path: root/static/v10/man7/readnews.7

.TH READNEWS 7 alice,research
.CT 1 comm_users
.SH NAME
checknews, readnews \- read netnews articles
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B readnews
[
.B -a
.I date
]
[
.B -n 
.I newsgroup ...
]
[
.B -t
.I title ...
]
[
.B -lprxhfuM
]
[
.B -c
[
.I command
]
]
.PP
.B readnews -s
.PP
.B checknews
[
.B ynqve
] [
.I readnews-options
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Readnews
prints unread articles that have arrived
via the informal, worldwide `netnews' network.
Without arguments it prints unread articles from
newsgroups to which you subscribe.
The options are:
.TF -adate
.TP 
.B -M
An interface to
.IR Mail (A).
A 
.IR mail (1)-like
interface.
.TP
.BI -c " command
Articles are written to a temporary `mailbox' and the
.I command
(e.g.
.LR "mail -f %" ) is
invoked, with the mailbox in place of
.LR % .
A missing
.I command
gets something like
.IR mail (1).
.TP
.B -p
Articles are sent to the standard output, no questions
asked.
.TP
.B -l
Titles only.
The file
.F .newsrc
will not be updated.
.TP
.B -r
Print articles in reverse order.
.TP
.B -f
No followup articles.
.TP
.B -h
Printed in a briefer format.
.TP
.B -u
Update file
.F .newsrc
every 5 minutes.
.TP
.BI -n " newsgroup ...
Select articles that belong to 
.I newsgroups.
.TP
.BI -t " titles
Select articles whose titles contain one of the
.I title
strings.
.TP
.BI -a " date
Select articles that were posted since
.IR date ;
a missing
.I date
means the beginning of time.
.TP
.B -x
Ignore
.FR .newsrc ;
select previously read as well as
unread articles.
.TP
.B -s
Print subscription list.
.PD
.PP
The file
.FR $HOME/.newsrc ,
or a file specified
by environment variable
.BR NEWSRC ,
tells what topics you are interested in and
what you have read.
If
.F .newsrc
contains a line starting with options (left
justified, continued by trailing 
.LR \e ),
or if the environment
variable
.B NEWSOPTS
is present, options are taken from there
as well as the command line.
In case of conflict, an option
on the command line take precedence, followed by 
.F .newsrc
and finally
.BR NEWSOPTS .
.PP
.I Readnews
invokes some other programs to perform services.
To reply to a news item it uses 
.IR mail (1)
or an alternate in environment parameter
.BR MAILER .
It paginates
with 
.IR p (1),
or an alternate in
.BR PAGER .
.BR PAGER
is a
command, perhaps containing
.L %
as in option
.BR  -c ,
or empty for no pagination.
.PP
The default and
.IR mail
interfaces support the following commands,
and prompt with common alternatives: a newline
accepts the first one.
For example,
.L [ynq]
proposes
yes, no, and quit; newline gets yes.
.TP
.B y
Yes.
Print current article and go on to next.
.PD0
.TP
.B n
No.
Skip the current article.
(In
.I mail
interface, it means
.BR y .)
.TP
.B q 
Quit; update
.FR .newsrc .
.TP
.B c
Cancel the article.
Only the author or the super-user
can do this.
.TP
.B r
Reply.
Reply to article's author via mail.
You are placed in 
.IR mail ,
or an alternate in
environment parameter
.BR EDITOR ,
with a header constructed from the article.
You may change or add headers.
Add your reply after the blank line.
Upon exit the message is mailed.
.TP
.B rd
Reply directly.
You are placed in
.B MAILER
.RI ( mail
by default).
Type the text of the reply and then control-D.
.TP
.BI f " title
Submit a followup article.
If you omit the
title, 
.I readnews
generates an appropriate one.
You will be placed in your
.B EDITOR
to compose the followup.
.TP
.B fd
Follow up directly.
This is like
.BR f ,
but does not construct headers.
.TP
.BI N " newsgroup
Go to the named 
.IR newsgroup ,
or the next newsgroup if none is named
.TP
.BI s " file
Save.
Append the article to
.I file.
The default is
.FR Articles .
If
.I file
is not a full pathname, it is taken
relative to
.BR HOME ,
overridden by environment parameter
.BR NEWSBOX .
If the first character of
.I file
is
.LR | ,
the rest is taken as the name of a program, into which the
article is piped.
.TP
.B # 
Report the name and size of the newsgroup.
.TP
.B e
Erase.
Forget that this article was read.
.TP
.B h
Print a more verbose header.
.TP
.B H
Print a very verbose, complete header.
.TP
.B U
Unsubscribe from this newsgroup and go on to the next.
.TP
.B d 
Read a digest.
Presents a digest as separate articles.
.TP
.BI D " number
Decrypt a Caesar cipher (usually used to
obscure off-color material in
.LR net.jokes ).
The rotation is normally determined line-by-line from character
frequencies.
If this fails, an explicit
.I number
(usually 13) may be given.
.TP
.B v
Print the current version of the news software.
.TP
.B !
Shell escape.
.TP
.I number
Go to article
.I number.
.TP
.if t .BI \(+- n
.if n +-n
Skip
.I n
articles, 1 by default.
The articles skipped
are recorded as `unread'.
.TP
.B -
Go back to last article.
This is a toggle, typing it
twice returns you to the original article.
.TP
.B x
Exit.
Like
.B q
except that
.F .newsrc
is not updated.
.TP
.BI X " system
Transmit article to the named system.
.PD
.PP
A
.L -
following
.BR c ,
.BR f ,
.BR fd ,
.BR r ,
.BR rd ,
.BR e ,
.BR h ,
.BR H ,
or
.BR s
refers to the previous article:
.LR "r -"
is the normal way to reply to a just-read article
when the next one is being offered.
.PP
.I Checknews
reports whether there is news present, with
options:
.TP
.B y
Report only if news is present (default).
.PD0
.TP
.B n 
Report only if news is absent.
.TP
.B q
Turn off reports; nonzero exit status indicates news.
.TP
.B v
Show the name of the first newsgroup containing unread news.
.TP
.B vv
Explain any claim of new news, useful if checknews and
readnews disagree.
.TP
.B e
Execute
.I readnews
if there is news.
.SH EXAMPLES
.TP
.L
readnews
Read all unread articles.
.TP
.L
readnews -n net.langs.c -a last thursday
Print every unread article about C since last Thursday.
.TP
.L
readnews -p >/dev/null &
Discard all unread news:
useful after returning from a long trip.
.TP
.L
readnews -c "ed %" -l
Invoke 
.IR ed (1)
on a file containing the titles of all
unread articles.
.SH FILES
.TF /usr/spool/news/newsgroup/number
.TP
.BI /usr/spool/news/ newsgroup / number
News articles
.TP
.F /usr/lib/news/active 
Active newsgroups and numbers of articles
.TP
.F /usr/lib/news/help
Help file for default interface
.TP
.F $HOME/.newsrc
.SH SEE ALSO
.IR postnews (7), 
.IR Mail (A)
.SH BUGS
.I Readnews
is baroque; many users prefer to browse among
the files in
.FR /usr/spool/news .