= WeeChat quick start guide :author: Sébastien Helleu :email: flashcode@flashtux.org :lang: en :toc: left :sectnums: :docinfo1: [[start]] == Start WeeChat A recommended terminal emulator for X (but not mandatory) is rxvt-unicode: it has good UTF-8 support, and no problem with default keyboard bindings. Run from your shell: ---- $ weechat ---- [[help_options]] == Online help / options WeeChat has help for all commands, just issue: ---- /help ---- To get help on a specific command, issue: ---- /help command ---- To set options, issue: ---- /set config.section.option value ---- (where `config` is configuration name (`weechat` for core, or a plugin name), `section` the section of this configuration and `option` the option name). WeeChat immediately uses the new value (you *never* need to restart WeeChat after changes to configuration). You can use `/set` option with partial name and wildcard "*" at the beginning or end to display all options containing letters. For example: * display all options (WeeChat and plugins): ---- /set ---- * display WeeChat options: ---- /set weechat.* ---- * display IRC plugin options: ---- /set irc.* ---- You can display help for an option with `/help`, for example: ---- /help weechat.look.highlight ---- All settings are saved when WeeChat ends (or with `/save` command to force a write of the options). [IMPORTANT] It is *not recommended* to edit configuration files by hand because WeeChat may write them at any time (for example on <>) and after any change you must run the command <> (with the risk of loosing other changes that were not yet saved with <>). + You can use the command <>, which checks the value and applies immediately the changes. [[core_vs_plugins]] == Core vs plugins WeeChat "core" is only used to display data on screen and interact with the user, that means weechat core without plugins is useless (faithful users: IRC was part of core for versions ≤ 0.2.6). All network protocols like IRC are provided in separate plugins. Use the `/plugin` command to list loaded plugins, you should see "irc" and other plugins in the list. [[add_irc_server]] == Add an IRC server You can add an IRC server with `/server` command, for example: ---- /server add freenode chat.freenode.net ---- As usual, help is available if you're lost: ---- /help server ---- [[irc_server_options]] == Set custom IRC server options WeeChat uses default values for all servers ("fall backs"), if you don't specify a specific value for a server option. These default options are "irc.server_default.*". For each server option, WeeChat uses its value if it is defined (not "null"). Otherwise WeeChat uses default value ("irc.server_default.xxx"). For example there are default nicks (based on your un*x login), and you can override them for freenode server with following command: ---- /set irc.server.freenode.nicks "mynick,mynick2,mynick3,mynick4,mynick5" ---- To set the user and real names: ---- /set irc.server.freenode.username "My user name" /set irc.server.freenode.realname "My real name" ---- To enable auto-connect to server at startup: ---- /set irc.server.freenode.autoconnect on ---- To connect with SSL: ---- /set irc.server.freenode.addresses "chat.freenode.net/7000" /set irc.server.freenode.ssl on ---- If SASL is available on server, you can use it for authentication (you will be identified before you join channels): ---- /set irc.server.freenode.sasl_username "mynick" /set irc.server.freenode.sasl_password "xxxxxxx" ---- To run a command after connection to server, for example to authenticate with nickserv (only if you don't use SASL for authentication): ---- /set irc.server.freenode.command "/msg nickserv identify xxxxxxx" ---- [NOTE] Many commands in option _command_ can be separated by `;` (semi-colon). If you want to protect your password in configuration files, you can use secured data. First setup a passphrase: ---- /secure passphrase this is my secret passphrase ---- Then add a secured data with your freenode password: ---- /secure set freenode_password xxxxxxx ---- Then you can use `+${sec.data.freenode_password}+` instead of your password in IRC options mentioned above, for example: ---- /set irc.server.freenode.sasl_password "${sec.data.freenode_password}" ---- To auto-join some channels when connecting to server: ---- /set irc.server.freenode.autojoin "#channel1,#channel2" ---- To remove a value of a server option, and use the default value instead, for example to use default nicks (irc.server_default.nicks): ---- /set irc.server.freenode.nicks null ---- Other options: you can setup other options with following command ("xxx" is option name): ---- /set irc.server.freenode.xxx value ---- [[connect_to_irc_server]] == Connect to IRC server and auto-join channels ---- /connect freenode ---- [NOTE] This command can be used to create and connect to a new server without using `/server` command (should I repeat you can see help for this command with `/help connect` ?). By default, server buffers are merged with WeeChat _core_ buffer. To switch between _core_ buffer and server buffers, you can use kbd:[Ctrl+x]. It is possible to disable auto merge of server buffers to have independent server buffers: ---- /set irc.look.server_buffer independent ---- [[join_part_irc_channels]] == Join/part IRC channels Join a channel: ---- /join #channel ---- Part a channel (keeping buffer open): ---- /part [quit message] ---- Close a server, channel or private buffer (`/close` is an alias for `/buffer close`): ---- /close ---- [WARNING] Closing the server buffer will close all channel/private buffers. Disconnect from server, on the server buffer: ---- /disconnect ---- [[irc_private_messages]] == IRC private messages Open a buffer and send a message to another user (nick _foo_): ---- /query foo this is a message ---- Close the private buffer: ---- /close ---- [[buffer_window]] == Buffer/window management A buffer is a component linked to a plugin with a number, a category, and a name. A buffer contains the data displayed on the screen. A window is a view on a buffer. By default there's only one window displaying one buffer. If you split screen, you will see many windows with many buffers at same time. Commands to manage buffers and windows: ---- /buffer /window ---- (I'll not repeat here that you can get help with /help on these commands) For example, to vertically split your screen into a small window (1/3 width), and a large window (2/3), use command: ---- /window splitv 33 ---- To remove the split: ---- /window merge ---- [[key_bindings]] == Key bindings WeeChat uses many keys by default. All these keys are in the documentation, but you should know at least some vital keys: - kbd:[Alt+←] / kbd:[Alt+→] or kbd:[F5] / kbd:[F6]: switch to previous/next buffer - kbd:[F7] / kbd:[F8]: switch to previous/next window (when screen is split) - kbd:[F9] / kbd:[F10]: scroll title bar - kbd:[F11] / kbd:[F12]: scroll nicklist - kbd:[Tab]: complete text in input bar, like in your shell - kbd:[PgUp] / kbd:[PgDn]: scroll text in current buffer - kbd:[Alt+a]: jump to buffer with activity (in hotlist) According to your keyboard and/or your needs, you can rebind any key to a command with `/key` command. A useful key is kbd:[Alt+k] to find key codes. For example, to bind kbd:[Alt+!] to command `/buffer close`: ---- /key bind (press alt-k) (press alt-!) /buffer close ---- You'll have a command line like: ---- /key bind meta-! /buffer close ---- To remove key: ---- /key unbind meta-! ---- [[plugins_scripts]] == Plugins/scripts On some distros like Debian, plugins are available via a separate package (like weechat-plugins). Plugins are automatically loaded when found (please look at the WeeChat documentation to load/unload plugins or scripts). Many external scripts (from contributors) are available for WeeChat, you can download and install scripts from the repository with the `/script` command, for example: ---- /script install iset.pl ---- See `/help script` for more info. A list of scripts is available in WeeChat with `/script` or at this URL: https://weechat.org/scripts [[more_doc]] == More documentation You can now use WeeChat and read FAQ/documentation for any other questions: https://weechat.org/doc Enjoy using WeeChat!