[net.sources] news 2.10.2 man vnews.1

rick@seismo.UUCP (Rick Adams) (10/02/84)

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sed 's/^X//' >man/vnews.1 <<'*-*-END-of-man/vnews.1-*-*'
X.TH VNEWS 1 "1 October 1984"
X.UC 4
X.SH NAME
Xvnews \- read news articles
X.SH SYNOPSIS
X.BR vnews " [ " \-a
X.IR date " ] [ "
X.B \-n
X.IR newsgroups " ] [ "
X.B \-t
X.IR titles " ] [ "
X.BR \-rxu " ] "
X.PP
X.B "vnews \-s"
X.SH DESCRIPTION
X.I Vnews 
Xis a program for reading USENET news. It is based
Xon readnews but has a CRT oriented interface.
XThe list of available commands is quite
Xsimilar, although since vnews is a "visual"
Xinterface, most vnews commands do not have to be terminated
Xby a newline.
X.LP
XVnews uses the first 22 lines of the screen to display
Xthe current article. Line 23 is the secondary prompt line,
Xand is used to input string arguments to commands.  Line 24
Xcontains several fields.  The first field is the prompt
Xfield. If vnews is at the end of an article, the prompt is
X"next?"; otherwise the prompt is "more?". The second field
Xis the newsgroup field, which displays the current newsgroup,
Xthe number of the current article, and the number of
Xthe last article in the newsgroup. The third field contains
Xthe current time, and the last field contains the word
X"mail" if you have mail. When you receive new mail, the bell
Xon the terminal is rung and the word mail appears in capital
Xletters for 30 seconds.
X.PP
XThe
X.B \-r
Xwithout any arguments prints unread articles.
Xflag causes the articles to be printed in reverse order.
XThe
X.B \-u
Xflag causes the
X.B .newsrc
Xfile to be updated every 5 minutes, in case of an unreliable system.
X(Note that if the newsrc file is updated, the
X.B x
Xcommand will not restore it to its original contents.)
X.PP
XThe following flags determine the selection of articles.
X.TP 10
X.BI "\-n " newsgroups
XSelect all articles that belong to
X.I newsgroups.
X.TP 10
X.BI "\-t " titles
XSelect all articles whose titles contain one of the strings specified by
X.I titles.
X.TP 10
X.BI "\-a " "\fR[\fP date \fR]\fP"
XSelect all articles that were posted past the given
X.I date
X(in
X.IR getdate (3)
Xformat).
X.TP 10
X.B \-x
XIgnore
X.I .newsrc
Xfile.  That is, select articles that have already been read as well as new ones.
X.PP
X.I vnews
Xmaintains a
X.I .newsrc
Xfile in the your home directory that specifies all news articles
Xalready read.  It is updated at the end of each reading session in
Xwhich the
X.BR \-x "
Xoption wasn't specified.
XIf the environment variable NEWSRC is present, it should be the path
Xname of a file to be used in place of .newsrc.
X.PP
XIf you wish, an options line may be placed in your
X.I .newsrc
Xfile.
XThis line starts with the word
X.B options
X(left justified) followed by the list of standard options just as
Xthey would be typed on the command line.  Such a list may include:
Xthe
X.B \-n
Xflag along with a newsgroup list; and/or
Xthe
X.B \-r
Xor
X.B \-t
Xflag.  Continuation lines are specified by following lines
Xbeginning with a space or tab character.
X.PP
X.B vnews \-s
Xwill print the newsgroup subscription list.
X.SH ENVIRONMENT
XOptions can be specified in the
X.B NEWSOPTS
Xenvironment parameter.  Where conflicts exist, options on the command
Xline take precedence, followed by the
X.I .newsrc
X.B options
Xline, and lastly the
X.B NEWSOPTS
Xparameter.
X.PP
XWhen the user uses the reply command,
Xthe environment parameter
X.B MAILER
Xwill be used to determine which mailer to use. The default is usually /bin/mail.
X.PP
XIf the user so desires, he may specify a specific paging program
Xfor articles.  The environment parameter
X.B PAGER
Xshould be set to the paging program.  The name of the article is referenced with
Xa `%', as in the
X.B \-c
Xoption.  If no `%' is present, the article will be piped to the program.
XPaging may be disabled by setting
X.B PAGER
Xto a null value.
X.PP
XIf
X.B EDITOR
Xis set, it will be used in place of the default editor on your system to
Xedit replies and follow-ups.
X.PP
XIf
X.B NAME
Xis set, it will be used as your full name when posting news or
Xsubmitting a follow-up. If it is not set, the name will be taken
Xfrom the file
X.B .name
Xin your home directory. If this file is not present, the name will
Xbe taken from /etc/passwd.
X.PP
XIf
X.B NEWSARCHIVE
Xis set, a copy of any articles you post or follow-up to, will be save
Xin the specified file. If it is the null string, they will be
Xcopied in 
X.I author_copy
Xin your home directory.
X.PP
XIf
X.B NEWSBOX
Xis set, when you save or write a file, if the filename you specify
Xdoes not begin with a ``/'', it will be prepended 
Xwith NEWSBOX.
X.PP
XIf
X.B NEWSRC
Xis set, it will be used in place of the .newsrc file in your home directory.
X.PP
XIf
X.B ORGANIZATION
Xis set, it will be used as the name of your organization whenever you
Xpost an article. The default is compiled in and is usually correct.
XTypically, you would only use this if you were reading news at a
Xsite other than normal. (Or if you are trying to be cute.)
X.SH "COMMANDS"
X.PP
XEach vnews command may be preceded by a count.  Some
Xcommands use the count; others ignore it. If count is omitted,
Xit defaults to one. Some commands prompt for an argument
Xon the second line from the bottom of the screen.  Standard UNIX erase
Xand kill processing is done on this argument.  The argument is
Xterminated by a return. An interrupt
X(delete or break) gets you out of any partially entered command. 
X.sp
XIn the following table, ^B is used as a shorthand for Control-B.
X.sp
X.ta 2.5i
XCommand		Meaning
X.IP CR
XA carriage return prints more of the current article,
Xor goes on to the next article if you are at the end of
Xthe current article. A SPACE is equivalent to CR.
X.IP ^B
XGoes backwards count pages.
X.IP ^F
XGoes forward count pages.
X.IP ^D
XGo forwards half a page.
X.IP ^U
XGo backwards half a page.
X.IP ^Z
XGo forwards count lines.
X.IP ^E
XGo backwards count lines.
X.IP ^L
XRedraws the screen. ^L may be typed at any time.
X.IP b
XBack up one article in the current group.
X.IP c
XCancel the article.  Only the author of the article or the super user
Xcan do this.
X.IP d
XRead a digest.  Breaks up a digest into separate articles
Xand permits you to read and reply to each piece.
X.IP e
XErase.  Forget that this article was read.
X.IP f
XSubmit a follow-up article.
XYou will be placed in your EDITOR to compose the text of the follow-up.
X.IP h
XGo back to the top of the article and display only the
Xheader.
X.IP l
XRedisplays the article after you have sent a follow-up or reply.
X.IP n
XNo.  Goes on to next article without printing current one. 
X``.'' is equivalent to ``n''. This is convenient if your terminal
Xhas a keypad.
X.IP p
XGets you the parent article (the article that the
Xcurrent article is a follow-up to). This doesn't work
Xif the current article was posted by A-news or notesfiles.  To
Xget back to from the parent article, use the -
Xcommand. Unfortunately, if you use several p commands
Xto trace the discussion back further, there is no command to get you back.
X.IP q
XQuit.  The .newsrc
Xfile will be updated if \-x was not on the command line.
X.IP r
XReply.  Reply to article's author via mail.
XYou are placed in your EDITOR with a header specifying
XTo, Subject, and References lines taken from the message.
XYou may change or add headers, as appropriate.
XYou add the text of the reply after the blank line, and then exit
Xthe editor.  The resulting message is mailed to the author of the article.
X.IP "s [\fIfile\fP]"
XSave.  The article is appended to the named file.
XThe default is ``Articles''.
XIf the first character of the file name is `|',
Xthe rest of the file name is taken as the name of a program,
Xwhich is executed with the text of the article as standard input.
XIf the first character of the file name is `/', it is
Xtaken as a full path name of a file.
XIf $NEWSBOX (in the environment) is set to a full path name,
Xand the file contains no `/', the file is saved in $NEWSBOX.
XOtherwise, it is saved relative to $HOME.
X.IP ug
XUnsubscribe to the current group. This is a two character
Xcommand to ensure that it is not typed accidentally
Xand to leave room for other types of unsubscribes (e.
Xg. unsubscribe to discussion).
X.IP v
XPrint the current version of the news software.
X.IP w
XIs the same as 
X``s'', expect that the headers are not written out.
X.IP x
XExit.  Like quit except that .newsrc is not updated.
X.IP y
XYes.  Prints the current article and goes on to the next.
X.IP [\fIn\fP]A
XGo to article number \fIn\fP in the current newsgroup.
X.IP D
XDecrypts a joke. It only handles rot 13 jokes.   The D
Xcommand is a toggle; typing another D re- encrypts the
Xjoke.
X.IP H
XPrint a very verbose header, containing all known information
Xabout the article.
X.IP K
XKill (mark as read) the rest of the articles in the current group. 
XThis is useful if you can't keep up with the volume in the newsgroup,
Xbut don't want to unsubscribe.
X.IP "N [\fInewsgroup\fP]"
XGo to the next newsgroup or named newsgroup.
X.IP [\fIn\fP]+
XSkip n articles.
XThe articles skipped are recorded as ``unread'' and will be
Xoffered to you again the next time you read news.
X.IP \-
XGo back to last article.
XThis is a toggle, typing it twice returns you to the original article.
X.IP <
XPrompts for an article ID or the rest of a message ID.
XIt will display the article if it exists.
X.IP #
XReport the name and size of the newsgroup.
X.IP ?
XPrint an short help message.
X.IP !
XPasses the rest of the command line to the shell.  The
Xenvironment variable $A is set to the name of the file
Xcontaining the current article.  If the last character
Xof the command is a "&", then the "&" is deleted and
Xthe command is run in the background with stdin, stdout
Xand stderr redirected to /dev/null. If the command is
Xmissing, the shell is invoked. Use the l command (or
Xessentially any other command) to turn on the display
Xafter the program terminates.
X.SH EXAMPLES
X.TP 10
X.B vnews
XRead all unread articles using the
X.IR visual
Xinterface.  The
X.I .newsrc
Xfile is updated at the end of the session.
X.TP 10
X.B vnews \-n all !fa.all \-r
XRead all unread articles except articles whose newsgroups begin with
X"fa." in reverse order.  The
X.I .newsrc
Xfile is updated at the end of the session.
X.TP 10
X.B "vnews \-n all \-a last thursday"
XPrint every unread article since last Thursday.  The
X.I .newsrc
Xfile is
Xupdated at the end of the session.
X.TP 10
X.B "vnews \-p > /dev/null &"
XDiscard all unread news.
XThis is useful after returning from a long trip.
X.SH FILES
X.PD 0
X.TP 40
X.RI /usr/spool/news/ newsgroup / number
XNews articles
X.TP 40
X/usr/lib/news/active
XActive newsgroups and numbers of articles
X.TP 40
X/usr/lib/news/vnews.help
XHelp file for
X.IR visual
Xinterface
X.TP 40
X~/.newsrc
XOptions and list of previously read articles
X.PD
X.SH SEE ALSO
Xchecknews(1),
Xreadnews(1),
Xrecnews(8),
Xnews(5),
Xnewsrc(5)
*-*-END-of-man/vnews.1-*-*
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