# First argument must be a channel URL. If it does not begin with "irc",
# the base URL for freenode is prepended.
#
-# Second argument must be a payload string.
+# Second argument must be a payload string. Standard C-style escapes
+# such as \n and \t are decoded.
#
import json
import socket
import sys
-s = socket.create_connection(("localhost", 6659))
target = sys.argv[1]
if not "irc:" in target:
target = "irc://chat.freenode.net/{0}".format(target)
-data = {"to": target, "privmsg" : " ".join(sys.argv[2:])}
+message = " ".join(sys.argv[2:])
+message = message.decode('string_escape')
+data = {"to": target, "privmsg" : message}
print(json.dumps(data))
-s.sendall(json.dumps(data))
+try:
+ s = socket.create_connection(("localhost", 6659))
+ s.sendall(json.dumps(data))
+except socket.error, e:
+ sys.stderr.write("irkerd: server launch failed: %r\n" % e)