[GUIDE] Irssi and IRC Basics

important commands:
/set autolog on	# enable logging
/connect		# connect to a new IRC server
/disconnect		# disconnect from the current server
/join			# join a new channel on the current server
/leave			# leave the current channel
/quit			# completely quit irssi
/away			# follow this with some text to set an away message
/nick			# set your nick
/names			# check who is in the channel you're in
/msg			# nick, then message to send someone a message without switching windows
/query, /q		# open a new window to have a conversation with a specific person
/wc				# short for /window close, this closes the current window
/window			# create, resize, split windows
/window move	# followed by a number, this will most your current window's position
/exec -o		# output a shell command as an irc message, try not to spam large things
/set			# from status window, you can check values you can configure
/save			# changes settings changed, such as with /set ____
/help			# learn the list of commands, or learn more about a specific command
/network list	# list configured networks
/server list	# list configured servers
/whois			# find info on a user, appears in status window, or their query if open
/win			# change to a window by command instead of keypress, /win list lists windows
/hilight     	# add a word to your hilights
/dehilight		# remove a word from your hilights

binds:
note: if alt does not work, press the escape key, then let go and press the other key
alt-n, alt-p	# short for next and previous, cycles either direction through windows
alt-#			# go to a specific window by its number, the top row of letters works for 11-19
alt-arrows		# same as next and previous, but up and down also work in the case of splits
alt-a			# switches to a channel with new "alerts" (messages), you can hold it also
pgup, pgdn		# move up and down through the scrollback of the currently selected channel
ctrl-x			# changes your selected server, mostly used on your status channel
ctrl-c			# followed by a number, color your message. e.g. ^c4test makes "test" appear in red
ctrl-b			# bold text, to get around the tmux interference, press ctrl-b twice in a row

I recommend running irssi in tmux so that it may stay running while you detach, and so multiple clients can connect at once.
You can find perl scripts to enhance the client here: https://scripts.irssi.org/
hilightwin	https://scripts.irssi.org/scripts/hilightwin.pl		# create a window for hilights
nickcolor	https://scripts.irssi.org/scripts/nickcolor.pl		# give users different color nicks
place scripts in ~/.irssi/scripts/autorun/ and type /run autorun/hilightwin.pl in irssi to load hilightwin

To get hilightwin working, do the following:
/window new split
/window name hilight
/window size 6		# choose a size you like
you should now get messages appearing in the hilight window when your nick is said, or any other alert words

Setting up automatic connections:
/server add -auto -network NAME irc.blank.net 6667
/network add -autosendcmd "/^msg nickserv ident pass;wait 2000" ExampleNet
example:
/server add -auto -network Freenode irc.freenode.net 6667
/server add -auto -network Rizon irc.rizon.net 6667
/channel add -auto #baot Rizon
/channel add -auto #guix Freenode
/network add -autosendcmd "/msg nickserv identify secretpassword;wait 2000" Rizon

join the channels if you didn't already, they'll be joined automatically next time your start irssi
re-order the windows how you like with /window move #. the numbers are shown on the bottom bar
once you're done, use '/layout save' and '/save' to save these settings and window positions