+# static scalar variables.
+$mask{ip} = '(\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)';
+$mask{host} = '[\d\w\_\-\/]+\.[\.\d\w\_\-\/]+';
+$mask{chan} = '[\#\&]\S*|_default';
+my $isnick1 = 'a-zA-Z\[\]\{\}\_\`\^\|\\\\';
+my $isnick2 = '0-9\-';
+$mask{nick} = "[$isnick1]{1}[$isnick1$isnick2]*";
+$mask{nuh} = '\S*!\S*\@\S*';