HexChat Perl Interface

Introduction

This is the Perl interface for HexChat. If there are any problems, questions, comments or suggestions please email them to the address on the bottom of this page.

Constants

Priorities

  • HexChat::PRI_HIGHEST

  • HexChat::PRI_HIGH

  • HexChat::PRI_NORM

  • HexChat::PRI_LOW

  • HexChat::PRI_LOWEST

Return values

  • HexChat::EAT_NONE - pass the event along

  • HexChat::EAT_HEXCHAT - don’t let HexChat see this event

  • HexChat::EAT_PLUGIN - don’t let other scripts and plugins see this event but HexChat will still see it

  • HexChat::EAT_ALL - don’t let anything else see this event

Timer and fd hooks

  • HexChat::KEEP - keep the timer going or hook watching the handle

  • HexChat::REMOVE - remove the timer or hook watching the handle

hook_fd flags

  • HexChat::FD_READ - invoke the callback when the handle is ready for reading

  • HexChat::FD_WRITE - invoke the callback when the handle is ready for writing

  • HexChat::FD_EXCEPTION - invoke the callback if an exception occurs

  • HexChat::FD_NOTSOCKET - indicate that the handle being hooked is not a socket

Exports

The following tags are supported:

  • :all - exports everything

  • :constants - exports all the constants

  • :hooks - exports hook_* functions as well us unhook

  • :util - everything else

By default only the constants are exported.

Functions

HexChat::register( $name, $version, [$description,[$callback]] )

  • $name - The name of this script

  • $version - This script’s version

  • $description - A description for this script

  • $callback - This is a function that will be called when the is script unloaded. This can be either a reference to a function or an anonymous sub reference.

This is the first thing to call in every script.

HexChat::hook_server( $message, $callback, [%options] )

HexChat::hook_command( $command, $callback, [%options] )

HexChat::hook_print( $event,$callback, [%options] )

HexChat::hook_timer( $timeout,$callback, [%options | $data] )

HexChat::hook_fd( $handle, $callback, [ %options ] )

These functions can be to intercept various events. hook_server can be used to intercept any incoming message from the IRC server. hook_command can be used to intercept any command, if the command doesn’t currently exist then a new one is created. hook_print can be used to intercept any of the events listed in Setttings -> Text Events. hook_timer can be used to create a new timer

  • $message - server message to hook such as PRIVMSG

  • $command - command to intercept, without the leading /

  • $event - one of the events listed in Settings -> Text Events

  • $timeout - timeout in milliseconds

  • $handle - the I/O handle you want to monitor with hook_fd. This must be something that has a fileno. See perldoc -f fileno or fileno

  • $callback - callback function, this is called whenever the hooked event is trigged, the following are the conditions that will trigger the different hooks. This can be either a reference to a function or an anonymous sub reference.

  • %options - a hash reference containing addional options for the hooks

Valid keys for %options:

data

Additional data that is to be associated with the hook. For timer hooks this value can be provided either as HexChat::hook_timer( $timeout, cb,{data=> data}) or HexChat::hook_timer( $timeout, $cb, $data ). However, this means that hook_timer cannot be provided with a hash reference containing data as a key.

Example:

my $options = { data => [@arrayOfStuff] };
HexChat::hook_timer( $timeout, $cb, $options );

In this example, the timer’s data will be [@arrayOfStuff] and not { data => [@arrayOfStuff] }. This key is valid for all of the hook functions. Default is undef.

priority

Sets the priority for the hook. It can be set to one of the HexChat::PRI_* constants. This key only applies to server, command and print hooks. Default is HexChat::PRI_NORM.

help_text

Text displayed for /help $command. This key only applies to command hooks. Default is “”.

flags

Specify the flags for a fd hook. See hook fd flags section for valid values. On Windows if the handle is a pipe you specify HexChat::FD_NOTSOCKET in addition to any other flags you might be using. This key only applies to fd hooks. Default is HexChat::FD_READ.

When callbacks are invoked

Each of the hooks will be triggered at different times depending on the type of hook.

Hook Type

When the callback will be invoked

server hooks

A $message message is received from the server.

command hooks

The $command command is executed, either by the user or from a script.

print hooks

X-Chat is about to print the message for the $event event.

timer hooks

Called every $timeout milliseconds (1000 milliseconds are 1 second). The callback will be executed in the same context where the hook_timer was called, or if the context no longer exists then it will execute in a random context.

fd hooks

Depends on the flags that were passed to hook_fd. See hook_fd flags in the section above.

The value return from these hook functions can be passed to HexChat::unhook to remove the hook.

Callback Arguments

All callback functions will receive their arguments in @_ like every other Perl subroutine.

  • Server and command callbacks

    $_[0] - array reference containing the IRC message or command and arguments broken into words example: /command arg1 arg2 arg3

    • $_[0][0] - command

    • $_[0][1] - arg1

    • $_[0][2] - arg2

    • $_[0][3] - arg3

    $_[1] - array reference containing the Nth word to the last word example: /command arg1 arg2 arg3

    • $_[1][0] - command arg1 arg2 arg3

    • $_[1][1] - arg1 arg2 arg3

    • $_[1][2] - arg2 arg3

    • $_[1][3] - arg3

    $_[2] - the data that was passed to the hook function

  • Print callbacks

    $_[0] - array reference containing the values for the text event, see Settings -> Text Events $_[1] - the data that was passed to the hook function

  • Timer callbacks

    $_[0] - the data that was passed to the hook function

  • fd callbacks

    $_[0] - the handle that was passed to hook_fd $_[1] - flags indicating why the callback was called $_[2] - the data that was passed to the hook function

Callback return values

All server, command and print callbacks should return one of the HexChat::EAT_* constants. Timer callbacks can return HexChat::REMOVE to remove the timer or HexChat::KEEP to keep it going.

HexChat::unhook( $hook )

  • $hook - the hook that was previously returned by one of the HexChat::hook_* functions

This function is used to removed a hook previously added with one of the HexChat::hook_* functions.

It returns the data that was passed to the HexChat::hook_* function when the hook was added.

HexChat::print( $text | @lines, [$channel,[$server]] )

  • $text - the text to print

  • @lines - array reference containing lines of text to be printed all the elements will be joined together before printing

  • $channel - channel or tab with the given name where $text will be printed

  • $server - specifies that the text will be printed in a channel or tab that is associated with $server

The first argument can either be a string or an array reference of strings. Either or both of $channel and $server can be undef.

If called as HexChat::print( $text ), it will always return true. If called with either the channel or the channel and the server specified then it will return true if a context is found and false otherwise. The text will not be printed if the context is not found. The meaning of setting $channel or $server to undef is the same as find_context.

HexChat::printf( $format, LIST )

  • $format - a format string, see “perldoc -f sprintf” for further details

  • LIST - list of values for the format fields

HexChat::command( $command | @commands, [$channel,[$server]] )

  • $command - the command to execute, without the leading /

  • @commands - array reference containing a list of commands to execute

  • $channel - channel or tab with the given name where $command will be executed

  • $server - specifies that the command will be executed in a channel or tab that is associated with $server

The first argument can either be a string or an array reference of strings. Either or both of $channel and $server can be undef.

If called as HexChat::command( $command ), it will always return true. If called with either the channel or the channel and the server specified then it will return true if a context is found and false otherwise. The command will not be executed if the context is not found. The meaning of setting $channel or $server to undef is the same as find_context.

HexChat::commandf( $format, LIST )

  • $format - a format string, see “perldoc -f sprintf” for further details

  • LIST - list of values for the format fields

HexChat::find_context( [$channel, [$server]] )

  • $channel - name of a channel

  • $server - name of a server

Either or both of $channel and $server can be undef. Calling HexChat::find_context() is the same as calling HexChat::find_context( undef, undef) and HexChat::find_context( $channel ) is the same as HexChat::find_context( $channel, undef ).

If $server is undef, find any channel named $channel. If $channel is undef, find the front most window or tab named $server.If both $channel and $server are undef, find the currently focused tab or window.

Return the context found for one of the above situations or undef if such a context cannot be found.

HexChat::get_context()

Returns the current context.

HexChat::set_context( $context | $channel,[$server] )

  • $context - context value as returned from get_context, find_context or one of the fields in the list of hashrefs returned by list_get

  • $channel - name of a channel you want to switch context to

  • $server - name of a server you want to switch context to

See find_context for more details on $channel and $server.

Returns true on success, false on failure.

HexChat::get_info( $id )

  • $id - one of the following case sensitive values

ID

Return value

Associated Command(s)

away

away reason or undef if you are not away

AWAY, BACK

channel

the original name of the tab, not affected by SETTAB

SETTAB

charset

character-set used in the current context

CHARSET

configdir

HexChat config directory encoded in UTF-8. Examples: /home/user/.config/hexchat C:UsersuserAppdataRoamingHexChat

event_text <Event Name>

text event format string for <Event name> Example:

my $channel_msg_format = HexChat::get_info( "event_text Channel Message" );

host

real hostname of the current server

id

connection id

inputbox

contents of the inputbox

SETTEXT

libdirfs

the system wide directory where HexChat will look for plugins. this string is in the same encoding as the local file system

modes

the current channels modes or undef if not known

MODE

network

current network name or undef, this value is taken from the Network List

nick

current nick

NICK

nickserv

nickserv password for this network or undef, this value is taken from the Network List

server

current server name (what the server claims to be) undef if not connected

state_cursor

current inputbox cursor position in characters

SETCURSOR

topic

current channel topic

TOPIC

version

HexChat’s version number

win_status

status of the HexChat window, possible values are “active”, “hidden” and “normal”

GUI

win_ptr

native window pointer, GtkWindow * on Unix, HWND on Win32. On Unix if you have the Glib module installed you can use my $window = Glib::Object->new\_from\_pointer( HexChat::get_info( "win\_ptr" ) ); to get a Gtk2::Window object. Additionally when you have detached tabs, each of the windows will return a different win_ptr for the different Gtk2::Window objects. See char_count.pl for a longer example of a script that uses this to show how many characters you currently have in your input box.

gtkwin_ptr

similar to win_ptr except it will always be a GtkWindow *

This function is used to retrieve certain information about the current context. If there is an associated command then that command can be used to change the value for a particular ID.

HexChat::get_prefs( $name )

  • $name - name of a HexChat setting (available through the /set command)

This function provides a way to retrieve HexChat’s setting information.

Returns undef if there is no setting called called $name.

HexChat::emit_print( $event, LIST )

  • $event - name from the Event column in Settings -> Text Events

  • LIST - this depends on the Description column on the bottom of Settings -> Text Events

This functions is used to generate one of the events listed under Settings -> Text Events.

Note: when using this function you must return HexChat::EAT_ALL otherwise you will end up with duplicate events. One is the original and the second is the one you emit.

Returns true on success, false on failure.

HexChat::send_modes( $target | @targets, $sign, $mode, [ $modes_per_line ] )

  • $target - a single nick to set the mode on

  • @targets - an array reference of the nicks to set the mode on

  • $sign - the mode sign, either ‘+’ or ‘-’

  • $mode - the mode character such as ‘o’ and ‘v’, this can only be one character long

  • $modes_per_line - an optional argument maximum number of modes to send per at once, pass 0 use the current server’s maximum (default)

Send multiple mode changes for the current channel. It may send multiple MODE lines if the request doesn’t fit on one.

Example:

use strict;
use warnings;
use HexChat qw(:all);

hook_command( "MODES", sub {
    my (undef, $who, $sign, $mode) = @{$_[0]};
    my @targets = split /,/, $who;
    if( @targets > 1 ) {
       send_modes( \@targets, $sign, $mode, 1 );
    } else {
       send_modes( $who, $sign, $mode );
    }
    return EAT_HEXCHAT;
});

HexChat::nickcmp( $nick1, $nick2 )

  • $nick1, $nick2 - the two nicks or channel names that are to be compared

The comparsion is based on the current server. Either an RFC1459 compliant string compare or plain ascii will be using depending on the server. The comparison is case insensitive.

Returns a number less than, equal to or greater than zero if $nick1 is found respectively, to be less than, to match, or be greater than $nick2.

HexChat::get_list( $name )

  • $name - name of the list, one of the following: “channels”, “dcc”, “ignore”, “notify”, “users”

This function will return a list of hash references. The hash references will have different keys depend on the list. An empty list is returned if there is no such list.

“channels” - list of channels, querys and their server

Key

Description

channel

tab name

channelkey

the key used to get into the channel

chantypes

channel types supported by the server, typically “#&”

context

can be used with set_context

flags

Server Bits:

  • 0 Connected

  • 1 Connecting

  • 2 Away

  • 3 EndOfMotd(Login complete)

  • 4 Has WHOX

  • 5 Has IDMSG (FreeNode)

The following correspond to the /chanopt command

  • 6 Hide Join/Part Message (text_hidejoinpart)

  • 7 unused (was for color paste)

  • 8 Beep on message (alert_beep)

  • 9 Blink Tray (alert_tray)

  • 10 Blink Task Bar (alert_taskbar)

Example of checking if the current context has Hide Join/Part messages set:

  • 1

  • 2

  • 3

if( HexChat::context_info->{flags} & (1 << 6) ) {
   HexChat::print( "Hide Join/Part messages is enabled" );
}

id

Unique server ID

lag

lag in milliseconds

maxmodes

Maximum modes per line

network

network name to which this channel belongs

nickmodes

Nickname mode chars e.g. “vo”

nickprefixes

Nickname prefixes e.g. “+@”

queue

number of bytes in the send queue

server

server name to which this channel belongs

type

the type of this context - 1 - server - 2 - channel - 3 - dialog - 4 - notices - 5 - server notices

users

Number of users in a channel

“dcc” - list of DCC file transfers

Key

Value

address32

address of the remote user(ipv4 address)

cps

bytes per second(speed)

destfile

destination full pathname

file

file name

nick

nick of the person this DCC connection is connected to

port

TCP port number

pos

bytes sent/received

poshigh

bytes sent/received, high order 32 bits

resume

point at which this file was resumed (zero if it was not resumed)

resumehigh

point at which this file was resumed, high order 32 bits

size

file size in bytes low order 32 bits

sizehigh

file size in bytes, high order 32 bits (when the files is > 4GB)

status

DCC Status:

  • 0 - queued

  • 2 - failed

  • 3 - done

  • 4 - connecting

  • 5 - aborted

type

DCC Type:

  • 0 - send

  • 1 - receive

  • 2 - chatrecv

  • 3 - chatsend

“ignore” - current ignore list

Key

Value

mask

ignore mask. e.g: *!*@*.aol.com

flags

Bit field of flags.

  • 0 - private

  • 1 - notice

  • 2 - channel

  • 3 - ctcp

  • 4 - invite

  • 5 - unignore

  • 6 - nosave

  • 7 - dcc

“notify” - list of people on notify

Key

Value

networks

comma separated list of networks where you will be notfified about this user’s online/offline status or undef if you will be notificed on every network you are connected to

nick

nickname

flags

0 = is online

on

time when user came online

off

time when user went offline

seen

time when user was last verified still online

The values indexed by on, off and seen can be passed to localtime and gmtime, see perldoc -f localtime and perldoc -f gmtime for more details.

“users” - list of users in the current channel

Key

Value

account

account name or undef (2.9.6+)

away

away status (boolean)

host

host name in the form: user@host or undef if not known

lasttalk

last time a user was seen talking, this is the an epoch time

nick

nick name

prefix

prefix character, .e.g: @ or +

realname

Real name or undef

selected

selected status in the user list, only works when retrieving the user list of the focused tab. You can use the /USELECT command to select the nicks

“networks” - list of networks and the associated settings from network list

Key

Value

autojoins

An object with the following methods:

  • channels() - returns a list of this networks’ autojoin channels in list context, a count of the number autojoin channels in scalar context

  • keys() - returns a list of the keys to go with the channels, the order is the same as the channels, if a channel doesn’t have a key, ‘’ will be returned in its place

  • pairs() - a combination of channels() and keys(), returns a list of (channels, keys) pairs. This can be assigned to a hash for a mapping from channel to key.

  • as_hash() - return the pairs as a hash reference

  • as_string() - the original string that was used to construct this autojoin object, this can be used with the JOIN command to join all the channels in the autojoin list

  • as_array() - return an array reference of hash references consisting of the keys “channel” and “key”

  • as_bool() - returns true if the network has autojoins and false otherwise

connect_commands

An array reference containing the connect commands for a network. An empty array if there aren’t any

encoding

the encoding for the network

flags

a hash reference corresponding to the checkboxes in the network edit window

  • allow_invalid - true if “Accept invalid SSL certificate” is checked

  • autoconnect - true if “Auto connect to this network at startup” is checked

  • cycle - true if “Connect to selected server only” is NOT checked

  • use_global - true if “Use global user information” is checked

  • use_proxy - true if “Bypass proxy server” is NOT checked

  • use_ssl - true if “Use SSL for all the servers on this network” is checked

irc_nick1

Corresponds with the “Nick name” field in the network edit window

irc_nick2

Corresponds with the “Second choice” field in the network edit window

irc_real_name

Corresponds with the “Real name” field in the network edit window

irc_user_name

Corresponds with the “User name” field in the network edit window

network

Name of the network

nickserv_password

Corresponds with the “Nickserv password” field in the network edit window

selected

Index into the list of servers in the “servers” key, this is used if the “cycle” flag is false

server_password

Corresponds with the “Server password” field in the network edit window

servers

An array reference of hash references with a “host” and “port” key. If a port is not specified then 6667 will be used.

HexChat::user_info( [$nick] )

  • $nick - the nick to look for, if this is not given your own nick will be used as default

This function is mainly intended to be used as a shortcut for when you need to retrieve some information about only one user in a channel. Otherwise it is better to use get_list. If $nick is found a hash reference containing the same keys as those in the “users” list of get_list is returned otherwise undef is returned. Since it relies on get_list this function can only be used in a channel context.

HexChat::context_info( [$context] )

  • $context - context returned from get_context, find_context and get_list, this is the context that you want infomation about. If this is omitted, it will default to current context.

This function will return the information normally retrieved with get_info, except this is for the context that is passed in. The information will be returned in a hashref. The keys of the hash are the $id you would normally supply to get_info as well as all the keys that are valid for the items in the “channels” list from get_list. Use of this function is more efficient than calling get_list( "channels" ) and searching through the result.

Example:

use strict;
use warnings;
use HexChat qw(:all); # imports all the functions documented on this page

register( "User Count", "0.1",
   "Print out the number of users on the current channel" );
hook_command( "UCOUNT", \&display_count );
sub display_count {
    prnt "There are " . context_info()->{users} . " users in this channel.";
    return EAT_HEXCHAT;
}

HexChat::plugin_pref_set( $setting, $value )

  • $setting - name of the setting you want to store

  • $value - value of that setting

This function allows you to store settings in addon_perl.conf via HexChat. Returns 1 on success, 0 on failure.

HexChat::plugin_pref_get( $setting )

  • $setting - name of the setting you want to retrieve

Returns the value of the specified setting or undef it is not found.

HexChat::plugin_pref_delete( $setting )

  • $setting - name of the setting you want to delete

Returns 1 on success (including deletion of not existing settings), 0 on failure.

HexChat::plugin_pref_list( )

Returns a hashref of all stored settings or an empty hashref on failure.

HexChat::strip_code( $string )

  • $string - string to remove codes from

This function will remove bold, color, beep, reset, reverse and underline codes from $string. It will also remove ANSI escape codes which might get used by certain terminal based clients. If it is called in void context $string will be modified otherwise a modified copy of $string is returned.

Examples

Asynchronous DNS resolution with hook_fd

use strict;
use warnings;
use HexChat qw(:all);
use Net::DNS;

hook_command( "BGDNS", sub {
    my $host = $_[0][1];
    my $resolver = Net::DNS::Resolver->new;
    my $sock = $resolver->bgsend( $host );

    hook_fd( $sock, sub {
        my $ready_sock = $_[0];
        my $packet = $resolver->bgread( $ready_sock );

        if( $packet->authority && (my @answers = $packet->answer ) ) {

            if( @answers ) {
                prnt "$host:";
                my $padding = " " x (length( $host ) + 2);
                for my $answer ( @answers ) {
                    prnt $padding . $answer->rdatastr . ' ' . $answer->type;
                }
            }
        } else {
            prnt "Unable to resolve $host";
        }

        return REMOVE;
    },
    {
        flags => FD_READ,
    });

    return EAT_HEXCHAT;
});

Contact Information

Contact Lian Wan Situ at <atmcmnky [at] yahoo.com> for questions, comments and corrections about this page or the Perl plugin itself. You can also find me in #xchat on freenode under the nick Khisanth.