weechat/doc/en/weechat_quickstart.en.txt

WeeChat Quick Start Guide
=========================
FlashCode <flashcode@flashtux.org>


[[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 "weechat-curses" from your shell.


[[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, 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 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 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
a write of the options).

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


[[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.


[[create_irc_server]]
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`


[[irc_server_options]]
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 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'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"

Note: many commmands can be separated by ';' (semi-colon)

To auto-join some channels when connecting to server:

  /set irc.server.oftc.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.oftc.nicks null

Other options: you can setup other options with following command ("xxx" is
option name):

  /set irc.server.oftc.xxx value


[[connect_to_irc_server]]
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` ? ;)


[[join_part_irc_channels]]
Join/part IRC channels
----------------------

`/join #channel`::
    join a channel

`/part [quit message]`::
    part a channel (keeping buffer open)

`/close [quit message]`::
    close server or channel buffer (`/close` is an alias for `/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


[[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:

- 'alt + left/right arrows' (or 'F5'/'F6'): switch to previous/next buffer
- 'F7'/'F8': switch to previous/next window (when screen is split)
- '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 bind (press meta-k) (press meta-y) /buffer close

You'll have a command line like:

  /key bind meta-y /buffer close

To remove key:

  /key unbind meta-y


[[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.

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

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

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


[[more_doc]]
More documentation
------------------

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

Enjoy using WeeChat!