I think you meant the modules here. Perl as such does not have anything build in its core to help you connect to IRC. But people like you, who already ran into this problem has solved it, and made it available for others also to use. Perl indeed thrives on the CPAN. It is a repository with huge collection of modules that are well tested, peer reviewed and maintained. A search for IRC will return you with a bunch of modules and by reading the perldoc you should be able to pick the right one. At first look i guess, the ones under Net::IRC suits your requirements.

The basic idea behind modules is Dont reinvent the wheel when somebody has done it already

If you find any specific problem using a particular module, come and discuss it with isolated code examples and Iam sure the monks here will be more than ready to help you out. -T