[news.newusers.questions] Searching

tommyk@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Tommy Kelly) (02/27/90)

When I use /pat/ to search for my name in a newsgroup, I normally get a list of
a few letter IDs.  But invariably these do NOT contain my name, and have no
connection with me or my previous postings?  What am I doing wrong?
tk

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ray@philmtl.philips.ca (Ray Dunn) (03/01/90)

In referenced article, tommyk@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Tommy Kelly) writes:
>When I use /pat/ to search for my name in a newsgroup, I normally get a list of
>a few letter IDs.  But invariably these do NOT contain my name, and have no
>connection with me or my previous postings?  What am I doing wrong?

(I will refrain from saying that /pat/ will only work if your name is
Patrick (:-))

Without knowing exactly what your "pat" is, and whether you specify an "a"
or "h" modifier, who knows.

However you could try gpat on the listed articles to find the pattern in
them that is causing them to be found.
-- 
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khan@milton.acs.washington.edu (I Wish) (03/02/90)

In article <4663@vanuata.cs.glasgow.ac.uk> tommyk@cs.glasgow.ac.uk
(Tommy Kelly) writes:

> When I use /pat/ to search for my name in a newsgroup, I normally get a
> list of a few letter IDs.  But invariably these do NOT contain my name,
> and have no connection with me or my previous postings?  What am I
> doing wrong?  tk

I'll assume the rn newsreader....  It depends on where you are.  If you
want to go back and look for an old message of yours, use something like

        ?tommyk@cs.glas?hr

which says look back through articles (?...?), even ones I've already
read (r), for the string "tommyk@cs.glas" anywhere in the message header
(h) (namely, on the From: or Reply-To: lines), and show me the first
(most recent, going backwards) message you find.  Typing just ? will
then repeat the search, for an older message.  /.../ looks ahead; by
default, /pat/ searches ahead for the regular expression "pat" on the
Subject: line of any message you haven't read yet.  /pat/h looks for the
expression anywhere in the header, /pat/a looks through all of every
article for the expression, /pat/r looks through articles you've already
read as well, ?pat? looks backwards (usually failing due to no unread
articles behind you unless you've been reading by subject, or using
?pat?r).

Sorry for the length of this post, but I'm trying to cover any questions
most new users might have.
-- 
"indecipherable strangers handing out inexplicable humiliation and an
 unidentified army of horsemen laughing at him in his head ..."
                                                           -- Douglas Adams
Erik Seaberg (khan@milton.u.washington.edu)

jwm@aplvax.jhuapl.edu (Jim Meritt) (03/02/90)

I use:

/From: jwm@/h:!echo -n from jwm: :=:j
/meritt/a:!echo -n has meritt in ::=


I see no reason to reread what I wrote, but I display the subjects as
they are deleted to make sure they were mine.

I AM, however, in any message that refers to me..


That that is is that that is. That that is not is that that is not.
That that is is not that that is not.  That that is not is not that that is.
And that includes these opinions, which are solely mine!
jwm@aplvax.jhuapl.edu  - or - jwm@aplvax.uucp  - or - meritt%aplvm.BITNET