Issuing Commands

Issuing Commands

There are four basic ways that commands may be issued:

DCC Commands - These commands are given within a dcc chat session with the bot, and always begin with a dot followed by the command. These commands form the majority of commands that are built-in to the bot, prior to BotService's adding our scripts. Extensive on-line documentation for these is available by using the dcc command: .help
Message Commands - These are commands given by typing /msg followed by a space followed by the name of the bot followed by a space followed by the command. Note that the shortcut name for the bot cannot be used here. A few of these commands are also built-in to a 'pure' eggdrop bot, but most are provided by our own scripts.
Direct Commands - These are commands that appear in the channel, and none of them come with a pure eggy -- all come from our Siliconbot script or other scripts that have been added to the bot. A direct command consists of the name of the bot followed by a space followed by the command. For example, if you want the bot that is named Achilles to issue the command date, you would type:
Achilles date
Direct commands can be shortened even more by using the bot's 'shortcut' name. For the bot Achilles, the shortcut is ac, and so the above example could also be done this way:
ac date
In fact, there is a direct command that will have the bot tell you what its shortcut is; example:
Achilles shortcut
That will cause Achilles to send you a notice saying "My shortcut is AC"
Public Commands - A public command resembles a direct command, except that the bot's name is omitted. Again, all these are provided by our Siliconbot script, and by a few other scripts we put onto our bots.

Which type of Command to use

Let's look at which form of a command to use.

In some cases, there is simply no choice. For example, the ident command can be given only using the /msg form.

In many cases, there is a dcc form and a non-dcc form (/msg or direct or public), and the decision there is simple: if you aren't already in dcc with the bot, why bother using that form?

In many other cases, there is a /msg form and a direct form. Generally speaking, the direct form is preferable, simply because it involves the least amount of typing. However, there are occasions where the /msg form is preferred. Here are some examples:

Suppose you want your bot, Sybil, to say 'hello all' in the channel (#chatmaniac). You could give the direct command:

sy say hello all

or the msg command:

/msg sybil say #chatmaniac hello all

and both will have the same effect. However, no one will see you enter the /msg form, and that is probably more effective than letting everyone see that you told the bot to do it.

This example shows a case where two forms of a command exist, but you have no choice on which one to use. Suppose you own #funfactory, and you have the bot Sava in it, and Sava has ops. As a good channel owner with one of our bots. you know that the channel mode +i is frowned upon by us, and using that mode could result in your losing your bot. However, someone in your channel is asking how to set channel modes and what they mean, You decide to show them how to use Sava to set the channel into +i mode, and you have every intention of immediately reversing it -- no problem. So you give the direct command: sava mode +i to show the user how its done and what effect it has. Unfortunately, at that point, your ISP cuts you off, and your channel is left with Sava as its only op, and the channel is +i --- you can't get in. Now you no longer have the option of using a direct command to remove the +i, because you can't enter the channel to issue it. But you can still give the /msg form: /msg sava mode #funfactory -i This does the job, and lets you back in the channel, too.