echo

Synopsis

/ctcp <target> echo [<text>]

Description

Ask another client to return the supplied text in a CTCP reply. This can confirm that a supporting client receives and answers CTCP requests. It does not itself calculate elapsed time; use ping for the supplied timestamp-based timing behavior.

<target> is normally a nickname. The ctcp command also accepts a channel or * for the current channel, where multiple clients may respond. The remaining text is the payload, with no echo-specific options. Omitting it sends an empty echo request.

In ordinary use, the request is sent in an IRC privmsg, and a supporting client replies with a CTCP notice. Delivery, filtering, and errors depend on the server and the other client's configuration. Many clients disable or omit automatic echo responses to limit unwanted reply traffic; no reply is guaranteed.

EPIC6 behavior

The automatic responder is provided by script/ctcp, loaded by script/builtins. A setup that does not load it needs /load ctcp to install this handler. The script sends the received argument text back to the sender under the same CTCP name; an empty request produces a reply without argument text. It does not install a special echo reply handler or timing calculation.

Replies normally pass through on ctcp_reply and display as CTCP ECHO reply from sender: text, unless scripts suppress or customize display. Request hooks or deactivating the registered CTCP can prevent automatic responses.

Incoming text is subject to EPIC's encoding conversion, and outgoing text is encoded for its destination, so this is a text echo rather than a guarantee of identical raw bytes. Long payloads can be truncated to available IRC message space. Automatic replies are subject to no_ctcp_flood reply throttling; this setting does not throttle outgoing requests.

Example

/ctcp john echo hello there

If John's client supports and permits the request, it replies with hello there.

Source references

• script/ctcp: registration of the echo request handler and description.
• script/builtins: loads the CTCP script.
• source/commands.c: ctcpcmd parses the request and chooses request/reply framing.
• source/ctcp.c: do_ctcp processes hooks and displays replies; send_ctcp handles encoding, message limits, and reply throttling.