MIRC Scripting Language - Language Features

Language Features

mIRC scripting involves a peculiar nomenclature that is not entirely consistent with most of the rest of the programming world. (Most notably, the term identifier—which in most languages refers to the name of a variable or function (whether it returns a value or not)—in mIRC refers specifically to a value returning function.)

• Built-in functions are termed commands or, if they return a value, identifiers.
• Custom scripted functions are called aliases. Aliases that return a value are known as custom identifiers. Both are called from the command line or other parts of a script in the same ways as built-in commands and identifiers (and can even supersede them).
• Popups are scripted context menu items. Popups are called when they are selected by the user. The term originally referred to the menus—which pop up upon a right click. It is still used this way in the manual. But the user community (who tend not to read scripting manuals) took to calling the individual items popups—perhaps thinking of the colourful novelty actions that are popular with many users as pages of a popup book.
• Remotes are event-handling scripts. Remotes are called when the event they handle occurs.
• All variables are dynamically typed.
• mIRC scripts make use of sigils. Identifiers (whether custom or built-in) are preceded by $, binary variables are preceded by &, and other variables (whether local or global) are preceded by %. Commands and aliases are not preceded by any particular character (although when entered from a window's command line they must be preceded by the command prefix, usually /).