumping around in
+scrollback buffer, the most useful one is /SB GOTO time. You do a
+"/LAST word", get list of lines where the word appeared with
+timestamps, then you use "/SB GOTO hh:mm" to jump to wanted position.
+"/SB END" jumps to end of scrollback buffer.
+
+
+ --- Irssi's settings ---
+
+You probably don't like Irssi's default settings. I don't like them.
+But I'm still convinced that they're pretty good defaults. Here's some
+of them you might want to change (the default value is shown):
+
+
+ --- Queries ---
+
+/SET autocreate_own_query ON - Should new query window be created when
+you send message to someone (with /msg).
+
+/SET autocreate_query_level MSGS - New query window should be created
+when receiving messages with this level. Only MSGS and NOTICES levels
+work currently. You can disable this with /SET -clear
+autocrate_query_level.
+
+/SET autoclose_query 0 - Query windows can be automatically closed
+after certain time of inactivity. Queries with unread messages aren't
+closed and active window is neither never closed. The value is given in
+seconds.
+
+
+ --- Windows ---
+
+/SET use_msgs_window OFF - Create messages window at startup. All
+private messages go to this window. This only makes sense if you're
+disabled automatic query windows. Message window can also be created
+manually with /WINDOW LEVEL MSGS, /WINDOW NAME (msgs).
+
+/SET use_status_window ON - Create status window at startup. All
+messages that don't really have better place goes here, like all /WHOIS
+replies etc. Status window can also be created manually with /WINDOW
+LEVEL ALL -MSGS, /WINDOW NAME (status).
+
+/SET autoclose_windows OFF - Should window be automatically closed when
+the last item in them is removed (ie. /PART, /UNQUERY).
+
+/SET reuse_unused_windows OFF - When finding where to place new window
+item (channel, query) Irssi first tries to use already existing empty
+windows. If this is set ON, new window will always be created for all
+window items. This setting is ignored if autoclose_windows is set ON.
+
+/SET window_auto_change OFF - Should Irssi automatically change to
+automatically created windows - usually queries when someone sends you
+a message. To prevent accidentally sending text meant to some other
+channel/nick, Irssi clears the input buffer when changing the window.
+The text is still in scrollback buffer, you can get it back with
+pressing arrow up key.
+
+/SET print_active_channel OFF - When you keep more than one channel in
+same window, Irssi prints the messages coming to active channel as
+"<nick> text" and other channels as "<nick:channel> text". If this
+setting is set ON, the messages to active channels are also printed in
+the latter way.
+
+/SET window_history OFF - Should command history be kept separate for
+each window.
+
+
+ --- User information ---
+
+/SET nick (or default_nick in 0.7.95 and older) - Your nick name
+/SET alternate_nick - Your alternate nick.
+/SET user_name, /SET real_name - Your user- and real name.
+
+
+ --- Server information ---
+
+/SET skip_motd OFF - Should we hide server's MOTD (Message Of The Day).
+
+/SET server_reconnect_time 300 - Seconds to wait before connecting to
+same server again. Don't set this too low since it usually doesn't help
+at all - if the host is down, the few extra minutes of waiting won't
+hurt much.
+
+/SET lag_max_before_disconnect 300 - Maximum server lag in seconds
+before disconnecting and trying to reconnect. This happens mostly only
+when network breaks between you and IRC server.
+
+
+ --- Appearance ---
+
+/SET timestamps ON - Show timestamps before each message.
+
+/SET hide_text_style OFF - Hide all bolds, underlines, MIRC colors, etc.
+
+/SET show_nickmode ON - Show the nick's mode before nick in channels, ie.
+ops have <@nick>, voices <+nick> and others < nick>
+
+/SET show_quit_once OFF - Show quit message only once in some of the
+channel windows the nick was in instead of in all windows.
+
+/SET topicbar ON - Show the channel's topic in top of screen.
+
+/SET lag_min_show 100 - Show the server lag in status bar if it's
+bigger than this, the unit is 1/100 of seconds (ie. the default value
+of 100 = 1 second).
+
+/SET indent 10 - When lines are longer than screen width they have to
+be split to multiple lines. This specifies how much space to put at the
+beginning of the line before the text begins. This can be overridden in
+text formats with %| format.
+
+/SET noact_channels - If you don't want to see window activity in some
+certain channels or queries, list them here. For example
+"#boringchannel =bot1 =bot2". If any highlighted text or message for
+you appears in that window, this setting is ignored and the activity is
+shown.
+
+/SET mail_counter ON - Show the number of mails in your mbox in status
+bar. The mbox file is taken from $MAIL environment setting. Only mbox
+format works for now.
+
+/SET statusbar_xxx - Change these to change the color of the statusbar.
+Type "/SET statusbar" to see all the settings.
+
+
+ --- Nick completion ---
+
+/SET completion_auto OFF - Automatically complete the nick if line
+begins with start of nick and the completion character. Learn to use
+the tab-completion instead, it's a lot better ;)
+
+/SET completion_char : - Completion character to use.
+
+
+ --- Logging ---
+
+Irssi can automatically log important messages when you're set away.
+When you set yourself unaway, the new messages in away log are
+printed to screen.
+
+/SET awaylog_level MSGS HILIGHT - Specified what messages to log.
+/SET awaylog_file ~/.irssi/away.log - Specifies to away log file.
+
+Easiest way to start logging with Irssi is to use autologging. With it
+Irssi logs all channels and private messages to specified directory.
+
+/SET autolog OFF - Set ON to start logging.
+
+/SET autolog_path ~/irclogs/$tag/$0.log - Log path. $0 specifies the
+target (channel/nick), $tag is the server's tag you're logging. If
+you're only in one IRC network or you're not in same named channels
+with different IRC networks you don't really need this part. You can
+also use strftime formats (see man 3 strftime) to specify when the log
+file was created, Irssi also automatically rotates the logs if they're
+used. The path is automatically created if it doesn't exist.
+
+/SET autolog_level ALL -CRAP - Logging level, CRAP isn't logged because
+WHOIS replies (and maybe some other nick-specific crap) would be logged
+with it.
+