NEWS(1)             RISC/os Reference Manual              NEWS(1)



NAME
     news - print news items

SYNOPSIS
     news [ -a ] [ -n ] [ -s ] [ items ]

DESCRIPTION
     news is used to keep the user informed of current events.
     By convention, these events are described by files in the
     directory /var/news.

     When invoked without arguments, news prints the contents of
     all current files in /var/news, most recent first, with each
     preceded by an appropriate header.  news stores the currency
     time as the modification date of a file named .news_time in
     the user's home directory (the identity of this directory is
     determined by the environment variable $HOME); only files
     more recent than this currency time are considered current.

     a    option causes news to print all items, regardless of
          currency.  In this case, the stored time is not
          changed.

     n    option causes news to report the names of the current
          items without printing their contents, and without
          changing the stored time.

     s    option causes news to report how many current items
          exist, without printing their names or contents, and
          without changing the stored time.  It is useful to
          include such an invocation of news in one's .profile
          file, or in the system's /etc/profile.

     All other arguments are assumed to be specific news items
     that are to be printed.

     If a delete is typed during the printing of a news item,
     printing stops and the next item is started.  Another delete
     within one second of the first causes the program to ter-
     minate.

FILES
     /etc/profile
     /var/news/*
     $HOME/.news_time

SEE ALSO
     profile(4), environ(5) in the System Administrator's Refer-
     ence Manual.






                        Printed 11/19/92                   Page 1