WeeChat quick start guide (english version)
===========================================

1. Launch weechat

     Run "weechat-curses" from your shell.

     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).

2. Online help / options

     WeeChat has help for all commands, just issue /help
     To get help on a command, issue /help command

     To set options, use /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 new value (you *never* need to restart WeeChat
     after changes to configuration).

     You can use /set option with partial name and wildcard "*" at beginning or
     end to display all options containg letters.
     For example:
       /set            => display all options (WeeChat and plugins)
       /set weechat.*  => display WeeChat options
       /set irc.*      => display IRC plugin options

     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
     write of options).

     You can edit configuration files (*.conf) by hand and reload them by
     /reload command if you don't want to use /set command.

3. Core vs plugins

     WeeChat "core" is only used to display data on screen and interact with
     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 /plugin command to list loaded plugins, you should see "irc" and
     other plugins in list.

4. Create an IRC server

     You can add an IRC server with /server command, for example:
       /server add oftc irc.oftc.org 6667

     As usual, help is available if you're lost:
       /help server

5. Set custom IRC server options

     WeeChat uses default values for all servers ("fallbacks"), if you
     don't specify a specific value for a server option.
     These default options are "irc.server_default.*".

     For example there's default nicks (based on your un*x login), and you can
     override them for oftc server with following command:
       /set irc.server.oftc.nicks = "mynick1,mynick2,mynick3,mynick4,mynick5"

     To set username and realname:
       /set irc.server.oftc.username = "My user name"
       /set irc.server.oftc.realname = "My real name"

     To enable auto-connect to server at startup:
       /set irc.server.oftc.autoconnect = on

     To run a command after connection to server, for example to identify
     with nickserv:
       /set irc.server.oftc.command = "/msg nickserv identify xxxxxx"

     To auto-join some channels when connecting to server:
       /set irc.server.oftc.autojoin = "#channel1,#channel2"

     Other options:
       You can setup other options with following command:
         /set irc.server.oftc.xxx = value
       where "xxx" is option name - you can see all possible options with:
         /set irc.server_default.*

6. Connect to IRC server and auto-join channels

     /connect oftc

     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 ? ;)

7. Join/part IRC channels

     Join a channel:
       /join #channel
     Part a channel:
       /part [quit message]
     Close server or channel buffer:
       /close [quit message]
     (/close is an alias on /buffer close)

8. Buffer/window management

     A buffer is a component linked to a plugin with a number with a category
     and a name. Buffer contains data displayed on 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 split verticaly screen into a small window (1/3 width),
     and a large (2/3), use command:
       /window splitv 33

9. Key bindings

     WeeChat uses many keys by default. All these keys are in documentation,
     but you should know at least some vital keys:
     - alt + left/right arrows (or F5/F6): switch to previous/next buffer
     - F7/F8: switch to previous/next window (when screen is splited)
     - F9/F10: scroll title bar
     - F11/F12: scroll nicklist
     - tab: complete text in input bar, like in your shell
     - page up/down: scroll text in current buffer
     - 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 meta-k (alt-k) to find key codes.

     For example, to bind meta-y (alt-y) to command "/buffer close":
       /key (press meta-k) (press meta-y) /buffer close
     You'll have a command line like:
       /key meta-y /buffer close
     To remove key:
       /key unbind meta-y

10. Plugins/scripts

     On some distros like Debian, plugins are available via a separate package
     (like weechat-plugins).
     Plugins are automatically loaded when found.

     Some plugins let you use scripts in WeeChat (in many languages like Perl,
     Python, Ruby and Lua). These plugins must be loaded with /plugin command
     and they provide commands like /perl, used to load scripts.

     Many external plugins/scripts (from contributors) are available for
     WeeChat, please look at:
       http://weechat.flashtux.org/plugins.php

     Please look at WeeChat documentation to load/unload plugins or scripts.

11. More documentation

     You can now use WeeChat and read FAQ/documentation for any other question:
       http://weechat.flashtux.org/faq.php
       http://weechat.flashtux.org/doc.php

     Enjoy WeeChat!

--
(c) 2006-2008, written by FlashCode <flashcode@flashtux.org>
Last edited on 2008-10-11.
This document is part of WeeChat and is distributed under GPL 3 licence.
