READNEWS(1) UNIX System V(4 July 1990) READNEWS(1)
NAME
readnews - read news articles
SYNOPSIS
readnews [-n newsgroups] [-i] [-clpC] [-s[-+? [group]]] [-u messageid]
DESCRIPTION
Readnews without arguments enters command mode, which allows printing of
unread articles. This is the normal way of using readnews.
Readnews maintains a .newsrc file in the user's home directory that
specifies all news articles already read. It is updated at the end of
each reading session.
Some useful functions are available which don't use command mode. The
flags for these are:
-c Check if there is news, and if so print `You have news.'. A line
`readnews -c' is usually placed in the system .profile
(/etc/profile).
-C Check if there is news, and print the groups and number of articles
in each group to be read.
-l List the titles of available news articles.
-p Print all articles on standard output, and update newsrc.
-s Print the newsgroup subscription list.
-s+ group
Add group to the subscription list.
-s- group
Subtract group from the subscription list.
-s? List currently active newsgroups.
The remaining flags determine article selection, and may also appear in
the .newsrc file. Options may be specified in the .newsrc file by
entering lines prefixed with the word `options', followed by the options
arguments. This is most useful with the -n flag, specifying the usual
groups one wishes to subscribe to.
-n newsgroups
Select all articles belonging to newsgroups. newsgroups is a comma
separated list of newsgroup names. The character `!' may be used
to exclude certain groups, and the word `all' can be used to match
any group. e.g. `-n all,!net.jokes'
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-i Ignore .newsrc file. It is not read or updated. This allows
selection of articles that have already been read.
-u messageid
Unsubscribe to followup articles referring to messageid. (This
flag is usually only placed in the .newsrc file as a result of the
`u' command.)
COMMANDS
This section details the commands available when readnews is in command
mode (no -clpsC arguments). The simplest way of using this mode, is to
enter RETURN after every prompt. This will present to the user, a short
heading for an article, then a prompt. Typing RETURN again will print
the article body. Typing RETURN yet again will print the next heading,
and so on. If having read the heading, you don't wish to read the
article, you may type `n' (or `+' or ';') which will take you directly to
the next heading.
An article is treated as having been read, if either you have seen the
article body, or typed `n' to skip over it.
A number of commands operate on the `current' article. This is defined
as the article whose header you have most recently seen.
The commands to read news are:
RETURN
Either print the current article, or go to the next article and
print its header.
n or + or ;
Go to the next article and print its header.
. Print the current article.
- Go back to the previous article. This is a toggle, typing it twice
returns you to the original article.
number
Go to the article number in the current newsgroup. Like the `-'
command, you always return to the original article after reading
the selected article.
s [file]
Save the current article, either in the specified file, or in
$HOME/articles.
h Print the current header (slightly more verbose than normal
header).
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H Print the current header in full (very verbose).
N [newsgroup]
Go to the next newsgroup, or to the specified newsgroup.
u Unsubscribe from all further followup articles on this topic.
U Unsubscribe from this newsgroup, and go to the next newsgroup.
!command
Shell escape. Command is executed. If command is `!' the last
escape command is executed.
q or EOT
Quit. The .newsrc file will be updated provided the flag -i was
not specified.
x Exit. .newsrc is left unchanged (as if no articles had been read).
DEL An interrupt will cause readnews to terminate its current activity
and return to command mode. An interrupt in command mode will
cause `Interrupt' to be printed, and a subsequent interrupt will
cause immediate exit (as in the `x' command).
Some commands are available to send/reply or cancel news articles:
c Cancel article. Only the author, or news administrator can do this.
postnews(1) is called to do the actual cancelling.
r Reply to sender of the current article by mail. Readnews sets up
the appropriate headers, and then calls mail(1) to send a reply to
the sender.
f Post a followup to the current article. Readnews sets up the
appropriate headers, and then calls postnews(1) to post the
followup article.
p Post an article on a new topic. postnews(1) is called to post the
new article.
m person
Mail to person.
When replying by mail, or posting an article, the user is prompted for
certain headers, and then the text of the article or mail item is entered
until a `.' or EOT is entered alone on a line. Then the article/mail is
posted/mailed. Other commands are available:
.e Edit the message/article collected so far (see ed(1)). The 'To:'
or 'cc:' fields may be changed if mailing. After editing further
lines may be appended to the message.
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.i Interpolate the current news article onto the end of the message.
The interpolated item is indented by four spaces.
.!cmd or !cmd
Shell escape. Cmd is executed.
DEL Causes posting/mailing to be aborted, and the article entered so
far is saved in $HOME/dead.article or $HOME/dead.letter.
In order to permanently resubscribe to a newsgroup denied by `U', or a
series of followups denied by `u' it is necessary to understand the
format of the .newsrc file. The .newsrc file consists of two types of
lines:
option lines
These start with the word `option' and contain the same arguments
as the readnews command on the command line. Followups are denied
with `option -u <messageid>'. To resubscribe to further followups,
the correct options line must be deleted.
read newsgroup lines
These have the format <newsgroup>`:' <number>, where <number>
represents the last item number seen in that particular newsgroup.
If the newsgroup has been unsubscribed, the `:' is replaced by a
`!'. To resubscribe the `!' must be changed back to a `:'.
FILES
$HOME/.newsrc options and list of previously read articles
%news where the articles are kept
/usr/lib/news/active current newsgroups
/usr/lib/news/help help file
SEE ALSO
postnews(1), mail(1), ed(1), uusend(8), uurec(8).
BUGS
Readnews with the -c flag may say "You have news.", when the available
article is a unsubscribed followup article.
You may see followups, even if you have used the `u' command. This is
because many sites have faulty news programs, which do not follow the
correct protocol, or the sender did not use the `r' command.
AUTHOR
Michael Rourke, University of N.S.W (decvax!mulga!michaelr:elecvax)
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