notice

Send a notice to an IRC nickname or channel, or text to another supported destination.

Synopsis

/notice target[,target...] [text]
/notice -server/target text
/notice %process text
/notice /command arguments

Description

notice works like msg, but IRC nickname and channel destinations receive NOTICE instead of PRIVMSG. It reads one whitespace-delimited target token and uses the rest as message text. Comma-separated destinations are handled individually. Server policy determines delivery; local output does not confirm receipt.

The IRC notice convention avoids automatic replies that could create reply loops. The current built-ins do not enforce that convention for msg or notice: msg is not automatically converted into a notice inside an incoming-message hook, and these two commands do not reject sends inside incoming-notice hooks. Scripts must avoid automatic notice reply loops themselves. The separate ctcp command does refuse use while processing a notice and selects reply mode while processing an incoming private message.

Destinations and output

The destination syntax is shared with msg, including -server/target, %process, /command, sink target 0, file target @number, window logfile @Wnumber, generalized logfile @Lnumber, local display @Ewindow, and raw-command target ". See msg for their requirements and effects. Process and command destinations have the same effect with either built-in. The historical =nickname spelling is currently forwarded as an IRC target; this sending path does not route it to DCC chat.

When the entire target token is *, it selects the current window's channel; without a channel it discards the text. A token of . selects the last recorded IRC destination sent to on that server, and , selects the last recorded private-message sender. Missing history produces a diagnostic. These substitutions do not expand individual entries in a destination list or a nested -server/target destination.

Outgoing IRC notices to both nicknames and channels use the send_notice hook and ordinarily echo -target-> text at notice output level. Suppressing that hook suppresses the local echo, not transmission. Nested sends can suppress hooks and display or be refused to limit recursion. See on.

Destination encoding applies. Long IRC text is split into chunks of approximately 440 encoded bytes; further truncation can occur at the server line limit. Splitting does not guarantee preservation of multibyte characters. Empty text sends nothing except to subprocess input, where it sends a blank line. A missing target prints usage. IRC destinations require a usable connection; local destinations have their own requirements. The built-in is always registered and has no separate options.

Incoming notices

Incoming notices first pass through CTCP reply processing. CTCP-only notices can be consumed there without reaching ordinary notice hooks; CTCP replies use ctcp_reply and any registered reply handlers. They are not treated as new CTCP requests that automatically require a response.

Notices from the connected server, or with no sender prefix, take the server-notice path. Recognized operator-kill text is offered to kill, recognized operator-notice text to oper_notice, then remaining output to general_notice and server_notice. A suppressing hook can stop later notification handling. This sender-based path applies even to a channel target.

Other notices pass through general_notice, followed by public_notice when addressed to a channel you are on, or notice otherwise. The built-in ordinary notice path does not apply notice-specific ignore or flood checks, and does not call encrypted_notice. CTCP content has its own processing rules. Scripts can provide additional filtering through hooks.

Examples

/notice buddha hello there
/notice #channel the meeting starts soon
/notice buddha,booya see you later
/notice /echo local output

History and source

notice originated in ircII. Registration, e_privmsg, shared destinations, splitting, and outgoing hooks are in source/commands.c. Incoming ordinary and server-notice handling is in source/parse.c, CTCP replies in source/ctcp.c, and server transmission in source/server.c.