# $EPIC: nick,v 1.4 2001/05/03 21:00:51 jnelson Exp $
Synopsis:
   nick [<new nickname>]

Description:
   The NICK command allows you to change your nickname.  If you try to 
   change to a nickname that someone else is using, you will get an error 
   message to that effect and your nickname will be unchanged.  Nicknames 
   are CASE-INSENSITIVE.

   If you do not specify a new nickname, your current one is displayed.

   The maximum length of nicknames is determined by the server you are using.
   The traditional nickname length is 9 characters.  On dalnet type servers
   the length is 30 characters.  As with all server features, it varies from
   server to server.

   The protocol defines as alphabetical characters the ascii characters from 
   65 ('A') through 125 ('}').  Characters 65 through 93 are equivalent to 
   the corresponding characters 97 through 125, as such:

                    ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]
                    abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}

   The [, \, ], (upper case) and {, |, } (lower case) letters are used as 
   the 7-bit ascii substitutes of some european national characters, 
   particularly scandanavian characters.  It is important to note that the
   two nicknames "[testnick]" and "{testnick}" are, in fact, the SAME
   nickname in irc, just as "testnick" and "TESTNICK" are the same.

   A nickname shall be composed of an alphabetical character (as defined)
   followed by some number of alphanumeric characters, the total number of
   characters not to exceed the server's maximum nickname size (as defined).

Examples:
   To change your nick to foobar:
      /nick foobar

   To display your current nickname:
      /nick

See Also:
   on(5) channel_nick, nickname; set(4) auto_new_nick

