[⬅️ Back to `index`](index.md) # Colon prefixing In some commands (like PRIVMSG, TOPIC, USER, NOTICE, etc), the client needs to add a colon before the content (NOT after the command) ❌ Your client shouldn't do this: ``` ↗️ PRIVMSG foo this is a very cool message 🔀 nick!ident@host PRIVMSG foo :this ``` The server will only detect the first word ❌ Your client shouldn't do this either: ``` ↗️ PRIVMSG foo: this is a very cool message ↙️ :server 401 nick foo: :No such nick/channel ``` The server will think that the target (or whatever is before the content) ends with a colon. ✅ Here's what it should do: ``` ↗️ PRIVMSG foo :this is a very cool message 🔀 nick!ident@host PRIVMSG foo :this is a very cool message ```