There are several ways to set a predefined list of servers for EPIC to use. In general, though, they all use the same basic format:

 server:port:password:nickname

The server is the name of the server to connect to. The port is the port number on the server's host to connect on. The password is only required for servers that require one to connect. The nickname is the nick to use once connected to the server. Only the server name is required. The remaining parameters may be specified as needed. For example, to ignore the password and nickname parameters:

 server:port

As parameters on the end are omitted, the colons separating them too are omitted. However, if a parameter in the “middle” is left out, but one that comes after it is specified, the colons are required. If you only wanted to give a server and nickname:

 server:::nickname

A list of servers can exist in several forms. The primary list is hardcoded into the client. It is usually overridden by a systemwide irc servers file (usually called ircII.servers). Any number of server definitions may be specified, separated by whitespace (newline, space, tab). A typical server file might look like:

 irc.foobar.com
 irc.blah.net:6668
 irc.cia.gov:31337:cl00bie:Mr_Prez

The system server list may be overridden by your IRCSERVER environment variable, which may contain a space-delimited list of servers:

 export IRCSERVER="irc.foobar.com irc.cia.gov:31337::Mr_Prez"

Finally, a list of servers may also be specified on the command line:

 irc Mr_Prez irc.foobar.com irc.cia.gov:31337:secret-password

Addresses containing colons (IPv6 addresses) should be surrounded in square brackets to avoid the colon being interpeted as an argument seperator.