PASS IRC Command - IRC DevDocs

The PASS command lets a user provide a connection password to the server. If a connection password is required by the server and not provided (or is incorrect), the user will not be able to successfully connect. This command cannot be used after connection registration has completed.

PASS <password>

<password>: The password which the server evaluates.

This <password> is a connection password, and does not relate to user accounts or other user-specific authentication mechanisms (see the AUTHENTICATE command for user authentication).

If required by the server, this must be sent before any attempt to register the connection is made. In other words, the client sends this before sending the NICK/USER combination. It is possible to send multiple PASS commands before registering, but only the last one sent is used for verification.

For standard IRC servers, the password must match the one in the server’s configuration. Other services (such as bouncers) may require other formats for the password which gets evaluated at runtime.

If a client tries to sent the PASS command after connection registration has been completed, the ERR_ALREADYREGISTRED reply is sent and the command is ignored.

Examples

C  ->  nick chris
C  ->  user c 0 * :Chrisa!
S <-   :irc.example.com 464 chris :Password Incorrect
S <-   ERROR :Closing Link: localhost (Bad Password)
<connection gets terminated by the server>

No password supplied

C  ->  PASS opensesame
C  ->  NICK chris
C  ->  user c 0 * :Chrisa!
S <-   :irc.example.com 464 chris :Password Incorrect
S <-   ERROR :Closing Link: localhost (Bad Password)
<connection gets terminated by the server>

Incorrect password supplied

C  ->  PASS letmein
C  ->  NICK chris
C  ->  USER c 0 * :Chrisa!
S <-   :irc.example.com 001 chris :Welcome to the ExampleNet Internet Relay Chat Network chris

Correct password supplied