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11: ..
12: .TH VNEWS 1 "January 17, 1986"
13: .ds ]W Version B 2.10.3
14: .SH NAME
15: vnews \- read news articles
16: .SH SYNOPSIS
17: .BR vnews " [ " \-a
18: .IR date " ] [ "
19: .B \-n
20: .IR newsgroups " ] [ "
21: .B \-t
22: .IR titles " ] [ "
23: .BR \-rxuc " ] "
24: .PP
25: .B "vnews \-s"
26: .SH DESCRIPTION
27: .I Vnews
28: is a program for reading USENET news. It is based
29: on
30: .IR readnews (1)
31: but has a CRT oriented interface.
32: The list of available commands is quite
33: similar, although since
34: .I vnews
35: is a \*(Lqvisual\*(Rq
36: interface, most
37: .I vnews
38: commands do not have to be terminated
39: by a newline.
40: .LP
41: .I Vnews
42: uses all but the last two lines of the screen to display
43: the current article. The next-to-last line is the secondary prompt line,
44: and is used to input string arguments to commands. The last line
45: contains several fields. The first field is the prompt
46: field. If
47: .I vnews
48: is at the end of an article, the prompt is
49: \&\*(Lqnext?\*(Rq; otherwise the prompt is \*(Lqmore?\*(Rq. The second field
50: is the newsgroup field, which displays the current newsgroup,
51: the number of the current article, and the number of
52: the last article in the newsgroup. The third field contains
53: the current time, and the last field contains the word
54: \&\*(Lqmail\*(Rq if you have mail. When you receive new mail, the bell
55: on the terminal is rung and the word \*(LqMAIL\*(Rq appears in capital
56: letters for 30 seconds.
57: .PP
58: .I Vnews
59: without any arguments prints unread articles.
60: .PP
61: The following flags determine the selection of articles.
62: .TP 10
63: .BI "\-a " "\fR[\fP date \fR]\fP"
64: Select articles posted after the given
65: .I date
66: (in
67: .IR getdate (3)
68: format).
69: .TP 10
70: .BI "\-n " newsgroups
71: Select articles belonging to
72: .I newsgroups.
73: .TP 10
74: .BI "\-t " titles
75: Select articles whose titles contain one of the strings specified by
76: .I titles.
77: .TP 10
78: .B \-r
79: Print the articles in reverse order.
80: .TP 10
81: .B \-x
82: Ignore
83: .I .newsrc
84: file. That is, select articles that have already been read as well as new ones.
85: .TP 10
86: .B \-u
87: Update the
88: .I .newsrc
89: file every 5 minutes, as in the case of an unreliable system.
90: (Note that if the
91: .I .newsrc
92: file is updated, the
93: .B x
94: command will not restore it to its original contents.)
95: .PP
96: If the
97: .B \-c
98: flag is specified,
99: .I vnews
100: will print the first
101: page of the article, instead of just the header.
102: .PP
103: You can use the
104: .B \-s
105: flag to print the newsgroup subscription list.
106: .PP
107: .I Vnews
108: maintains a
109: .I .newsrc
110: file in the your home directory that specifies all news articles
111: already read. It is updated at the end of each reading session
112: unless the
113: .BR \-x
114: option was specified.
115: If the environment variable
116: .B NEWSRC
117: is present, it should be the path
118: name of a file to be used in place of
119: .IR .newsrc \&.
120: .PP
121: If you wish, an options line may be placed in your
122: .I .newsrc
123: file.
124: This line starts with the word
125: .B options
126: (left justified) followed by the list of standard options just as
127: they would be typed on the command line. Such a list may include:
128: the
129: .B \-n
130: flag along with a newsgroup list and/or
131: the
132: .B \-r
133: or
134: .B \-t
135: flag.
136: Continuation lines begin with a space or tab character.
137: .SH ENVIRONMENT
138: Options can be specified in the
139: .B NEWSOPTS
140: environment parameter. Where conflicts exist, options on the command
141: line take precedence, followed by the
142: .I .newsrc
143: .B options
144: line, and lastly the
145: .B NEWSOPTS
146: parameter.
147: .PP
148: When the user uses the reply command,
149: the environment parameter
150: .B MAILER
151: will be used to determine which mailer to use. The default is usually
152: .IR /bin/mail \&.
153: .PP
154: If the user so desires, he may specify a specific paging program
155: for articles. The environment parameter
156: .B PAGER
157: should be set to the paging program. The name of the article is referenced with
158: a
159: .Ch % ,
160: as in the
161: .B \-c
162: option. If no
163: .Ch %
164: is present, the article will be piped to the program.
165: Paging may be disabled by setting
166: .B PAGER
167: to a null value.
168: .PP
169: If
170: .B EDITOR
171: is set, it will be used in place of the default editor on your system to
172: edit replies and follow-ups.
173: .PP
174: If
175: .B NAME
176: is set, it will be used as your full name when posting news or
177: submitting a follow-up. If it is not set, the name will be taken
178: from the file
179: .I .name
180: in your home directory. If this file is not present, the name will
181: be taken from
182: .IR /etc/passwd .
183: .PP
184: If
185: .B NEWSARCHIVE
186: is set, a copy of any articles you post or follow-up to, will be saved
187: in the specified file. If it is the null string, they will be
188: copied in
189: .I author_copy
190: in your home directory.
191: .PP
192: If
193: .B NEWSBOX
194: is set, the filename you specify when you save or write a file
195: will be prepended with
196: .B NEWSBOX
197: unless the filename is an absolute pathname.
198: .PP
199: If
200: .B NEWSRC
201: is set, it will be used in place of the
202: .I .newsrc
203: file in your home directory.
204: .PP
205: If
206: .B ORGANIZATION
207: is set, it will be used as the name of your organization whenever you
208: post an article. The default is compiled in and is usually correct.
209: Typically, you would only use this if you were reading news at a
210: site other than normal. (Or if you are trying to be cute.)
211: .SH "COMMANDS"
212: .PP
213: Each
214: .I vnews
215: command may be preceded by a count. Some
216: commands use the count; others ignore it. If count is omitted,
217: it defaults to one. Some commands prompt for an argument
218: on the second line from the bottom of the screen. Standard UNIX erase
219: and kill processing is done on this argument. The argument is
220: terminated by a return. An interrupt
221: (\s-2DEL\s0 or \s-2BREAK\s0) gets you out of any partially entered command.
222: .sp
223: In the following table, ^B is used as a shorthand for Control-B.
224: .sp
225: .ta 2.5i
226: Command Meaning
227: .IP \fB\s-2CR\s0\fP
228: A carriage return prints more of the current article,
229: or goes on to the next article if you are at the end of
230: the current article. A \fB\s-2SPACE\s0\fP is equivalent to \fB\s-2CR\s0\fP.
231: .IP \fB^B\fP
232: Go backwards
233: .I count
234: pages.
235: .IP \fB^F\fP
236: Go forward
237: .I count
238: pages.
239: .IP \fB^D\fP
240: Go forwards half a page.
241: .IP \fB^U\fP
242: Go backwards half a page.
243: .IP \fB^Z\fP
244: Go forwards
245: .I count
246: lines.
247: .IP \fB^E\fP
248: Go backwards
249: .I count
250: lines.
251: .IP \fB^L\fP
252: Redraw the screen. \fB^L\fP may be typed at any time.
253: .IP \fBb\fP
254: Back up one article in the current group.
255: .IP \fBc\fP
256: Cancel the article. Only the author of the article or the super user
257: can do this.
258: .IP \fBd\fP
259: Read a digest. Breaks up a digest into separate articles
260: and permits you to read and reply to each piece.
261: .IP \fBe\fP
262: Erase. Forget that this article was read.
263: .IP \fBf\fP
264: Submit a follow-up article.
265: You will be placed in your
266: .B EDITOR
267: to compose the text of the follow-up.
268: .IP \fBh\fP
269: Go back to the top of the article and display only the
270: header.
271: .IP \fBl\fP
272: Redisplay the article after you have sent a follow-up or reply.
273: .IP \fBm\fP
274: Move on to the next item in a digest.
275: .IP \fBn\fP
276: No. Go on to the next article without printing current one.
277: .B \&.
278: is equivalent to
279: .BR n .
280: This is convenient if your terminal
281: has a keypad.
282: .IP \fBp\fP
283: Show the parent article (the article that the
284: current article is a follow-up to). This doesn't work
285: if the current article was posted by A-news or notesfiles. To
286: switch between the current and parent articles, use the
287: .B \-
288: command. Unfortunately, if you use several
289: .B p
290: commands
291: to trace the discussion back further, there is no command to return
292: to the original level.
293: .IP \fBq\fP
294: Quit. The
295: .I .newsrc
296: file will be updated unless
297: .B \-x
298: was on the command line.
299: .IP \fBr\fP
300: Reply. Reply to article's author via mail.
301: You are placed in your
302: .B EDITOR
303: with a header specifying
304: \&\*(LqTo\*(Rq, \*(LqSubject\*(Rq, and \*(LqReferences\*(Rq
305: lines taken from the message.
306: You may change or add headers, as appropriate.
307: Add the text of the reply after the blank line, and then exit
308: the editor. The resulting message is mailed to the author of the article.
309: .IP \fBR\fP
310: This is the same as \fBr\fP except the body of the article is included
311: in your mail message for you.
312: .IP \fBESC-r\fP
313: Reply directly. You are placed in your
314: .B MAILER
315: as if you had run it specifying
316: the author of the article as the recipient of a letter.
317: .IP "\fBs\fP [\fIfile\fP]"
318: Save. The article is appended to the named file.
319: The default is
320: .IR Articles .
321: If the first character of the file name is
322: .Ch | ,
323: the rest of the file name is taken as the name of a program,
324: which is executed with the text of the article as standard input.
325: If the first character of the file name is
326: .Ch / ,
327: it is
328: taken as the full pathname of a file.
329: If
330: .B NEWSBOX
331: (in the environment) is set to a full pathname,
332: and the file contains no
333: .Ch / ,
334: the file is saved in
335: .BR NEWSBOX .
336: Otherwise, it is saved relative to
337: .BR HOME .
338: .IP \fBug\fP
339: Unsubscribe to the current group. This is a two character
340: command to ensure that it is not typed accidentally
341: and to leave room for other types of unsubscribes (e.g.
342: unsubscribe to discussion).
343: .IP \fBv\fP
344: Print the current version of the news software.
345: .IP \fBw\fP
346: Write. Like save
347: .BR s ,
348: except that the headers are not written out.
349: .IP \fBx\fP
350: Exit. Like quit except that
351: .I .newsrc
352: is not updated.
353: .IP \fBy\fP
354: Yes. Print the current article and go to the next.
355: .IP [\fIn\fP]\fBA\fP
356: Go to article number \fIn\fP in the current newsgroup.
357: .IP \fBD\fP
358: Decrypts a joke. It only handles rot 13 jokes. The
359: .B D
360: command is a toggle; typing another
361: .B D
362: re-encrypts the
363: joke.
364: .IP \fBH\fP
365: Print a very verbose header, containing all known information
366: about the article.
367: .IP \fBK\fP
368: Kill (mark as read) the rest of the articles in the current group.
369: This is useful if you can't keep up with the volume in the newsgroup,
370: but don't want to unsubscribe.
371: .IP "\fBN\fP [\fInewsgroup\fP]"
372: Go to the next newsgroup or named newsgroup.
373: .IP [\fIn\fP]\fB+\fP
374: Skip
375: .I n
376: articles.
377: The articles skipped are recorded as ``unread'' and will be
378: offered to you again the next time you read news.
379: .IP \fB\-\fP
380: Go back to last article.
381: This is a toggle; typing it twice returns you to the original article.
382: .IP \fB<\fP
383: Prompt for an article ID or the rest of a message ID.
384: It will display the article if it exists.
385: .IP \fB#\fP
386: Report the name and size of the newsgroup.
387: .IP \fB?\fP
388: Print an short help message.
389: .IP \fB!\fP
390: Passes the rest of the command line to the shell. The
391: environment variable
392: .B A
393: is set to the name of the file
394: containing the current article. If the last character
395: of the command is a
396: .BR & ,
397: then the
398: .B &
399: is deleted and
400: the command is run in the background with stdin, stdout
401: and stderr redirected to
402: .IR /dev/null .
403: If the command is
404: missing, the shell is invoked. Use the
405: .B l
406: command (or
407: essentially any other command) to turn on the display
408: after the program terminates.
409: .SH EXAMPLES
410: .TP 10
411: .B vnews
412: Read all unread articles using the
413: .IR visual
414: interface. The
415: .I .newsrc
416: file is updated at the end of the session.
417: .TP 10
418: .B vnews \-n all !mod.all \-r
419: Read all unread articles except articles whose newsgroups begin with
420: .B mod.
421: in reverse order. The
422: .I .newsrc
423: file is updated at the end of the session.
424: .TP 10
425: .B "vnews \-n all \-a last thursday"
426: Print every unread article since last Thursday. The
427: .I .newsrc
428: file is
429: updated at the end of the session.
430: .TP 10
431: .B "vnews \-p > /dev/null &"
432: Discard all unread news.
433: This is useful after returning from a long trip.
434: .SH FILES
435: .PD 0
436: .TP 40
437: .RI /usr/spool/news/ newsgroup / number
438: News articles
439: .TP 40
440: /usr/lib/news/active
441: Active newsgroups
442: .TP 40
443: /usr/lib/news/vnews.help
444: Help file for
445: .IR visual
446: interface
447: .TP 40
448: ~/.newsrc
449: Options and list of previously read articles
450: .PD
451: .SH SEE ALSO
452: checknews(1),
453: inews(1),
454: postnews(1),
455: readnews(1),
456: vnews(1),
457: getdate(3),
458: news(5),
459: newsrc(5),
460: expire(8),
461: recnews(8),
462: sendnews(8),
463: uurec(8)
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