Editing Xyzzy (computing) (section)

===Application programs===
Within the low-traffic [[Usenet]] newsgroup alt.xyzzy, the word is used for test messages, to which other readers (if there are any) customarily respond, "Nothing happens" as a note that the test message was successfully received. In the [[Internet Relay Chat]] client [[mIRC]] and [[Pidgin (software)|Pidgin]], entering the undocumented command "/xyzzy" will display the response "Nothing happens".<ref>{{cite web|title=Pidgin source code repository|url=http://sourceforge.net/projects/pidgin/files/Pidgin/|quote=See gtkconv.c}}</ref>  The string "xyzzy" is also used internally by mIRC as the hard-coded master encryption key that is used to decrypt over 20 sensitive strings from within the mirc.exe program file.<ref>{{cite web|title=mIRC - Encrypted internal strings|url=http://pastebin.com/Nu88yXRP}}</ref>
 
A "deluxe [[talker|chatting program]]" for [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DIGITAL]]'s [[OpenVMS|VAX/VMS]] written by David Bolen in 1987 and distributed via [[BITNET]] took the name xyzzy.  It enabled users on the same system or on linked [[DECnet]] nodes to communicate via text in real time.  There was a compatible program with the same name for [[IBM]]'s [[VM (operating system)|VM/CMS]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.inter.nl.net/users/fred/relay/xyzzy.html |title=VAX/VMS XYZZY Reference Card |author=David Bolen |date=August 24, 1989}}</ref>

xYzZY is used as the default boundary marker by the [[Perl]] HTTP::Message module for multipart [[MIME]] messages,<ref>Sean M. Burke (2002). "Perl and LWP", p.82. O'Reilly Media, Inc. {{ISBN|0-596-00178-9}}</ref> and was used in Apple's AtEase for workgroups as the default administrator password in the 1990s.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}

[[File:Gmail-imap-xyzzy.png|thumb|alt=Connecting to Gmail IMAP service using openssl, demonstrating the hidden xyzzy command|A command-line example demonstrating IMAP connection to Gmail]]
[[Gmail]] supports the command ''XYZZY'' when connected via [[IMAP]] before logging in. It takes no arguments, and responds with "OK Nothing happens."

The [[HP 9836A|Hewlett-Packard 9836A]] computer with [[HPL 2.0]] programming language has XYZZY built into the HPL language itself with the result of "I see no cave here." when used.  The same message is returned from HP 3458A and HP 3245A instruments when queried with XYZZY via the [[HPIB]] bus.

In most versions of the [[Ingres (database)|Ingres dbms]], {{code|select xyzzy('')|sql}} returns "Nothing happens." However, {{code|select xyzzy('wim')|sql}} returns "Nothing happens to Wim". The {{code|xyzzy()}} function has been part of the Ingres product since at least version 5 (late 1980s), but was removed from the main codeline sometime in the early 2000s. While talking to one of the members of the Ingres development team, Wim de Boer, at that time the secretary of the Ingres Users Group Nederland (IUGN), mentioned the removal of this [[Easter egg (media)|Easter egg]]. This developer, who was a frequent speaker at the events organised by the IUGN, managed to put the function back into the product and&mdash;especially for Wim&mdash;added handling for the 'wim' value of the parameter.