ERC

ERC is an IRC client. It is included in Emacs as of version 22.3

Quickstart

Start ERC with M-x erc. You will be prompted for a server, port, and nickname.

To avoid entering server info every time you run ERC, you can specify details in your InitFile like so:

;; Set our nickname & real-name as constant variables
(setq
 erc-nick "cowgirl"     ; Our IRC nick
 erc-user-full-name "Moo C") ; Our /whois name

;; Define a function to connect to a server
(defun some-serv ()
  (interactive)
  (erc :server "server.example.com"
       :port   "6667"))

;; Or assign it to a keybinding
;; This example is also using erc's TLS capabilities:
(global-set-key "\C-cen"
  (lambda ()
  (interactive)
  (erc-tls :server "server2.example.com"
           :port   "6697")))

You can see more options with M-x customize-group RET erc RET

Introduction

• ErcFeatures – an overall idea of ERC features
• ErcBasics – for those new to both ERC and IRC
• ErcIntroduction – for those who are familiar with IRC clients but are new to ERC
• ErcLoading – what to put in your InitFile file to get ERC ready for action
• ErcEmacsChannel – this is where the ERC folk hang out

Setting up ERC to work right for you

The easiest way to configure ERC is to do M-x customize-group RET erc RET. This will open a buffer with all possible customizable settings organized in groups. Even if you want to add things to your Initfile manually, you might find some settings you didn’t know about by looking around.

General configuration

• ErcStartupFiles – elisp to better start ERC
• ErcExampleEmacsFile – users of erc invited to put examples here
• ErcConfiguration – elisp to configure ERC
• ErcTips

SSL configuration

• ErcSSL – allow connections to ssl/tls-enabled servers (with certificates)
• ErcSASL – authenticate with SASL

Miscellaneous

• ErcCvsFeatures – what’s new or different in the CVS version of ERC
• ErcDeprecated – possibly helpful if you’re using an older version of ERC

Quick reference

• ErcBindings – key bindings provided by the ERC major mode
• ErcCommands – /-commands ERC knows about
• ErcFaces – text properties in ERC buffers

Some features explained

• ErcAutoQuery – how to automatically start queries when you receive a private message
• ErcIgnoring – how to ignore some notices and some nicks
• ErcPart – Configuring the message on leaving or quitting

Modules

To enable or disable modules use M-x customize-variable RET erc-modules.

Enabled by default

• ErcAutoJoin – how to automatically join lots of channels
• ErcButton – make words and phrases such as URLs clickable
• ErcChannelTracking – keep track of activity in hidden channel buffers
• ErcCompletion – complete nicknames of channel members
• ErcControlCharacters – deal with IRC control characters
• ErcFilling – configure ERC to wrap output
• ErcHistory – enable a command history for ERC
• ErcList – list channels sorted alphabetically or by size in a separate buffer
• ErcMatch – highlight pals, fools and other keywords
• ErcNetsplit – detect and keep track of netsplits
• ErcNonCommands – treat non-IRC /-commands differently
• ErcReadOnly – make displayed lines read-only
• ErcStamp – timestamps

Disabled by default

• ErcAutoAway – set yourself away after some idletime
• ErcBbdb – integrate with the BigBrotherDataBase – BBDB
• ErcLogging – writing channel buffers out to files at the end of a session
• ErcMorseCode – useful if you have weird friends sending you morse code on IRC
• ErcNickserv – identify to Nickserv automatically
• ErcNotify – have ERC notify you when selected users enter or leave IRC
• ErcReplace – Filter messages with text search and replace
• ErcScrollToBottom – scroll to the bottom of the buffer
• ErcSmileys – how to translate :) to 😊
• ErcSound – adding sound to ERC
• ErcSpelling – ERC and FlySpell
• ErcTruncation – (automatically) truncating ERC buffers

Non-standard modules

The following modules are not enabled/disabled by changing the ‘erc-modules’ variable. You should be able to find documentation on how to set them up on their pages.

• ErcChess – play chess with other ERC users using JohnWiegley’s ChessMode
• ErcDCC – Get DCC working
• ErcEzbounce – interface to the EZBounce IRC bouncer (a virtual IRC server)
• ErcHighlightNicknames – Highlights nicknames
• ErcImenu – use ImenuMode functionality within ERC for fast navigation
• ErcLang – a new command /LANG to identify ISO language codes
• ErcMule – IRC in Japanese and other languages with non-ASCII coding systems.
• ErcNicklist – show channel nicks in a side buffer
• ErcSpeak – listen to what’s being said in IRC channels via EmacSpeak
• ErcSpeedbar – integrate with SpeedBar
• ErcZNC – interface to the ZNC IRC bouncer
• IgorThpeak – avoid taking IRC comments the wrong way by reading them silly.

Other Goodies (not part of ERC)

Bots for ERC

• ErcRobot – a bot for ERC, the original
• BirnyTheBot – another bot for ERC
• ErBot
• MallowBot

Various commands

• ErcAlias – aliasing some commands to others
• ErcAmsg – how to send a message to all active channels
• ErcChanop – MODE [+-]o onto a channel for you
• ErcDoctor – help your fellow channel members
• ErcGlobalNick – A command for changing nick on all servers at once
• ErcHowMany – Show how many users and ops are in the current channel
• ErcInfo – help newbies with quick info manual references
• ErcReverse – reverse what you type, or reverse what other people typed
• ErcSave – Example of a very simple ERC command
• ErcShow – Show the result of evaluating a lisp expression
• ErcShowoff – Brag to others about your IRC connections
• ErcSlap – Various /SLAP examples.
• ErcSpook – Flood Echelon
• ErcTLDDemographics – get a quick overview of TLD frequencies in current channel
• ErcUname – print the result of running ‘uname -a’ on the system
• ErcUndernet – ERC Undernet convenience functions.
• ErcUptime – Display your system’s uptime, along with other stuff like load information
• ErcYow – Pinhead wisdom
• NowPlaying – tell others what EMMS or another media player is playing

Change how ERC looks

• ErcModeline – Additions to your ERC mode-line and header-line.
• ErcTabs – provide a tab-bar interface to ERC buffers
• ErcNickColors – Color nicks with different colors to make them easier to pick out
• ErcBar – Display a bar for unread messages, ala xchat

Change how messages are shown

• ErcHaxorCode – useful if you are trapped in an elite [1] channel
• ErcHideEmail – To write (more of less) safely your email address on a channel.
• ErcTex – Render LaTeX expressions in your chats
• erc-babel.el – Automatically translate incoming and outgoing messages between different (spoken) languages

Miscellaneous

• ErcChannelKey – SelectKey -like functionality for switching channels in ERC
• ErcNickNotify – Popup a notify window when someon is trying to reach you.
• ErcPageMe – Pop up a GNOME dialog box when someone is trying to reach you
• ErcSpies – find out who is also in the other channel
• ErcYank – Don’t worry about pasting too many lines and flooding channels
• InternetTime – show you the time as defined by http://swatch.com/fs_index.php?haupt=itime.
• SwitchToErc – how to switch to ERC with a keybinding
• UnwrapLine – unwrapping long lines when quoting from an existing document
• ErcTray – Get notified of new messages in your gnome/KDE system-tray
• Paste2 – Send and get paste with paste2.org, and integrate with ERC.
• ErcOSD – Be notified on gnome / Linux systems when someone messages your nick.
• ErcGrowl – Get notified via Growl (Mac OS X) whenever your name is mentioned.
• ErcViewLog – View ERC logs with the same look as a real ERC buffer
• erc-crypt.el – Per buffer PSK encryption for ERC
• erc-list-cache.el – Cache IRC server channel lists so they load faster

Proxies

You can connect to HTTP proxies with software such as:

• Desproxy
• Transconnect

You can connect over Tor by using torsocks emacs from the command-line.

See ErcProxy for more tips.

For developers

• InternetRelayChat – references to the RFCs
• ErcBugs – bugs, bug fix history, planned features, wishlist
• ErcDevelopment – details on how to use git to hack on ERC
• ErcCommit – how to commit changes on the bleeding edge
• ErcCatalog – multilingual/customizable messages
• ErcHooks – almost everything is based on hooks in ERC
• ErcModules – how to write new ERC modules
• ErcProposedChanges – A testing and discussion area for proposed changes in ERC.

Mailing lists

If you need help with ERC, you can ask on the erc-discuss mailing list. If you encounter ErcBugs, please let us know about them by sending an email to the erc-discuss mailing list. Feel free to send us the corresponding patches if you’re able to fix things.

Check the Savannah mailing page for ERC for subscription information.

The mailing lists are also available on Gmane.

1. gmane.emacs.erc.announce – Announcements
2. gmane.emacs.erc.general – General discussion
3. gmane.emacs.erc.cvs – Log messages for changes to the ERC source code

See Also

• ErcProjectHistory – A brief history of Erc, and access to older versions.
• ErcExtraModules – Extended functionality not included in the base ERC.
• ErcDevelopment – The latest development build of ERC
• ERC also comes bundled with EmacsFromGit.

Note that the development & git branches of ERC and are not quite identical. The modules ErcBbdb and ErcSpeak are not available in the Emacs version, for example.

• rcirc – Another IRC client

External Links

• ERC Manual
• Muto's section on ERC

CategoryChatClient InternetRelayChat