Finding Channels

Finding Channels on freenode

With many thousands of channels on freenode and more being registered all the time, an excellent way to search for channels of interest to you is valuable.

You can use ChanServ's LIST command for precisely that purpose.

At the most simple, you can use /msg ChanServ LIST *search term* to find channels whose name contains the term in question - for instance, /msg ChanServ LIST *linux*.

For full details on how to use ChanServ's LIST command, /msg ChanServ HELP LIST will send you back the following help text:

Syntax: LIST pattern [SUSPENDED] [NOEXPIRE]

Lists all registered channels matching the given pattern.
Channels with the PRIVATE option set will only be
displayed to Services Operators with the proper access.
Channels with the NOEXPIRE option set will have
a ! prefixed to the channel for Services Operators to see.

Note that a preceding '#' specifies a range, channel names
are to be written without '#'.

If the SUSPENDED or NOEXPIRE options are given, only channels
which, respectively, are SUSPENDED or have the NOEXPIRE
flag set will be displayed. If multiple options are given,
all channels matching at least one option will be displayed.
Note that these options are limited to Services Operators.

Examples:

    LIST *anope*
        Lists all registered channels with anope in their
        names (case insensitive).

    LIST * NOEXPIRE
        Lists all registered channels which have been set to not expire.

    LIST #51-100
        Lists all registered channels within the given range (51-100).

Regex matches are also supported using the regex/PCRE engine.
Enclose your pattern in // if this is desired.

An alternative method to search is to do so via the web, using netsplit.de.