diff --git a/lib/exirc/utils.ex b/lib/exirc/utils.ex
index 9aebbe0..bdc283a 100644
--- a/lib/exirc/utils.ex
+++ b/lib/exirc/utils.ex
@@ -1,117 +1,115 @@
 defmodule ExIrc.Utils do
 
   alias ExIrc.Client.IrcMessage, as: IrcMessage
 
   @doc """
   Parse IRC message data
   """
   def parse(raw_data) do
-    data = String.slice(raw_data, 1, String.length(raw_data) - 2)
+    data = Enum.slice(raw_data, 1, Enum.count(raw_data) - 2)
     case data do
-      <<":", _ :: binary>> ->
-        [<<":", from :: binary>>, rest] = String.split(data, " ")
+      [?:, _] ->
+        [[?: | from] | rest] = :string.tokens(data, ' ')
         get_cmd rest, parse_from(from, IrcMessage.new(ctcp: false))
       data ->
-        get_cmd String.split(data, " "), IrcMessage.new(ctcp: false)
+        get_cmd :string.tokens(data, ' '), IrcMessage.new(ctcp: false)
     end
   end
 
   def parse_from(from, msg) do
     case Regex.split(%r/(!|@|\.)/, from) do
-      [nick, "!", user, "@", host | host_rest] ->
+      [nick, '!', user, '@', host | host_rest] ->
         msg.nick(nick).user(user).host(host ++ host_rest)
-      [nick, "@", host | host_rest] ->
+      [nick, '@', host | host_rest] ->
         msg.nick(nick).host(host ++ host_rest)
-      [_, "." | _] ->
+      [_, '.' | _] ->
         # from is probably a server name
         msg.server(from)
       [nick] ->
         msg.nick(nick)
     end
   end
 
   def get_cmd([cmd, arg1, [':', 1 | ctcp_trail] | rest], msg) when cmd == 'PRIVMSG' or cmd == 'NOTICE' do
     get_cmd([cmd, arg1, [1 | ctcp_trail] | rest], msg)
   end
   def get_cmd([cmd, _arg1, [1 | ctcp_trail] | rest], msg) when cmd == 'PRIVMSG' or cmd == 'NOTICE' do
     list = (ctcp_trail ++ (lc arg inlist rest, do: ' ' ++ arg))
             |> Enum.flatten
             |> Enum.reverse
     case list do
       [1 | ctcp_rev] ->
         [ctcp_cmd | args] = Enum.reverse(ctcp_rev) |> String.split(' ')
         msg = msg.cmd(ctcp_cmd).args(args).ctcp(true)
       _ ->
         msg = msg.cmd(cmd).ctcp(:invalid)
     end
   end
   def get_cmd([cmd | rest], msg) do
     get_args(rest, msg.cmd(cmd))
   end
 
   def get_args([], msg) do
     msg.args(Enum.reverse(msg.args))
   end
   def get_args([[':' | first_arg] | rest], msg) do
     list = lc arg inlist [first_arg | rest], do: ' ' ++ arg
     case Enum.flatten(list) do
       [_ | []] ->
           get_args([], msg.args(['' | msg.args]))
       [_ | full_trail] ->
           get_args([], msg.args([full_trail | msg.args]))
     end
   end
   def get_args([arg | []], msg) do
     get_args([], msg.args(['', arg | msg.args]))
   end
   def get_args([arg | rest], msg) do
     get_args(rest, msg.args([arg | msg.args]))
   end
 
   ##########################
   # Parse RPL_ISUPPORT (005)
   ##########################
   def isup([], state), do: state
   def isup([param | rest], state) do
     try do
       isup(rest, isup_param(param, state))
     rescue
       _ -> isup(rest, state)
     end
   end
 
   def isup_param('CHANTYPES=' ++ channel_prefixes, state) do
     state.channel_prefixes(channel_prefixes)
   end
   def isup_param('NETWORK=' ++ network, state) do
     state.network(network)
   end
   def isup_param('PREFIX=' ++ user_prefixes, state) do
-    {:match, [{p1, l1}, {p2, l2}]} = Regex.run(%r/\((.*)\)(.*)/, user_prefixes, [:capture, :all_but_first])
-    group1 = String.slice(user_prefixes, p1 + 1, l1)
-    group2 = String.slice(user_prefixes, p2 + 1, l2)
-    state.user_prefixes(Enum.zip(group1, group2))
+    prefixes = Regex.run(%r/\((.*)\)(.*)/, user_prefixes, capture: :all_but_first) |> List.zip
+    state.user_prefixes(prefixes)
   end
   def isup_param(_, state) do
     state
   end
 
   @days_of_week   ['Mon','Tue','Wed','Thu','Fri','Sat','Sun']
   @months_of_year ['Jan','Feb','Mar','Apr','May','Jun','Jul','Aug','Sep','Oct','Nov','Dec']
   def ctcp_time({{y, m, d}, {h, n, s}}) do
     [:lists.nth(:calendar.day_of_the_week(y,m,d), @days_of_week),
-     " ",
+     ' ',
      :lists.nth(m, @months_of_year),
-     " ",
-     :io_lib.format('~2..0s',[integer_to_list(d)]),
-     " ",
-     :io_lib.format('~2..0s',[integer_to_list(h)]),
-     ":",
-     :io_lib.format('~2..0s',[integer_to_list(n)]),
-     ":",
-     :io_lib.format('~2..0s',[integer_to_list(s)]),
-     " ",
-     integer_to_list(y)]
+     ' ',
+     :io_lib.format("~2..0s", [integer_to_list(d)]),
+     ' ',
+     :io_lib.format("~2..0s", [integer_to_list(h)]),
+     ':',
+     :io_lib.format("~2..0s", [integer_to_list(n)]),
+     ':',
+     :io_lib.format("~2..0s", [integer_to_list(s)]),
+     ' ',
+     integer_to_list(y)] |> List.flatten
   end
 
 end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/exirc_test.exs b/test/exirc_test.exs
deleted file mode 100644
index c5d6ea1..0000000
--- a/test/exirc_test.exs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-defmodule ExircTest do
-  use ExUnit.Case
-
-  test "the truth" do
-    assert(true)
-  end
-end
diff --git a/test/utils_test.exs b/test/utils_test.exs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3086f7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/utils_test.exs
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+defmodule ExIrc.UtilsTest do
+  use ExUnit.Case
+  alias ExIrc.Utils, as: Utils
+  alias ExIrc.Client.IrcMessage, as: IrcMessage
+  alias ExIrc.Client.ClientState, as: ClientState
+
+  test "Given a local date/time as a tuple, can retrieve get the CTCP formatted time" do
+  	local_time = {{2013,12,6},{14,5,00}}
+  	assert Utils.ctcp_time(local_time) == 'Fri Dec 06 14:05:00 2013'
+  end
+
+  test "Can parse an IRC message" do
+  	message = ':irc.example.org 005 nick PREFIX=(ov)@+ CHANTYPES=#&'
+  	assert IrcMessage[server: 'irc.example.org', cmd: '005', args: ['nick', 'PREFIX=(ov)@+', 'CHANTYPES=#&']] = Utils.parse(message)
+  end
+
+end