READNEWS(1) USER COMMANDS READNEWS(1)
NAME
readnews - read news articles
SYNOPSIS
readnews [ -a date ] [ -n newsgroups ] [ -t titles ] [
-leprxhfuM ] [ -c [ mailer ] ]
readnews -s
readnews -K
DESCRIPTION
Readnews without argument prints unread articles. There are
several interfaces available other than the default:
Flag Interface
-M An interface to mailx(1) or Mail(1).
-c A binmail(1)-like interface.
-c ``mailer''
All selected articles written to a temporary file.
Then the mailer is invoked. The name of the tem-
porary file is referenced with a %. Thus, ``mail
-f %'' will invoke mail on a temporary file con-
sisting of all selected messages.
-p All selected articles are sent to the standard
output. No questions asked.
-l Only the titles output. The .newsrc file will not
be updated.
-e Like -l but also updates the .newsrc file.
The -r flag causes the articles to be printed in reverse
order. The -f flag prevents any followup articles from
being printed. The -h flag causes articles to be printed in
a less verbose format, and is intended for terminals running
at 300 baud. The -u flag causes the .newsrc file to be
updated every 5 minutes, in case of an unreliable system.
(Note that if the .newsrc file is updated, the x command
will not restore it to its original contents.)
The following flags determine the selection of articles.
-n newsgroups
Select all articles that belong to newsgroups.
-t titles Select all articles whose titles contain one of
the strings specified by titles.
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READNEWS(1) USER COMMANDS READNEWS(1)
-a [ date ]
Select all articles that were posted past the
given date (in getdate(3) format).
-x Ignore .newsrc file. That is, select articles
that have already been read as well as new ones.
Readnews maintains a .newsrc file in the user's home direc-
tory that specifies all news articles already read. It is
updated at the end of each reading session in which the -x
or -l options weren't specified. If the environment vari-
able NEWSRC is present, it should be the path name of a file
to be used in place of .newsrc.
If the user wishes, an options line may be placed in the
.newsrc file. This line starts with the word options (left
justified) followed by the list of standard options just as
they would be typed on the command line. Such a list may
include: the -n flag along with a newsgroup list; a favor-
ite interface; and/or the -r or -t flag. Continuation lines
are specified by following lines beginning with a space or
tab character. Similarly, options can be specified in the
NEWSOPTS environment parameter. Where conflicts exist,
option on the command line take precedence, followed by the
.newsrc options line, and lastly the NEWSOPTS parameter.
You can use the -s flag to print the newsgroup subscription
list.
If you haven't read news in a while (or if you have never
read news!) you can do readnews -K to Kill (mark as read)
all of the articles in the groups to which you are sub-
scribed.
When the user uses the reply command of the default or bin-
mail(1) interfaces, the environment parameter MAILER will be
used to determine which mailer to use. The default is
mail(1).
The user may specify a particular paging progam for arti-
cles. The environment parameter PAGER should be set to the
paging program. The name of the article is referenced with
a %, as in the -c option. If no % is present, the article
will be piped to the program. Paging may be disabled by
setting PAGER to a null value. By default, the pager is
cat(1).
COMMANDS
This section lists the commands you can type to the default
and binmail interface prompts. The default interface will
suggest some common commands in brackets. Just hitting
return is the same as typing the first command. For
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READNEWS(1) USER COMMANDS READNEWS(1)
example, [ynq] means that the commands y (yes), n (no), and
q (quit) are common responses, and that y is the default.
Command Meaning
- Go back to last article. This is a toggle, typing it
twice returns you to the original article.
# Report the name and size of the newsgroup.
! Shell escape.
<message ID>
Look for a particular article. (See Standard for
Interchange of Usenet Messages for a description of
message ID's).
b Back. Back up one article.
c Cancel the article. Only the author or the super user
can do this.
d Read a digest. Breaks up a digest into separate arti-
cles and permits you to read and reply to each piece.
D Decrypt. Invokes a Caesar decoding program on the body
of the message. This is used to decrypt rotated jokes
posted to rec.humor. Such jokes are usually obscene or
otherwise offensive to some groups of people, and so
are rotated to avoid accidental decryption by people
who would be offended. The title of the joke should
indicate the nature of the problem, enabling people to
decide whether to decrypt it or not.
An explicit number rotation (usually 13) may be given
to force a particular shift.
e Erase. Forget that this article was read.
f [title]
Submit a follow up article. Normally you should leave
off the title, since the system will generate one for
you. You will be placed in your EDITOR to compose the
text of the followup.
fd Followup directly, without edited headers. This is
like f, but the headers of the article are not included
in the editor buffer.
h Header. Print a more verbose header.
H Print a very verbose header, containing all known
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READNEWS(1) USER COMMANDS READNEWS(1)
information about the article.
K Kill. Mark all remaining articles in this newsgroup as
read and skip to the next newsgroup.
n No. Goes on to next article without printing current
one. In the binmail interface, this means go on to the
next article, which will have the same effect as y or
just hitting return.
N [newsgroup]
Next Newsgroup. Go to the next newsgroup or named
newsgroup.
p Print. Reprint previous article.
P Previous Newsgroup. Go back to previous newsgroup.
q Quit. The .newsrc file will be updated if -l or -x
were not on the command line.
r Reply. Reply to article's author via mail. You are
placed in your EDITOR (by default vi(1)) with a header
specifying To, Subject, and References lines taken from
the message. You may change or add headers, as
appropriate. You add the text of the reply after the
blank line, and then exit the editor. The resulting
message is mailed to the author of the article.
rd Reply directly. You are placed in MAILER (mail by
default) in reply to the author. Type the text of the
reply and then control-D.
s [file]
Save. The article is appended to the named file. The
default is Articles. If the first character of the
file name is |, the rest of the file name is taken as
the name of a program, which is executed with the text
of the article as standard input. If the first charac-
ter of the file name is /, it is taken as a full path
name of a file. If NEWSBOX (in the environment) is set
to a full path name, and the file contains no /, the
file is saved in NEWSBOX. Otherwise, it is saved rela-
tive to HOME.
U Unsubscribe from this newsgroup. Also goes on to the
next newsgroup.
v Print the current version of the news software.
w Same as s.
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READNEWS(1) USER COMMANDS READNEWS(1)
x Exit. Like quit except that .newsrc is not updated.
X system
Transmit article to the named system.
y Yes. Prints current article and goes on to next.
number
Go to number.
+[n] Skip n articles. The articles skipped are recorded as
``unread'' and will be offered to you again the next
time you read news.
The commands c, f, fd, r, rd, e, h, H, and s can be followed
by -'s to refer to the previous article. Thus, when reply-
ing to an article using the default interface, you should
normally type r- (or re-) since by the time you enter a com-
mand, you are being offered the next article.
EXAMPLES
readnews Read all unread articles using the default inter-
face. The .newsrc file is updated at the end of
the session.
readnews -c ``ed %'' -l
Invoke the ed(1) text editor on a file containing
the titles of all unread articles. The .newsrc
file is not updated at the end of the session.
readnews -n all !talk -M -r
Read all unread articles except articles whose
newsgroups begin with talk. via mailx in reverse
order. The .newsrc file is updated at the end of
the session.
readnews -p -n all -a last thursday
Print every unread article since last Thursday.
The .newsrc file is updated at the end of the ses-
sion.
readnews -K
Discard all unread news. This is useful after
returning from a long trip.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
EDITOR
Editor invoked by f command. (Default is /usr/ucb/vi.)
MAILER
Mailing program invoked by the r command. (Default is
/bin/mail.)
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READNEWS(1) USER COMMANDS READNEWS(1)
NAME Your full name used in header of articles posted by
you. (Default is the comments field of your id in
/etc/passwd.)
NEWSBOX
File or directory where articles saved with the s com-
mand are stored. (Default is same as HOME.)
NEWSOPTS
Options for readnews.
ORGANIZATION
Full name of this site used header of articles posted
by you.
PAGER
Paging program invoked by articles with more than 16
lines. (Default is /usr/ucb/more.)
SHELL
The shell invoked by the ! command. (Default is
/bin/sh.)
FILES
/usr/spool/news/newsgroup/number
News articles
/usr/lib/news/active Active newsgroups and numbers of
articles
/usr/lib/news/help Help file for default interface
~/.newsrc Options and list of previously read
articles
SEE ALSO
binmail(1), checknews(1), inews(8), mail(1), mailx(1),
news(5), newsrc(5) postnews(1), vnews(1), getdate(3),
news(5), newsrc(5), expire(8), recnews(8), sendnews(8),
uurec(8)
How to Read the Network News by Mark Horton.
Standard for Interchange of Usenet Messages by Mark Horton.
AUTHORS
Matt Glickman
Mark Horton
Stephen Daniel
Tom R. Truscott
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