Messages

RFC 2811: Internet Relay Chat: Client Protocol
2.3 Messages


   Servers and clients send each other messages, which may or may not
   generate a reply.  If the message contains a valid command, as
   described in later sections, the client should expect a reply as
   specified but it is not advised to wait forever for the reply; client
   to server and server to server communication is essentially
   asynchronous by nature.

   Each IRC message may consist of up to three main parts: the prefix
   (OPTIONAL), the command, and the command parameters (maximum of
   fifteen (15)).  The prefix, command, and all parameters are separated
   by one ASCII space character (0x20) each.
   The presence of a prefix is indicated with a single leading ASCII
   colon character (':', 0x3b), which MUST be the first character of the
   message itself.  There MUST be NO gap (whitespace) between the colon
   and the prefix.  The prefix is used by servers to indicate the true
   origin of the message.  If the prefix is missing from the message, it
   is assumed to have originated from the connection from which it was
   received from.  Clients SHOULD NOT use a prefix when sending a
   message; if they use one, the only valid prefix is the registered
   nickname associated with the client.

   The command MUST either be a valid IRC command or a three (3) digit
   number represented in ASCII text.

   IRC messages are always lines of characters terminated with a CR-LF
   (Carriage Return - Line Feed) pair, and these messages SHALL NOT
   exceed 512 characters in length, counting all characters including
   the trailing CR-LF. Thus, there are 510 characters maximum allowed
   for the command and its parameters.  There is no provision for
   continuation of message lines.  See section 6 for more details about
   current implementations.




prev
next
2.3 Messages

Other Links
