This plugin provides nickname completion, as best it can given what Ircle offers in the way of script interfaces. A script can't modify the inputline as you type, so the way this works is that you type an abbreviated form of the nickname in the inputline, and when you hit Enter this plugin expands the abbreviations before sending the line to the server. If more than one nick in the channel you're in matches the abbreviation, a dialog box pops up asking you to choose the one you meant. Once you've done that, the same abbreviation will continue to expand to the nickname you chose without further prompting, as long as you use that abbreviation at least once every 2 minutes.
The abreviations you type don't have to be the first characters of the nickname. If someone named ``{{Charlie_Dude}}`` is on the channel, .ch will match that nick. (Of course, it might match others too.)
The plugin offers a single command, but that command has several formats, allowing you to tailor the behavior of the nick completion. If you use the command with no parameters it shows the current settings.
/nickcomp [ embedded | on | off ]
This turns nick completion on or off. With the "on" setting, only a nickname abreviation at the beginning of a line is expanded. With the "embedded" setting, abbreviations anywhere in the line (including multiple abbreviations in one line) are expanded.
/nickcomp [ trim | notrim ]
This turns the "trim" option on or off. When on, leading and trailing special characters are not included in the expanded nickname. If there's a user named ^^[[Joe23]]^^ in the channel and you type .joe, with the trim option on it would expand to Joe23.
/nickcomp leadin <character>
This lets you change the "leadin" character that signals an abbreviated nick. By default, a dot is the leadin character (for historical reasons), but that has some drawbacks. Many people prefer to use something like a comma, semicolon, or equals sign. Something that doesn't often begin a word is a good choice. There are some characters you can't use as a leadin character (such as letters and numbers).
The script recognizes potential abbreviations by searching for a space followed by the leadin character you have set. This leads to a few limitations; you can't do ".ch" and have it expand to "Charlie".