Irssi

irssi is a powerful command line IRC client for connecting to internet relay chat (IRC) networks. Non-standard features are implemented with perl scripts, rather than in the core. Irssi can range from a functional, no-frills client to a highly-customized and automated client. Irssi can handle multiple IRC connections simultaneously, thus it is possible to be active in channels on different networks at the same time.

Emerge
Install :

To run the program, simply open up a terminal and type irssi. Read the manual man irssi to see all available command-line options. More on using Irssi can be found in the usage section below.

Configuration
The first time irssi is invoked by a user a configuration file will be created in This can be modified with the /set command while in the client by typing /set option value. Typing /set by itself will display available options and their current values.

For changes to remain persistent over restarts, modify the configuration file found at. See the following example:

Usage
As mentioned above irssi is started by invoking:

While in the Irssi interface command-line options can be issued in order to have Irssi perform the desired actions.

Connect to a IRC network, here :

/connect chat.freenode.net

Set the user name to :

/nick larry

Starting irssi using the above options with one command-line invocation:

Join the  IRC channel:

/join #gentoo

Leave the  channel:

/leave #gentoo

Save configured settings:

/save

Quit an Irssi IRC session:

/quit or /exit

Screen
screen</tt> is a useful tool that allows a user to manipulate multiple windows inside of a single terminal session. Each window operates independently of the others and acts like another terminal.

To install screen</tt>, or for more information in general, see the screen article.

If irssi</tt> is currently open, close it using the /quit</tt> command and start screen by typing:

This opens a new screen session. To someone who has not used screen before it may appear that invoking the screen</tt> command above did nothing. This is not the case; there was something that happened by running screen, using the  option will show the user that there is now an open screen session:

Starting irssi</tt> inside the screen session will create a helpful use case. Start irssi</tt> again inside the screen</tt> session:

While inside a screen</tt> session special keystrokes are used in order to provide control. + is the keystroke needed to beseech control of screen.

Detaching screen sessions
To detach a screen</tt> session press: + then

Attaching screen sessions
To re-attach to a running screen</tt> session type:

tmux
tmux</tt> is another good way to manage irssi</tt> sessions. Start a tmux</tt> session for irssi</tt> by typing:

Once inside the tmux</tt> session start <tt>irssi</tt> by typing:

+ is the keystroke needed to grab control of <tt>tmux</tt>. To detach the <tt>irssi</tt> session press + then the key. If everything went properly the <tt>irssi</tt> session should detach and the focus returned to the shell prompt.

To re-attach a session use the <tt>attach-session -t <session_name> </tt> argument (where  is the name used for the <tt>irssi</tt> session):

For more information on the details of using <tt>tmux</tt> see the <tt>tmux</tt> article.

External resources

 * Official irrsi documentation
 * irssi scripts index
 * IRC protocol RFC 1459