1 HELP

 NEWS is an implementation of the USENET NEWS system for VMS. This is a
 bulletin board system, allowing users to read items posted to the board,
 post replies to existing items, and create new items on the board. NEWS
 conforms to the Internet Standard for Interchange of USENET Messages
 (RFC1036).

 Unlike person-to-person mail, all items posted into NEWS are normally
 readable by all users of the system, so the items in NEWS are intended
 for general view. NEWS sites are typically linked into the global USENET
 news network, and in such cases the items will be read by users on many
 other systems throughout the world.

 News is invoked by the command "$ NEWS".

 NEWS allows you to SELECT newsgroups for viewing, READ items, REPLY to
 items, POST new news items, EXTRACT items into a local file, REGISTER
 yourself into newsgroups, and FORWARD items to other users (via mail).

 Commands to NEWS are listed in this help file: some of these commands are
 NEWS Management commands, and may only be executed by a nominated
 "News Manager" account. These commands are flagged within the command
 description as management commands.

1 NEWS

 News has a DCL interface similar to that of VMS MAIL, in that the
 command "$ NEWS" will invoke an interactive session of NEWS, or you can
 specify parameters to the NEWS command in order to execute a single
 command, then return to DCL.

 Examples:

   $ NEWS
         to invoke an interactive news session on a screen terminal

   $ NEWS/NOSCREEN
         to invoke an interactive news session on a line terminal

   $ NEWS POST/NEWSG=net.animal/SUBJECT="Frogs" frog.txt
         to post the file "frog.txt" into the newsgroup "net.animal",
         with the title "Frogs".

2 Qualifiers

/ALLSCAN

 If this qualifier is present, NEWS will scan the local item database
 for any unseen items in those newsgroups you have subscribed to (or
 registered in). NEWS will output a one line message for each registered
 newsgroup which contains any unseen items. This is a more verbose form
 of the /SCAN qualifier actions, and will take a longer time to complete.

 /ALLSCAN will immediately exit after performing this scan of newsgroups.
 To alter your LOGIN.COM to output a new NEWS message similar to the
 new Mail login notice add the line:

    $ NEWS/ALLSCAN

 to your LOGIN.COM file.

/CLASS
 /CLASS=class-name

 Newsgroups may be assigned to CLASSES. Such Classes contain a set of
 newsgroups assigned to each class either by the local NEWS manager as a
 system-wide definition, or by each user as a personal assignment.

 An initial class of newsgroups may be selected on startup by the use of
 this qualifier. For example,

    $ NEWS/CLASS=$local

 will display all locally defined newsgroups on startup.

/SCAN

 If this qualifier is present, NEWS will scan the local item database
 for any unseen items in those newsgroups you have subscribed to (or
 registered in). If any unseen items in any of these newsgroups are
 located, NEWS will output a simple one line message indicating that
 there are new unseen items in NEWS.

 /SCAN will immediately exit after performing this scan of newsgroups.
 To alter your LOGIN.COM to output a new News message similar to the
 new mail message add the line:

    $ NEWS/SCAN

 to your LOGIN.COM file.

/SCREEN
 /SCREEN   [default]
 /NOSCREEN

 Determines whether a screen-based interface will be used for this session.
 If /SCREEN mode is used NEWS will determine whether the output device is
 supported by the VMS screen management routines (SMG), and if so the screen
 interface will be used. If the /NOSCREEN qualifier is present, or the
 output device is not a supported terminal, the interface will not use
 screen-based presentation.

/UNSEEN

 This qualifier will only invoke an interactive session of NEWS if there
 are unseen items in those newsgroups you have subscribed to (or
 registered in). If there are no such unseen items then NEWS will exit
 immediately. Otherwise NEWS will invoke an interactive session with
 the directory screen set to /NEW (selection of those registered
 newsgroups which contain unseen items).

2 Structure

 NEWS items are classified into NEWSGROUPS. All items with a similar subject
 matter are normally contained in a single newsgroup. An item may be posted
 into a single newsgroup, or into multiple newsgroups.

 Each news item within a newsgroup has a TITLE and a SEQUENCE number. A
 directory of a newsgroup displays these titles and sequence numbers - the
 sequence number is used to identify a particular item.

1 NEWS_settings

 There are two ways in which NEWS can be altered to suit personal
 preferences: by the use of logical names (initialized in your LOGIN.COM
 file or similar), or by the "SET PROFILE" commands. In most cases the
 logical names have equivalent PROFILE commands. In all such cases the
 PROFILE settings take preference over any logical name settings.

 The SET PROFILE commands are documented within the SET topic.

 The logical names and their actions are listed below.

2 NEWSRC

 This logical name is is used to define the file containing the NEWS user
 notebook. This file contains the set of seen and unseen items for each
 newsgroup, MARKed items, and similar per-user context information. Note
 that if this logical name is used, then the translation of the name
 must equate to a full VMS file specification (including device and
 extension). For compatibility with previous versions of NEWS the
 logical name "NEWS_REGISTER" can be used instead of NEWSRC.

 If this logical name is not defined, the notebook will be stored in the
 file "SYS$LOGIN:NEWSRC".

 There is no equivalent PROFILE setting for this logical name.

2 NEWS_INI

 This can be defined as a file name which contains a set of DEFINE/KEY
 commands to change the default key binding of news.

 The equivalent PROFILE command is SET PROFILE/KEYDEFS=filename

2 NEWS_EDIT

 This logical name can be used determine which text editor is to be used
 by NEWS. The text editor is used to generate new postings, and to edit
 forwarded mail, and (optionally) in readonly mode, to display the
 contents of a newsitem.

 By default NEWS links the TPU editor to NEWS, using the TPU section as
 defined by the user.

 This logical name may be used to:

 *  Use the TPU editor with a section other than the default section
    defined with TPU:
       $ DEFINE NEWS_EDIT "TPU/SEC=mysection"

 *  Use EDT as the configured editor:
       $ DEFINE NEWS_EDIT CALLABLE_EDT

 *  Invoke any other editor using a command procedure in a subprocess:
       $ DEFINE NEWS_EDIT "@dev:[dir]my_editor.com"
    and NEWS will then SPAWN the command:
       $ @dev:[dir]my_editor.com filename

 The subtopic "Examples" shows an example editor command procedure.

 The equivalent PROFILE setting is SET PROFILE/EDITOR=value.

2 NEWS_VIEW

 This logical name is only required if you are using a procedure as the
 way of invoking the NEWS text editor. In this case a second procedure
 is required which invokes the same editor in read_only mode:
   $ DEFINE NEWS_VIEW "@dev:[dir]my_reader.com"
 and NEWS will then spawn the command:
   $ @dev:[dir]my_reader.com filename

 When TPU or EDT is configured as the editor, then NEWS will automatically
 add the /READONLY qualifier to the editor invocation in order create a
 readonly editor session.

 There is no equivalent PROFILE setting.

2 NEWS_PERSONALNAME

 NEWS will retrieve your VMS MAIL profile record to set up a personal
 name to be included in the header of all your NEWS postings. This
 MAIL-defined personal name can be changed to a NEWS-specific name by
 equating this logical name to a personal name string.

 The equivalent PROFILE command is SET PROFILE/PERSONAL_NAME="string"
 
2 NEWS_SCANSIZE

 NEWS will normally display the text of a newsitem on a page-by-page
 basis. When scanning through items it is often useful to only display
 the first few lines of an item, to decide whether to view the complete
 text.

 If the logical name NEWS_SCANSIZE is defined as a number (n), then only
 the first n lines of each new item will be displayed before the first
 prompt to display more of the item. Commonly, a value between 8 and 12
 is most useful.

 The equivalent PROFILE command is SET PROFILE/SCANSIZE=n

2 NEWS_DEFAULT_DIRECTORY

 NEWS will normally remember the last newsgroup directory setting across
 invocations of the program (i.e. If you had executed DIR/NEW before
 exiting NEWS, then when you next run NEWS, the initial newsgroup directory
 state will be set to DIR/NEW). It is possible to specify a constant
 initial directory state by defining this logical name as one of the
 values:

   ALL
   NEW
   REGISTER
   SINCE
   "SINCE=vms_date"

 The equivalent PROFILE command is SET PROFILE/DIRECTORY=setting.

2 NEWS_POST_CC

 This logical name directs NEWS to generate MAIL copies of your NEWS
 postings. The logical name value is interpreted by NEWS as the name
 of a POST_CC control file.

 This file consists of lines of the form:

   newsgroup   address

 The newsgroup name starts in column 1, and may be the name of a single
 newsgroup, or may specify a set of newsgroups by including the
 wildcard match character ('*').

 The address is the address to receive a carbon copy of the posting. It
 is separated from the newsgroup name by at least 1 space character.
 The address may be a DECnet or Internet-format address.

 The interpretation of the file is such that any postings you make
 into any of the specified newsgroups will also generate mail to the
 matching addresses.

 There is no equivalent PROFILE setting.

2 NEWS_ORGANIZATION

 This logical name allows you to override the locally defined name of 
 your organization with a personal setting. This name is included in the
 headings of all NEWS postings you make.

 The equivalent PROFILE command is SET PROFILE/ORGANIZATION="string"

2 MAIL_SIGNATURE

 This logical name may be defined as the name of your mail signature
 file. If this logical name is defined, then the contents of this file
 will be automatically appended to all postings and mailings made from
 within NEWS. If this logical name is not defined then NEWS will
 search for the file "SYS$LOGIN:MAIL.SIGNATURE" as a signature file.

 The equivalent PROFILE command is SET PROFILE/SIGNATURE=file

2 Example

  $ !
  $ ! Example command procedure to invoke an editor for NEWS
  $ !
  $ ! Inputs:
  $ !
  $ !   P1 = file name.
  $ !
  $ ! Note that this procedure is run in the context of a subprocess.
  $ ! LOGIN.COM is not executed. However, all process logical names
  $ ! and DCL global symbols are copied.
  $ !
  $ ! The default directory is the same as the parent process
  $ !
  $ ! Note that this will only be invoked if the user has placed in
  $ ! LOGIN.COM (or similar)
  $ !   $ DEFINE NEWS_EDIT "@dev:[dir]NEWSEDIT_EXAMPLE.COM"
  $ !
  $ DEFINE /USER SYS$INPUT 'F$TRNLNM("SYS$OUTPUT")'
  $ IF P1 .EQS. "" THEN EXIT
  $ EDIT/EDT 'P1'
  $ EXIT

1 Keypad

 By default, the VT keypad is configured within NEWS as shown below:


       +--------+--------+--------+--------+
       |  pf1   |  pf2   |  pf3   |  pf4   |
  gold-|        |        |        |SKIP/FOLLOWUP
       |GOLD    |HELP    |SKIP    |SKIP/NEWSGROUP
       +--------+--------+--------+--------+
       |   7    |   8    |   9    |   -    |
  gold-|PRINT   |EXTRACT |EXTR/ALL|EXTR/APPEND
       |DIR     |DIR/NEW |DIR/REG |DIR/ALL |
       +--------+--------+--------+--------+
       |   4    |   5    |   6    |   ,    |
  gold-|        |TOP     |        |        |
       |DIR     | >>UP<< |DIR/REG |DIR/ALL |
       +--------+--------+--------+--------+
       |   1    |   2    |   3    | enter  |
  gold-|READ/HEA|BOTTOM  |READ/NEX/HEAD    |
       |READ    |>>DOWN<<|READ/NEXT        |
       +--------+--------+--------+        |
       |   0             |   .    |        |
  gold-|READ/NEW/HEADER  |READ/NEW/FOLLOWUP/HEADER
       |READ/NEW         |READ/NEW/FOLLOWUP|
       +-----------------+--------+--------+


       +--------+--------+--------+
       |  find  | insert | remove |
       |        |        |        |
       | SEARCH |REGISTER|DEREGISTER
       +--------+--------+--------+
       | select |  prev  |  next  |
  gold-| CLOSE  | TOP    |BOTTOM  |
       | SELECT | UP 18  |DOWN 18 |
       +--------+--------+--------+

 These defaults may be altered in three ways:

  * Using the DEFINE/KEY command to bind a news command to a key.

  * Defining the logical name "NEWS_INI" to a file containing a
    sequence of DEFINE/KEY lines (which will be executed on startup
    of NEWS).

  * Using the SET PROFILE/KEYPAD=file command in a similar fashion
    as the use of the NEWS_INI logical name.

1 ADD

2 BATCH

 *MANAGEMENT COMMAND*

 See the Subtopic FILE

2 ENTRY

 Format:

  ADD ENTRY newsgroup

 ADD ENTRY is used to add the specified newsgroup into a CLASS. A class
 is a set of newsgroups which the user has grouped together into a
 class set. This grouping is maintained within the per-user news
 context file, so that this command refers only to the user executing
 the command.

 Normally the specified newsgroup is added to the current class (if a
 class is currently selected). The /CLASSES qualifier is used to specify
 the set of classes in which the newsgroup is to be entered. Note that if
 the newsgroup is currently a member of a class (or classes) the new list
 of classes is added to the current membership list.

3 Qualifiers

/CLASSES
 /CLASSES=(class-name[,...])

 This qualifier determines the classes to which the specified newsgroup is
 to be added. If this qualifier is not used, then the current class is
 used as the default value.

 The qualifier value may be a list of class names, in which case the
 newsgroup is added to all named classes. The class names may also contain
 wildcard characters ('%', '*'), in which case the newsgroup will be added
 to all classes with matching names.

 If a class of the specified name does not exist, it is created by this
 command.

2 FILE

 *MANAGEMENT COMMAND*
 ADD FILE is a NEWS MANAGEMENT Command.

 Format:

  ADD FILE filename

 ADD FILE is used to automatically load items into the news database. This
 command is normally used to load network news batches onto the local node
 (locally generated news is POSTed into NEWS).

 If the node is defined as a news routing node, this command also generates
 the batch files to send to the adjacent NEWS nodes.

 ADD FILE scans an input file and breaks the file into one or more
 articles. Each article is composed of a number of header lines (or a
 number of header line groups) and an article body. The header lines may
 be generated by a number of different sources, and a number of these
 formats may appear at the head of the article. The ADD FILE parser will
 recognise most formats and correctly parse the item header lines.

3 Parameters

Filename

 This parameter is the file name containing the news batch to add to NEWS.
 The filename specified may be either a single filename, or may  contain
 wildcards (which are expanded, and all files so specified are added).

 Lists of filenames are supported, and all qualifiers may be used either
 globally or positionally for each file in the list.

 Note that "sticky" defaults or device or extension names are NOT
 supported in this version of NEWS.

3 Qualifiers

/ACCEPT
 /ACCEPT
 /NOACCEPT [default]

 Postings to moderated newsgroups require an "Approved:" stamp in the
 item headers in order for NEWS to accept the posting. /ACCEPT
 overrides this condition, allowing addition of unapproved postings into
 moderated newsgroups. /NOACCEPT is the default.

/CREGRP
 /CREGRP
 /NOCREGRP [default]

 The default action of the ADD command is to only accept items into
 newsgroups which already exist on the system, rejecting all other
 newsgroups. This qualifier directs NEWS to automatically create any new
 newsgroups which are specified in the item headers which do not already
 exist on the local system. Default is /NOCREGRP.

 /CREGRP is normally not recommended if you are part of a NEWS network,
 as this will result in the creation of many bogus newsgroups.

/DEFNEWSGROUP
 /DEFNEWSGROUP=newsgroup

 This directs the NEWS parser to supply a default newsgroup to scanned
 items other than the default newsgroup of "junk". This newsgroup
 default is only used when the scanned item does not contain a header
 line "Newsgroups: ...".

/DELETE
 /DELETE
 /NODELETE [default]

 This qualifier directs NEWS to delete the input file after the contents
 have been added to NEWS. Default is /NODELETE.

/EXECUTE
 /EXECUTE= [RETAIN (default qualifier value) | LOCAL | DELETE ]
 /NOEXECUTE [Default]

 "Control" messages are posted periodically to the net by various news
 network administrators to manage the network newsgroups. Some types of
 Control messages can be executed immediately by the NEWS software,
 while those which refer to the creation or deletion of newsgroups may
 be handled in a number of ways.

 The default action (/NOEXECUTE) is to create a DCL command file which
 can perform the necessary newsgroup creation/deletion commands as
 directed in the control posting, and post this command file to the mail 
 address "USENET".

 If /EXECUTE is specified, then newsgroup creation messages are executed
 immediately, without the requirement for approval by the local news
 manager.

 In the case of newsgroup deletion (affecting newsgroups listed in a
 "rmgroup" or a "checkgroups" Control message) the default action of
 /EXECUTE is to set the newsgroups which are to be removed to a 1 week
 retention period (this corresponds to a qualifier value of
 "/EXECUTE=RETAIN"). This default action may be modified by specifying
 either "/EXECUTE=LOCAL" (in which case any such newsgroups are set to
 "/LOCAL" status), or "/EXECUTE=DELETE" (in which case such newsgroups
 are immediately deleted. In all cases a log of the actions performed
 will be posted to address "USENET".

/JUNK
 /JUNK   [default]
 /NOJUNK

 When an item cannot be correctly parsed the default action is to post the
 item into the "junk" newsgroup. Such automatic junking of items can be
 stopped by the /NOJUNK qualifier, in which case items which cannot be
 parsed are discarded. /JUNK is the default.

/MODERATOR

 This qualifier allows a newsgroup moderator to insert items into the
 relevant moderated newsgroup (i.e. the newsgroup which is moderated by
 this user).

 The command will check if the added items are actually to be posted into
 newsgroups moderated by this user, and in the case of a posting to
 multiple moderated newsgroups, will post the item to the next moderator
 if required rather than complete the NEWS posting.

/NETFEED
 /NETFEED   [default]
 /NONETFEED

 The default action of NEWS is to assume that all items added by the ADD
 command are network news items, and should be forwarded to NEWS network
 neighbours (as specified by the SYS and DISTRIBUTION files). /NONETFEED
 inhibits the forwarding of ADDed items to neighbours. /NETFEED is the
 default

/NEWSGROUP
 /NEWSGROUP=newsgroup

 This directs the NEWS parser to place all items into the nominated
 newsgroup (regardless of whether the item contains a "Newsgroups:"
 header line). This qualifier is useful when converting messages from
 a mailing list into a newsgroup. For example:

    $ MAIL
    MAIL> set folder CMU_TCPIP
    MAIL> extract/all tcp.mail
    MAIL> delete/all
    MAIL> exit
    $ NEWS/NOSCREEN
    NEWS> add file tcp.mail/news=anu.tcpip

/NOCONTROL

 When specified, this qualifier inhibits the interpretation of the Control:
 header in ADDed items by NEWS.

 The default behaviour of NEWS is to interpret all Control: headers.

/RETRY
 /RETRY
 /NORETRY [default]

 When a network feed news item is rejected by the local node an attempt is
 made to place the item into the "junk" newsgroup. This rejection may take
 place for a number of reasons, but the primary one is that the NEWS.SYS
 file has rejected this item. You may wish to make changes to the SYS file
 and retry adding the item. Normally such an attempt would be rejected, as
 the Path: item has now been stamped with the local node name, indicating
 that the local system has already seen this item. /RETRY directs the ADD
 command to ignore the Path: header line when checking the news item for
 addition into the local node.

2 MARKER

 Format:
    ADD MARKER [marker-name  [item-number]]

 ADD MARKER places a mark against the current newsitem. This item can be
 selected at a later stage by the READ/MARK or SELECT/MARK commands, or
 printed by the PRINT/MARK command. Marks are on a user-by-user basis,
 and system-wide marks are not supported in NEWS.

 If no marker-name value is specified then the default value, "mark" is
 used. A marker name is a string. If no item number is specified, the
 mark is placed against the current item.

 Example:

	ADD MARKER "comms"
        will mark the current item with the tag "comms"

2 MEMBER

 *MANAGEMENT COMMAND*
 ADD MEMBER is a NEWS MANAGEMENT command.

 Format:
    ADD MEMBER username

 ADD MEMBER adds a new user to the membership list of a restricted access
 newsgroup. Membership of the newsgroup grants the username read access to
 the newsgroup, and by default also grants write access.

 The username may include wildcard characters ('%','*') to include a set
 or related usernames. An identifier name may be used instead of a username,
 in which case all owners of that identifier are included. If wildcards or
 identifier names are used it is advised not to include the /MAIL or /NODES
 parameters to the command.

 The newsgroup must have been set as a restricted newsgroup for this
 command to be executed, and the user must be either the local News
 Manager, or the supervisor of this newsgroup.

3 Qualifiers

/MAIL
 /MAIL=mail_address

 Specifies a mail address for this member. The address format may be
 either a VMS MAIL or an Internet format address.

/NODES
 /NODES=(node-name[,...]_

 Specifies the node names that are accepted in conjunction with this
 username. If this qualifier is not specified the username is accepted in
 conjunction with any node.

/PRIVILEGES
 /PRIVILEGES=(SUPERVISE,WRITE,NOWRITE)
 /PRIVILEGES=WRITE      [default]

 Associates privileges with this username.

 SUPERVISE allows the user to delete any newsitem, add and delete members
 of the restricted newsgroup and unconditionally write to the newsgroup.

 WRITE implies explicit WRITE access to the NEWSGROUP. This is the default
 for all newsgroup members.

 NOWRITE implies read-only access to this newsgroup.

1 ANSWER

 See the Topic FOLLOWUP

1 ATTACH

 Format:

    ATTACH [process-name]

 Attaches your terminal to the parent process, or a specified sub-process.
 This command takes one optional parameter, a process name. If no process
 name is specified, the terminal is attached to the parent process of the
 current process.

1 BACK

 BACK reads the previous item in the current newsgroup. This is
 equivalent to the command READ/BACK. The command may be modified by
 specifying one of the parameters listed below:

2 REPLY

 BACK REPLY is equivalent to READ/PARENT, displaying the previous entry in
 the same conversation stream as the current item.

2 NOTE

 BACK NOTE reads the previous item in the current newsgroup. This is
 equivalent to the command READ/BACK.

2 Qualifiers

/HEADER

 Display all header lines of the newsitem. By default only the subject
 line, sender address and date of the item are shown.

/EDITOR

 Use a text editor in read-only mode to display the newsitem.

/ROT13

 Some newsitem are posted using rot13 encryption. This qualifier decrypts
 the newsitem for display.

1 BOTTOM

 This command moves the screen display to the end of the display screen.
 The command is invoked by the key sequence Gold (PF1) - NextScreen.

1 CANCEL

 Cancel allows the user to delete a news item from the NEWS system. The
 actions of this command are to remove the local copy of the news item,
 and also generate the necessary commands to propagate the deletion of
 the news item throughout the news network.

 CANCEL will only operate on items which have been posted by the same
 user as the user issuing the cancel command.

 This restriction is lifted slightly for the local NEWS Manager, and the
 local supervisor of the newsgroup, who can cancel ANY item that has been
 posted from the local node.

 There are no parameters to this command - CANCEL deletes the current
 news item. The user is prompted for confirmation before the command
 is executed.

1 CLEAR

 There are two sets of objects that can be cleared: MARKS and KILL
 filters.

2 MARK

 Format:

  CLEAR MARK [tag]

 CLEAR MARK removes all marks of the specified tag from the mark list. If
 no tag value is specified then ALL marks are cleared. Otherwise only the
 specified tag value is cleared. The wildcard character ('*') can be used
 in the tag field to clear a set of related tags: e.g.:

    CLEAR MARK x*

2 KILL

 Format:

  CLEAR KILL [tag]

 CLEAR KILL removes the kill filter with the specified tag from the kill
 list. If no tag value is specified then ALL kill filters are cleared.
 Otherwise only the specified kill filter is cleared. e.g.:

    CLEAR KILL 3

1 CLOSE

 Closes the currently open newsgroup, and the display is reset to the list
 of available newsgroups.

 If you are currently reading a newsitem the display is reset to the news
 item directory screen.

 The command "CLOSE MAIL" is equivalent to "CLOSE/MAIL". See the subtopic
 "/MAIL" for a description of the command.

2 Qualifiers

/MAIL
 /MAIL

 If the mail file is currently open through NEWS, CLOSE/MAIL will close
 the mail file and remove the groups which mapped the mail folders into
 NEWS.

 The mail file can be subsequently opened by the OPEN/MAIL command.

1 COMPRESS

  COMPRESS is a command which refers to MAIL, and is may be used
  once the MAIL file is opened within NEWS by the OPEN/MAIL command.

  When you compress a file, the following four steps occur:

   1  A temporary file named MAIL_nnnn_COMPRESS.TMP is created.
      (nnnn is a unique, four-digit number.)

   2  The contents (of the file to be compressed) are copied to
      the temporary file and compressed.

   3  The original (uncompressed) file is renamed with a file
      type of OLD.

   4  The newly compressed file is renamed from
      MAIL_nnnn_COMPRESS.TMP back to its original name.


1 CREATE

2 CONFERENCE

 See the Subtopic NEWSGROUPS

2 GROUPS

 See the Subtopic NEWSGROUPS

2 NEWSGROUPS

 *MANAGEMENT COMMAND*
 CREATE NEWSGROUPS is a NEWS MANAGEMENT Command.

 Format:

  CREATE NEWSGROUPS newsgroup

 Create is used to create new newsgroups on the local node.

2 Parameters

Newsgroup

 This parameter is the name of the newsgroup to create. If the newsgroup
 does not exist on the local node, then the user is prompted to confirm
 that the newsgroup should be created.

 This parameter can also contain a comma seperated list of newsgroup
 names to create.

2 Qualifiers

/APPROVAL
 /APPROVAL   [default]
 /NOAPPROVAL

 Moderated newsgroups require an Approved: header in all postings in order
 to be accepted by each local NEWS site. This approval requirement can be
 removed by specifying the /NOAPPROVAL qualifier with the newsgroup.

/CACHE
 /CACHE=2   [default]
 /NOCACHE

 Format:

    CREATE NEWSGROUP newsgroup/SERVER=node/PROTO=TCP/CACHE=3

 This qualifier is used to specify the retention period of the local
 item cache. This cache is used if the newsgroup is defined as an
 NNTP-served newsgroup. /NOCACHE disables all caching.

/CONFIRM
 /CONFIRM   [default]
 /NOCONFIRM

 Normally NEWS will require confirmation in order to create new newsgroups.
 The /NOCONFIRM qualifier overrides this requirement.

/HOLD

 Format:

  CREATE NEWSGROUP newsgroup/HOLD=n

 This qualifier specifies the retention period (in days) of the Newsgroup.
 This retention period is defined as the period over which no new items
 were posted to the newsgroup, after which the newsgroup is automatically
 deleted. If not specified, the system default value is used.

 If the value "/HOLD=*" is used, the newsgroup will NOT be automatically
 deleted. It is recommended that network-newsgroups be initially set up
 with a /HOLD=* value.

/INQUIRE

 Format:

    CREATE NEWSGROUP */SERVER=node/PRTO=TCP/INQUIRE

    CREATE NEWSGROUP anu.*/SERVER=node/PRTO=TCP/INQUIRE

 This command interrogates the remote system and creates local newsgroups
 which do not already exist on the local system. The user is prompted
 for each newsgroup before it is created.

 If no newsgroup is specified, then all newsgroups on the remote system
 are matched against the local set. Otherwise a list of newsgroup patterns
 can be used to limit the scope of the search.

/ITEMHOLD

 Format:

  CREATE NEWSGROUP newsgroup/ITEMHOLD=n

 This qualifier specifies the default retention period (in days) of the
 items within this newsgroup. All news items will remain on the system
 for the specified period, after which they will be automatically deleted.

 If the value "/ITEMHOLD=*" is used, NO items within the newsgroup will
 be automatically deleted. For network newsgroups a value of between 20 and
 30 is common. This is dependant on the available disk space for NEWS and
 level of activity in the newsgroup.

/LOCAL

 Newsgroups are defined by default to be Network newsgroups - A network
 newsgroup is created in response to a network-wide "newgroup" control
 message, and is deleted in response to a network-wide "rmgroup" or
 "checkgroups" message.

 Newsgroups which are local to a site, or local to a domain within the
 wider network are created with the "/LOCAL" qualifier. This ensures
 that the newsgroup will not be deleted by the network control messages.

/MODERATOR

 Format

  Create NEWSGROUP newsgroup/MODERATOR[=address]

 This qualifier creates a moderated newsgroup. No user may post news items
 directly into a moderated newsgroup (unless the user is the actual
 moderator of the newsgroup). Any items posted into such newsgroups are
 redirected into the mail system, and are mailed directly to the moderator
 for moderator approval.

 The moderator address is held in the file NEWS_MANAGER:MAILPATHS. If no
 address is specified, the default addressing mechanism (as described in
 the MAILPATHS file) is used. If a specific address is used, the address
 is stored in the MAILPATHS file.

 The moderator address may be specified in either DECnet or Internet
 format (user@node.site.domain).

/MAILLIST
 /MAILLIST=address

 This qualifier sets the newsgroup as a mailing list newsgroup.This is
 very similar to setting a moderated newsgroup with a number of
 alterations in the support of the newsgroup to act as an interface
 between the local news system and a mailing list.

 The changes from the moderator model in order to support the mapping
 of mailing lists into NEWS require the dropping of the Approval:
 item header requirement for incoming items, and a forwarding of all
 local postings to the mapped newsgroup to the mailing list address
 without the normal NEWS headers.

 The address used with this qualifier is the address of the mailing list.

/PROTOCOL

 Format:

    CREATE NEWSGROUP newsgroup/SERVER=node/PROTOCOL=protocol

 This defines the transport protocol used by the NNTP server system.
 Valid responses are either "DECNET", indicating that the remote system
 is connected via DECNET, or "TCP", indicating that the local vax is
 running the TCP/IP protocol suite, and the remote system is connected
 via TCP/IP.

/RESTRICT

 This qualifier creates a restricted newsgroup. A restricted newsgroup
 is one where access to the newsgroup is restricted to a list of
 members. The membership of the newsgroup is determined by the ADD
 MEMBER, DELETE MEMBER and MODIFY MEMBER commands.

/SERVER

 Format

  Create NEWSGROUP newsgroup/SERVER=node

 Newsgroups can be "mapped" via the NNTP protocols to a remote NEWS
 system. Such "served" newsgroups do not keep a local copy of the
 item texts on the local system, but access the text on demand.

 The /SERVER defines the newsgroup as a "served" newsgroup, and
 also selects the node which is the actual server. (The node name
 must be 6 characters or less). The related qualifiers are:

    /PROTOCOL
    /CACHE
    /INQUIRE
    /SINCE

/SINCE

    CREATE NEWSGROUP */SERVER=node/PRTO=TCP/INQUIRE/SINCE="1-JUL"

 The /SINCE qualifier can be used in conjunction with the /INQUIRE to
 limit the search for new newsgroups to those created since a specified
 date.

 The value for the qualifier is VMS date time format, and "YESTERDAY"
 is the default value.

/TITLE

 Format:
    CREATE NEWSGROUP newsgroup/TITLE="title-string"

 Newsgroups may be created with a title string. This title is displayed
 in the head of a newsgroup directory, and is intended as a (short)
 description of the newsgroup. The string length is restricted to
 124 characters.

/UPDATE

 This qualifier is used in conjunction with the /SERVED qualifier, and
 directs NEWS to load the created newsgroup with the contents of the
 NNTP server database immediately.

/WRITE
 /WRITE     [default]
 /NOWRITE

 the /NOWRITE qualifier is used to create a READONLY newsgroup.

1 DEFINE

 This command must be used with the qualifier /KEY to define a key
 equivalence string.

2 Qualifiers

/KEY

 Associates an equivalence string and a set of attributes with a key on
 the terminal keyboard. The /KEY qualifier is required.

 Format:
   DEFINE/KEY key-name equivalence-string

3 Parameters

key-name

 Specifies the name of the key that you are defining. The following
 table gives the key names in column one. The remaining three
 columns indicate the key designations on the keyboards for the three
 different types of terminals that allow key definitions. All
 definable keys on VT52 terminals are located on the numeric keypad.
 On VT100-type terminals you can define the LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys
 as well as all the keys on the numeric keypad. There are three types
 of keys that can be defined on terminals with LK201 keyboards: (1)
 keys on the numeric keypad, (2) keys on the editing keypad, and (3)
 keys on the function key row across the top of the terminal. (Note
 that you cannot define function keys F1 through F5.)

   Key-name             LK201          VT100-type     VT52

   PF1                  PF1            PF1            [blue]
   PF2                  PF2            PF2            [red]
   PF3                  PF3            PF3            [gray]
   PF4                  PF4            PF4            - -
   KP0,KP1,...,KP9      0,1,...,9      0,1,...,9      0,1,...,9
   PERIOD               .              .              .
   COMMA                ,              ,              n/a
   MINUS                -              -              n/a
   ENTER                Enter          ENTER          ENTER
   LEFT                 |<--|          |<--|          |<--|
   RIGHT                |-->|          |-->|          |-->|
   E1                   Find            - -            - -
   E2                   Insert Here     - -            - -
   E3                   Remove          - -            - -
   E4                   Select          - -            - -
   HELP                 Help            - -            - -
   DO                   Do              - -            - -
   F6,F7,...,F20        F6,F7,...,F20   - -            - -

 Some defineable keys are enabled for definition all the time.
 Others, including KP0 through KP9, PERIOD, COMMA, and MINUS, need to
 be enabled for definition purposes. You must issue either the SET
 TERMINAL/APPLICATION or SET TERMINAL/NONUMERIC command before using
 these keys.

 The LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys and the F6 through F14 function keys
 are reserved for command line editing.  You must issue the SET
 TERMINAL/NOLINE_EDITING command before defining these keys.

equivalence-string

 Specifies the string which is to be processed when you press the
 key. If the string contains any spaces, enclose the equivalence
 string in quotation marks.

3 Qualifiers

/ECHO
 /ECHO
 /NOECHO

 Determines whether or not the equivalence string is displayed on
 your screen after the key has been pressed. The default is /ECHO.
 You cannot use /NOECHO with the /NOTERMINATE qualifier.

/ERASE
 /ERASE
 /NOERASE

 Determines whether or not the current line is erased before the key
 translation is inserted. The default is /NOERASE.

/IF_STATE
 /IF_STATE=(state-name,...)
 /NOIF_STATE

 Specifies a list of one or more states, one of which must be in
 effect for the key definition to be in effect.  If you omit the
 /IF_STATE qualifier or use /NOIF_STATE, the current state is used.
 The state name is an alphanumeric string.  States are established
 with the /SET_STATE qualifier or the SET KEY command. If you
 specify only one state name, you can omit the parentheses.  By
 including several state names, you can define a key to have the same
 function in all the specified states.

/LOCK_STATE
 /LOCK_STATE
 /NOLOCK_STATE

 Specifies that the state set by the /SET_STATE qualifier remain in
 effect until explicitly changed.  If you use the /NOLOCK_STATE
 qualifier, the state set by /SET_STATE is in effect only for the
 next definable key that you press or for the next read terminating
 character that you type.

 The default is /NOLOCK_STATE. The /LOCK_STATE qualifier can only be
 specified with the /SET_STATE qualifier.

/SET_STATE
 /SET_STATE=state-name
 /NOSET_STATE

 Causes the specified state-name to be set when the key is pressed.
 The state name can be any alphanumeric string.

 If you omit the SET_STATE qualifier or use /NOSET_STATE, the current
 state that was locked remains in effect. If you have not included
 this qualifier with a key definition, you can use the SET KEY
 command to change the current state.

/TERMINATE
 /TERMINATE
 /NOTERMINATE

 Specifies whether or not the current equivalence string is to be
 terminated (that is, processed) when the key is pressed. The
 default is /NOTERMINATE, which allows you to press other keys before
 the equivalence string is processed. Pressing RETURN has the same
 effect as using /TERMINATE.

 The /NOTERMINATE qualifier allows you to create key definitions that
 insert text into command lines, after prompts, or into other text
 that you are typing.

1 DELETE

 DELETE is used to delete a user-entered marker on a newsitem, or can
 be used to delete news items or newsgroups from the local database

 Deleting a news item can only be performed by the local news manager,
 or the moderator of the relevant newsgroup, and newsgroup deletion is
 restricted to the local news manager.

 DELETE takes a second, optional parameter, the type of entity to delete.
 If this parameter is omitted, then the current screen context is used
 to determine what to delete. If the screen is displaying a newsgroup
 directory, then the current directory is deleted. If the screen is
 displaying a news item directory, then the current news item is deleted.

2 ENTRY

 Delete a class entry from the user's class set.

 Format:

    DELETE ENTRY newsgroup-name

 If the /CLASS qualifier is not specified, then this command removes the
 specified newsgroup from the currently selected class.

 If the newsgroup-name is the "*" character, then all newsgroups are
 removed from the current class, and this class definition is deleted.

3 Qualifiers

/CLASS
 /CLASS=class-name

 Specifies a class from which the newsgroup is to be deleted. To delete
 the entry from all classes use the wildcard character "*" as the class
 name.

2 GROUPS

 See the subtopic NEWSGROUPS.

2 ITEMS

 See the subtopic NEWSITEMS.

2 NEWSGROUPS

 *MANAGEMENT COMMAND*
 Format:

    DELETE NEWSGROUPS [newsgroup-list]

 DELETE NEWSGROUPS deletes newsgroups from the local NEWS database.

 By default the current newsgroup is deleted, or a list of newsgroup
 names may be specified. The newsgroup names may include the wildcard
 character '*' to delete a set of newsgroups.

 e.g.

    DELETE NEWSGROUPS aug.*,test

3 Qualifiers

/CONFIRM
 /CONFIRM   [Default]
 /NOCONFIRM

 Determines whether NEWS will prompt for confirmation before deleting
 each newsgroup. Valid responses are 'Y', 'N', or ^Z to terminate the
 current DELETE command.

2 NEWSITEMS

 *MANAGEMENT COMMAND*
 Format:

    DELETE NEWSITEMS [note-range]

 DELETE NEWSITEMS deletes newsitems from the local NEWS database. The
 items are selected from the current newsgroup.

 By default the current newsitem is deleted, or a list of newsitem
 numbers may be specified. The wildcard character '*' is used to
 denote ALL newsitems within the newsgroup. A range of items may be
 specified using a '-' separator between two numbers.

 e.g.

    DELETE NEWSITEMS 1,5-10,16

3 Qualifiers

/CONFIRM
 /CONFIRM   [Default]
 /NOCONFIRM

 Determines whether NEWS will prompt for confirmation before deleting
 each newsitem. Valid responses are 'Y', 'N', or ^Z to terminate the
 current DELETE command.

/IDENTIFIER
 /IDENTIFIER=message-id

 This qualifier deletes the newsitem with the specified message
 identifier. If no identifier is given, NEWS will prompt for the
 identifier string. Note that the identifier value includes the
 '<' and '>' characters.

 If /IDENTIFIER is used, this excludes the use of a set of news item
 numbers in the command.

2 NOTE

 See the subtopic NEWSITEMS.

2 MARKER

 Format:

  DELETE MARKER tag

 DELETE MARKER removes all marks of the specified tag from the mark list.
 The wildcard character ('*') can be used in the tag field to clear a set
 of related tags: e.g.:

    DELETE MARKER x*

2 MEMBER

 *MANAGEMENT COMMAND*
 DELETE MEMBER is a NEWS MANAGER command.

 Format:

    DELETE MEMBER username

 This command deletes the specified username from the membership list
 of the current newsgroup. Either MANAGER or SUPERVISOR privileges are
 required for this command.

1 DEREGISTER

 Format:

    DEREGISTER [newsgroup]

 Removes your registration from a newsgroup. The newsgroup may either
 be specified as a parameter to the command, or, if not specified, the
 current newsgroup is deregistered.

2 Parameters

newsgroup

 This parameter is used unless /ALL is specified. The parameter value
 is the newsgroup to remove from the registered list. If not specified,
 the current newsgroup is deregistered.

2 Qualifiers

/ALL

 This qualifier removes all newsgroups from the registered list.

1 DIRECTORY

 This command is used to display a directory of either local newsgroups
 or news items within a newsgroup.

2 Qualifiers

/ALL

 DIR/ALL resets the newsgroup directory to display all local newsgroups.
 This resets the actions of DIR/NEW or DIR/REG.

/CLASS
 /CLASS=classname

 Displays a newsgroup directory, listing all newsgroups which have been
 assigned into the specified classname.

 To display all newsgroups the classname "*" is used.

/NEW

 DIR/NEW sets the newsgroup directory screen to only display those
 newsgroups in which you are registered, and there are unread
 newsitems within those newsgroups.

/REGISTER

 DIR/REGISTER sets the newsgroup directory screen to display entries for
 those newsgroups in which you are registered.

/RESET

 This clears the internal memory copy of the NEWS database, and
 reads a new copy of the database from the master index files into
 memory.

/SINCE
 /SINCE=date

 This displays all newsgroups which have had new items posted into the
 newsgroup since the date specified. The date value of the qualifier
 is in standard VMS date-time format. If no value is given for this
 qualifier, "TODAY" is assumed.

1 DISPLAY

 Format:

    DISPLAY filename

 This command displays the specified file using the same screen
 management routines as used to display news item.

1 DOWN

 Format:

  DOWN

  DOWN Number

 In screen mode this moves the cursor down one line. The command has an
 optional numeric parameter, the number of lines to move down.

 This command may be used with the newsgroup directory, news item directory
 or news text displays.

 The command "DOWN 1" is equivalent to the down arrow key, and "DOWN 18"
 is equivalent to the Next Screen key.

2 Parameters

Number

  This parameter specifies the number of lines to move down. If
  omitted, the default is 1 line

1 EDIT

 Format:

    EDIT filename

 This allows you to edit a file from within NEWS. The NEWS editor (by
 default the TPU editor, but this is user-defined by the NEWS_EDIT
 logical name) is called to edit the file.

2 Parameters

Filename

 Specifies the name of the file to edit.

1 EXIT

 EXIT from NEWS. Ctrl-Z is also interpreted as EXIT.

 On exit from NEWS a new register file is written out to SYS$LOGIN. This
 file, "newsrc", contains the list of registered newsgroups, read/unread
 newsitems, the marked item list and the kill filter lines.

 The context file is used to determine which news items are unread, and is
 also used to re-establish context on the next invocation of NEWS -- The
 next invocation of NEWS will restore the screen displays to the state at
 which the 'EXIT' command was entered. On exit any pending print requests
 are released into the print queues.

1 EXTRACT

 EXTRACT copies the current news item into an output file. Optionally
 EXTRACT may also be used to create directory listing into an output
 file.

 Format:
    EXTRACT filename [item-range]

2 Parameters

Filename

 This specifies the name of the file to contain the extracted news
 item text.

Item-range

 This parameter is a list of item numbers to be extracted. By default
 the current item is selected.

2 Qualifiers

/ALL

 This qualifier specifies that all items in the specified item-range are
 to be extracted.

/APPEND
 /APPEND
 /NOAPPEND    [default]

 Appends the extracted items to the output file. If the file does not
 exist it is created. The default action is /NOAPPEND, which creates a
 new version of the output file for each item extracted.

/AUTHOR
 /AUTHOR=address

 Extracts only those items in the specified item-range which were posted
 by the user with the specified address.

/BEFORE
 /BEFORE=date-time

 Extracts only those items in the specified item-range which were entered
 before the specified date. The time is specified in VMS format.

/DIRECTORY
 /DIRECTORY
 /DIRECTORY=NEWSGROUPS
 /DIRECTORY=NEWSITEMS

 This qualifier alters the EXTRACT function to list a directory of
 newsgroups, or a directory of newsitems into the output file.

 If the qualifier does not have a value, then the current display
 context is used to determine whether the directory listing is of
 newsgroups or newsitems.

 If the NEWSGROUPS value is used with the /DIRECTORY then the default
 action is to list a directory of all defined newsgroups to the file.
 The second parameter (note-range) may be used to list a set of
 newsgroups.

 If the NEWSITEMS values is used with this qualifier, then the default
 action is to list all newsitems in the current newsgroup. The second
 parameter may be used to supply a list of newsitems.

 Examples:

    EXTRACT/DIR=NEWSGROUPS newsgroups.dir comp,comp.*

    EXTRACT/DIR=NEWSITEMS 23-50,60

/FROM
 /FROM=address

 Extracts only those items in the specified item-range which were posted
 by the user with the specified address.

/HEADER
 /HEADER   [default]
 /NOHEADER

 Specifies whether the item header lines are included in the extracted
 output

/MARKER
 /MARKER=tag-list

 This may be specified instead of an item-range, and selects all items
 which have been marked with the specified tag value.

/SEEN

 Marks the extracted items as having been viewed by the user.

/SINCE
 /SINCE=date-time

 Extracts only those items in the specified item-range which were entered
 after the specified date. The time is specified in VMS format.

/SUBJECT
 /SUBJECT="string"

 Extracts only those items in the specified item-range which have the
 specified string as a substring of the item subject title. The string
 should be enclosed in quotation marks.

/TITLE
 /TITLE="string"

 Extracts only those items in the specified item-range which have the
 specified string as a substring of the item subject title. The string
 should be enclosed in quotation marks.

/UNREAD

 Extracts only those items in the specified item-range which have
 not be seen by the user.

/UNSEEN

 Extracts only those items in the specified item-range which have
 not be seen by the user.

1 FOLLOWUP

 FOLLOWUP is used to post a reply to a news item back into NEWS.
 If your system is configured into a news network, this reply item will
 also be distributed through the network.

 NEWS will fill in all defaulting news headers, and will prompt for
 all header items which are non-defaulting (the subject line and the
 newsgroups to post the item into).

 If the newsgroups for the posting are moderated, the posting is
 automatically re-directed as mail to the moderator address (as defined
 in the MAILPATHS file).

 The editor is invoked to form the reply, with the edit buffer pre-
 loaded with the text of the original item.

 The default editor is the TPU EDT emulator, but this is user
 definable (see the subtopic Logical_names).

2 Qualifiers

/HEADERS
 /NOHEADERS - Default

 Followup will normally prompt for the subject of the posting, and a
 list of newsgroups to post the item into.

 The /HEADERS qualifier will force prompting for optional components
 of the item header. These fields are:

 Summary      - A one line summary of the posting

 Reply-To     - Mail address for REPLYing to the item (used if replies
                are to be sent to an address different from the poster
                of the news)

 Distribution - a list of keywords designed to limit the distribution
                of a news item to a subject of the network. These
                keywords are site specific, but commonly include the
                keywords "local" (do not forward to the net) and
                "world" (forward as far as possible through the net).

 Followup-To  - The list of newsgroups where followup postings are to
                be sent. This is used to move a discussion to another
                newsgroup.

 Keywords     - A few relevant, pithy keywords which should indicate
                to other readers if the item is of interest.

/SELF

 A copy of the NEWS posting will be mail as VMS MAIL to yourself.

1 FORWARD

 Invokes VMS MAIL, to send a copy of the current news item to another
 user (or yourself if so inclined).

 FORWARD and MAIL are synonyms.

2 Qualifiers

/TO
 /TO=user
 /TO=(user,user)

 Specifies the VMS Mail address of the users to receive the mail. This
 may be a user name, or a list of names, and may also include a
 distribution list file specification.

 If not specified, the user is prompted for the /TO value.

/SUBJECT
 /SUBJECT="text string"

 Specifies the subject of the message for the heading.

 If not specified, the user is prompted for the /SUBJECT value.

/EDIT
 /EDIT  - Default
 /NOEDIT

 Invokes the editor the item text before mailing the item.

 The default editor is the TPU EDT emulator, but this is user
 definable (see the subtopic Logical_names).

/SELF

 Sends a copy of the message back to yourself.

/HEADERS

 By default the news item headers are stripped off the item text before
 it is mailed. This qualifier loads the item header lines into the mail
 buffer as well as the body of the text.

1 KILL

 The KILL facility allows the user to filter out all messages of a
 particular class - the READ/NEW command will mark such filtered items as
 having been read without displaying the text of the item to the user,
 and search forward for the next unread item.

 The KILL filter works on four attributes for a match: the newsgroup name,
 the subject line,the sender's address and any other single header line.
 Of these attributes only one of the subject line and sender's address
 need be specified. Thus it is possible to filter all postings by a
 particular sender in all newsgroups, or filter a conversation stream from
 a particular newsgroup, or filter all postings from a particular sender
 within a specified conversation stream.

 The KILL command adds entries to the kill filter list. Removing kill
 filters is performed by the CLEAR KILL command, and existing kill filters
 can be edited using the MODIFY KILL command.

 The KILL command has three qualifiers: /SUBJECT, /FROM and /HEADER. The
 /SUBJECT qualifier directs NEWS to add the current item's subject line
 to the kill filter set, and the /FROM directs NEWS to add the current
 item's From: line to the kill filter set. The /HEADER qualifier allows
 you to specify any other header line you wish to use to define the filter.
 The command will then prompt for the set of newsgroups to which this
 filter will be applied. The default value is the current newsgroup but
 more newsgroups may be specified using wildcard notation ('*') or a list
 of newsgroups.

2 Qualifiers

/FROM

 Add the current item's From: address to the kill filter set.

/SUBJECT

 Add the current item's Subject line to the kill filter set.

/HEADER
 /HEADER="string"

 Add a pattern to match against all headers into the kill filter. For
 example, to filter all postings from a particular node address, the
 command is:

    KILL/HEADER="From: *@node.*"

 The text is matched against all header lines of the item, and if
 any lines match, the item is not displayed.

1 LAST

 If the screen is currently at the newsgroup level, LAST will select (and
 open) the last newsgroup in the displayed set.

 If the screen is currently as the newsitem level, LAST will display the
 last message in the current newsgroup.

   Format:

       LAST
2 Qualifiers

/EDITOR
 /EDITOR

 Use a callable editor in read-only mode to display the newsitem. By
 default this is the TPU editor, but this may be altered by the NEWS_VIEW
 logical name. See the section on NEWS settingsfor details.

 For compatibility with previous versions of NEWS, /TPU is equivalent to
 /EDITOR.

/HEADER
 /HEADER

 Directs NEWS to display all header lines of the newsitem. By default only
 the subject line, sender address and date of the item are shown in the
 display.

/ROT13
 /ROT13
 Some newsitem are posted using rot13 encryption. This qualifier decrypts
 the newsitem for display.

1 MAIL

 Invokes VMS MAIL, to send a copy of the current news item to another
 user (or yourself if so inclined).

 FORWARD and MAIL are synonyms.

2 Qualifiers

/TO
 /TO=user
 /TO=(user,user)

 Specifies the VMS Mail address of the users to receive the mail. This
 may be a user name, or a list of names, and may also include a
 distribution list file specification.

 If not specified, the user is prompted for the /TO value.

/SUBJECT
 /SUBJECT="text string"

 Specifies the subject of the message for the heading.

 If not specified, the user is prompted for the /SUBJECT value.

/EDIT
 /EDIT     [default]
 /NOEDIT

 Invokes the editor to allow the item text to be edited before mailing.

 The default editor is the TPU EDT emulator, but this is user
 definable (see the subtopic Logical_names).

/SELF

 Sends a copy of the message back to yourself.

/HEADERS

 By default the news item headers are stripped off the item text before
 it is mailed. This qualifier loads the item header lines into the mail
 buffer as well as the body of the text.

1 MARK

 Format:

  MARK [tag] [item-number]

 MARK places a mark against the current newsitem. This item can be
 selected at a later stage by the READ/MARK or SELECT/MARK commands, or
 printed by the PRINT/MARK command.

 If no tag value is specified then the default tag, "mark" is used. Any
 tag value may be specified - tag values are words (no space characters).

 If an item number is specified then the specified item is marked, rather
 than the default of the current item.

1 MODIFY

 Allows the user to modify the class set of a newsgroup, or the user's
 kill filter set. MODIFY also allows the local NEWS Manager to modify
 the membership list of restricted newsgroups.

2 ENTRY

 Format:

    MODIFY ENTRY newsgroup/CLASSES=(class-list)

 Alters the classes to which the newsgroup is assigned.

3 Qualifiers

/CLASSES
 /CLASSES=(class-list)

 Specifies a new list of classes to which the specified newsgroup is
 assigned.

2 KILL

 Format:

    MODIFY KILL tag

 MODIFY kill allows existing kill filters to be edited. The kill filter
 with the nominated tag is displayed, then each of the four filter
 attributes (sender, subject, newsgroup and header line pattern) can be
 edited (using the command line editor functions).

 If all four attributes are cleared then the filter is deleted.

2 MEMBER

 MODIFY MEMBER is a local NEWS MANAGEMENT command.

 Format:

    MODIFY MEMBER username

 This command allows a newsgroup supervisor or the local NEWS manager to
 modify an entry in the membership list of a restricted newsgroup.

3 Qualifiers

/MAIL
 /MAIL=mail-address

 Sets or changes the e-mail address of the user.

/NAME
 /NAME=username

 Modifies the username of the entry.

/PRIVILEGES
 /PRIVILEGES=new-priv-list

 Sets the user's newsgroup-privileges to the specified values. The values
 for the privileges are:

    SUPERVISE - grant local supervisor privilege

    WRITE    - allow write access to a write-protected newsgroup

    NOWRITE  - disallow write access

1 NEWSGROUPS

 In screen mode this pops the display stack back to the newsgroup
 directory screen.

1 NOSCREEN

 Turns off screen mode and enters line command mode.

1 OPEN

 OPEN changes newsgroup context to the nominated newsgroup.The command
 normally takes one parameter, the name of the newsgroup to select.

 OPEN is functionally equivalent to the SELECT command.

 Example:
   OPEN test ... to open newsgroup test

 The command "OPEN MAIL" is functionally equivalent to "OPEN/MAIL". See
 the subtopic "/MAIL" for a description of this command.

2 Qualifiers

/MAIL
 /MAIL

 This qualifier is used to open the caller's mail file into private
 newsgroups. The primary mailfile of the caller is mapped into NEWS,
 using a different newsgroup for each mail folder.

 Newsgroup names are generated using the pattern:

    <username>.mail.<mail_folder_name>

 Most of the commands which can be applied to newsgroups and newsitems
 will perform the same actions in these mail-mapped newsgroups and items.

 The mail mapping is closed with the "CLOSE/MAIL" command. 

/MARK
 /MARK [=tag]

 This command moves the current item pointer to the NEXT newsitem marked
 with the specified tag value. If no tag value is specified than the next
 item marked with any tag is used.

/NEW
 /NEW

 This qualifier is used in place of a newsgroup to open the next
 registered newsgroup which contains unread news items. If the current
 newsgroup contains unread items, then no action is performed.

1 POST

 POST is used to post news items into the local NEWS database. If your
 system is configured into a news network, this item will also be
 distributed through the network.

 NEWS will fill in all defaulting news headers, and will prompt for
 all header items which are non-defaulting (the subject line and the
 newsgroups to post the item into).

 If the newsgroups for the posting are moderated, the posting is
 automatically re-directed as mail to the moderator address.

 Format:

  POST
  POST [filename]

2 Parameters

filename

 The name of the file containing the text of the item to post. If no
 filename is given, the editor is invoked with an empty file.

2 Qualifiers

/CONTROL

 The Subject: header is duplicated as the Control: header line. This
 is a NEWS MANAGER qualifier.

/EDIT
 /EDIT          [default
 /NOEDIT

 Invokes the editor to edit the post file. If no post filename is
 specified, the editor call is forced, otherwise the edit call can be
 disabled by the /NOEDIT qualifier.

 The default editor is the TPU EDT emulator, but this is user
 definable (see the subtopic Logical_names).

/HEADERS
 /NOHEADERS - Default

 Post will normally prompt for the subject of the posting, and a list
 of newsgroups to post the item into.

 The /HEADERS qualifier will force prompting for optional components
 of the item header. These fields are:

 Summary      - A one line summary of the posting

 Reply-To     - Mail address for REPLYing to the item (used if replies
                are to be sent to an address different from the poster
                of the news)

 Distribution - a list of keywords designed to limit the distribution
                of a news item to a subject of the network. These
                keywords are site specific, but commonly include the
                keywords "local" (do not forward to the net) and
                "world" (forward as far as possible through the net).

 Followup-To - The list of newsgroups where followup postings are to
               be sent. This is used to move a discussion to another
               newsgroup.

 Keywords     - A few relevant, pithy keywords which should indicate
                to other readers if the item is of interest.

/NEWSGROUPS
 /NEWSGROUPS=newsgroup-list

 This qualifier specifies the list of newsgroups to receive the
 posting. If this qualifier value is not specified, the user is
 prompted for the newsgroups.

/SELF

 A copy of the NEWS posting will be mailed as VMS MAIL to yourself.

/SUBJECT
 /SUBJECT=text string

 The subject line, or title of the posting. If this qualifier is omitted,
 the user is prompted for a subject.

1 PRINT

 Format:

    PRINT [item-range]

 PRINT submits a print job into the print queues.

 By default the print job is only submitted at the end of the NEWS
 session, but this can be altered, by specifying the /NOWAIT qualifier, to
 an immediate print job submission.

 If no item-range is specified the current newsitem is submitted.

 There are three qualifier sets: qualifiers which affect the print mode,
 qualifiers which select the items and their print formats, and the
 standard VMS print job qualifiers.

 Print mode is by default to print newsitem contents (item mode). The
 /DIRECTORY qualifier is used to select directory mode, where NEWS
 directory listings may be printed.

 If the item mode is used then the default is to print the current
 newsitem. This behaviour may be altered by selecting a range of items,
 with selection criteria also applied by qualifiers.

2 Parameters

 item-range

  Specifies one or more items to be printed. The item-spec is the
  item number in the current newsgroup. If you  specify  two  or
  more  items,  separate the item numbers with either commas or
  plus signs.  The PRINT command concatenates the items into a  single
  print  job  and by default, gives the job the name of the first file
  specified.

  A range of items can be specified by separating the start and end
  numbers by a minus.

  All items within the current newsgroup can be specified by a '*'.

  For example, to print items 3 through to 10, 20 and 22 to 25 the
  command is:

    PRINT 3-10,20,22-25


2 Qualifiers

/WAIT
 /WAIT  [default]
 /NOWAIT

 Specifies whether the job is to be submitted at the end of the current
 NEWS session (/WAIT) or printed immediately (/NOWAIT).

/DIRECTORY
 /DIRECTORY=option

 This qualifier modifies the PRINT command to print a directory listing of
 all newsgroups, or of all newsitems within a newsgroup instead of
 printing a newsitem.

 The options available with this qualifier are:

 /DIRECTORY=NEWSGROUPS
   prints a directory listing of all newsgroups. "GROUPS" is an
   alternative option value for this action.

 /DIRECTORY=NEWSITEMS
   prints a directory listing of the current newsgroup.
   "ITEMS" and "NOTES" are alternative option values for this action.


/NEWSGROUPS
 /NEWSGROUPS=(group-list)

 Specifies the newsgroups for which the directory mode is to apply. By
 default the current newsgroup is used.

/ALL

 Selects all news items in the current newsgroup for printing. If the
 newsgroup contains a large number of items this could seriously affect
 your disk quota (as well as risking the possibility of printer
 meltdown!).

/AUTHOR
 /AUTHOR=mailaddress

 Specifies that only those items (from the specified item-range) posted
 from the specified mail address are to be printed. This qualifier is a
 synonym for /FROM.

/FROM
 /FROM=mailaddress

 Specifies that only those items (from the specified item-range) posted
 from the specified mail address are to be printed. This qualifier is a
 synonym for /AUTHOR.

/HEADER
 /HEADER        [default]
 /NOHEADER

 Specifies whether or not to include the full item headers in the printed
 text.

/MARKER
 /MARKER [=tag]

 Specifies that only those items marked with one of the specified tag
 values are to be saved.

/SEEN

 Marks the printed item as seen.

/SINCE
 /SINCE=date-time

 Specifies that only those items (selected from the specified item-range)
 postmarked after the specified date are to be printed.

/SUBJECT
 /SUBJECT="string"

 Print only those items (selected from the specified item-range) which
 contain the specified string within the item subject line. This qualifier
 is a synonym for /TITLE.

/TITLE
 /TITLE="string"

 Print only those items (selected from the specified item-range) which
 contain the specified string within the item subject line. This qualifier
 is a synonym for /SUBJECT.

/UNREAD

 Print only those items (selected from the specified item-range) which
 have not been read. This qualifier is a synonym for /UNSEEN.

/UNSEEN

 Print only those items (selected from the specified item-range) which
 have not been read. This qualifier is a synonym for /UNREAD.

/AFTER
 /AFTER=time
 /NOAFTER

  Requests that the job not be printed until a specific time of day.

  You can specify either an absolute time or a combination of absolute
  and delta times.  See Section 2.5 of the VAX/VMS DCL Concepts Manual
  for complete information on specifying time values.

  If the specified time has already passed,  the  job  is  queued  for
  printing immediately.

/BEFORE
 /BEFORE[=time]
 /NOBEFORE

  Selects only those newsitems dated before the specified time.

  You can specify either an absolute time or a combination of absolute
  and delta times.  See Section 2.5 of the VAX/VMS DCL Concepts Manual
  for complete information on specifying time values.   You  can  also
  use  the  keywords  TODAY,  TOMORROW,  and YESTERDAY.  If no time is
  specified, TODAY is assumed.

/BURST
 /BURST[=keyword]
 /NOBURST

  Controls whether a burst page is printed preceding a file.  A  burst
  page  precedes  a  flag  page  and  contains  the  same information.
  However, it is printed over the perforation between the  burst  page
  and the flag page.  The printing on the perforation makes it easy to
  see where individual print jobs or individual files within a  single
  print job begin.

  When you specify /BURST, you need not specify  /FLAG;  a  flag  page
  automatically follows a burst page.

  If the /BURST qualifier  can take either of two keywords:  ALL or
  ONE.  The ALL keyword indicates that each file in the  job  will  be
  preceded  by  a burst page and flag page.  The ONE keyword indicates
  that a burst page will apply only to the first  copy  of  the  first
  file in the job.

  Use the /[NO]BURST qualifier to  override  the  installation-defined
  defaults that have been set for the printer queue you are using.

/CHARACTERISTICS
 /CHARACTERISTICS=(characteristic[,...])

  Specifies one or more characteristics desired for printing the files.
  If   you   specify   only  one  characteristic,  you  can  omit  the
  parentheses.  Characteristics can refer to such things as  colour  of
  ink.  Codes for characteristics can be either names or values from 0
  to   127   and   are    installation-defined.     Use    the    SHOW
  QUEUE/CHARACTERISTICS command to see which characteristics have been
  defined for your system.  Use the SHOW  QUEUE/FULL  command  to  see
  which characteristics are available on a particular queue.

  A  print  job  can  execute  on  a  printer  queue  only   if   each
  characteristic  specified  with  the PRINT command is also specified
  for that particular printer queue.  If you specify a  characteristic
  that  has  not been specified for that particular printer queue, the
  job remains in a pending status.  (In order for your job  to  print,
  the  system  manager  should  stop  the queue, physically change the
  characteristics of the printer, and restart  the  queue,  specifying
  the new values listed in the /CHARACTERISTICS qualifier.)

  Specification of a characteristic  for  a  printer  queue  does  not
  prevent  jobs  that  do  not  specify that characteristic from being
  executed.

/CONFIRM
 /CONFIRM
 /NOCONFIRM (default)

  Controls whether a request is issued before  each  individual  PRINT
  operation  to confirm that the operation should be performed on that
  file.

  When the system  issues  the  prompt,  you  can  issue  any  of  the
  following responses:

       YES      NO     QUIT

       TRUE     FALSE  <CTRL/Z>

       1        0      ALL

                <RET>

  You can use any combination of upper- and lowercase letters for word
  responses.  Word responses can be abbreviated to one or more letters
  (for example, T, TR, or TRU for TRUE).  Affirmative answers are YES,
  TRUE, and 1.  Negative answers are NO, FALSE, 0, and <RET>.  QUIT or
  CTRL/Z indicates that you want to stop  processing  the  command  at
  that  point.   When  you  respond with ALL, the command continues to
  process, but no further prompts are given.  If you type  a  response
  other than one of those in the list, the prompt will be reissued.

/COPIES
 /COPIES=n

  Specifies the number of copies to print.  Any number of copies, from
  1  through  255,  may  be  specified.  By default, the PRINT command
  prints a single copy of the specified files.

  Each  file  in the parameter list is printed the specified number of
  times.

/FEED
 /FEED (default)
 /NOFEED

  Controls whether the PRINT command automatically inserts form  feeds
  when  it nears the end of a page.  Use of the /FEED qualifier causes
  the PRINT command to insert a form feed when the printer reaches the
  bottom  margin  of  the  form.   The number of lines per form can be
  reset by the /FORM qualifier.  You can suppress this automatic  form
  feed  (without affecting any of the other carriage control functions
  that are in place) by using the /NOFEED qualifier.

  The   /[NO]FEED   qualifier   may   be   used   to   override    the
  installation-defined  defaults  that  have  been set for the printer
  queue you are using.

/FLAG
 /FLAG[=keyword]
 /NOFLAG

  Controls whether a flag page is printed preceding a file.  The  flag
  page contains the name of the user submitting the job, the job entry
  number, and other information about the file being printed.

  The /FLAG qualifier  can take either of two keywords:  ALL or
  ONE.  The ALL keyword indicates that each file in the  job  will  be
  preceded by a flag page.  The ONE keyword indicates that a flag page
  will apply only to the first copy of the first file in the job.

  Use the /[NO]FLAG qualifier  to  override  the  installation-defined
  defaults that have been set for the printer queue you are using.

/FORM
 /FORM=type

  Specifies the name or number of the form that you want for the print
  job.

  Specify the form type using a numeric value  or  alphanumeric  name.
  Form types can refer to the print image width and length or the type
  of paper.  Codes for form types are installation-defined.   You  can
  use the SHOW QUEUE/FORM command to find out the form types available
  for your system.   Use the  SHOW QUEUE/FULL  command to find out the
  name of the mounted form and the default form for a particular queue.

  If you specify a form whose stock is different from the stock of the
  form mounted on the  queue,  your job is placed  in a  pending state
  until the stock of the mounted  form of  the  queue is set  equal to
  the stock of  the form  associated with the job.  (In  order to have
  your job print, the system manager should stop the queue, physically
  change the paper stock on the output device,  and restart  the queue
  specifying the new form type as the mounted form.)

/HEADER
 /HEADER
 /NOHEADER (default)

  Controls whether a heading line is printed at the top of each output
  page.

/HOLD
 /HOLD
 /NOHOLD (default)

  Controls whether the file is  available  for  printing  immediately.
  If you specify /HOLD, the job is not released for  processing  until
  you  specifically  release it with the /NOHOLD or /RELEASE qualifier
  of the SET QUEUE/ENTRY command.

/JOB_COUNT
 /JOB_COUNT=n

  Requests that the entire job be printed n times, where n is a decimal
  integer from 1 to 255.

  By default the job is printed once.

/LOWERCASE
 /LOWERCASE
 /NOLOWERCASE (default)

  Indicates whether the job must be printed  on  a  printer  that  can
  print both uppercase and lowercase letters.

  By default,  files  can  be  printed  on  printers  that  have  only
  uppercase letters.

/NAME
 /NAME=job-name

  Defines a name string to identify the job. The name string can  have
  from  1  to  39  characters.  The job name is used in the SHOW QUEUE
  command display and is printed on the flag page for the job.

  If you do not specify /NAME, the name string defaults  to  the  file
  name of the first, or only, file in the job.

/NOTE
 /NOTE=string

  Allows you to specify a message to appear on the flag  page for  the
  job.  The string can contain up to 255 characters.

/NOTIFY
 /NOTIFY
 /NONOTIFY (default)

  Controls whether a message is broadcast to any terminal at which you
  are  logged in, notifying you when your print job has been completed
  or aborted.

/OPERATOR
 /OPERATOR=string

  Allows you to specify a message to be  sent  to the  operator.   The
  string  can  contain  up  to  255  characters.   When the job begins
  execution, the printer queue pauses and the message  is  transmitted
  to the operator.

/PARAMETERS
 /PARAMETERS=(parameter[,...])

  Specifies from one to eight optional parameters to be passed to  the
  job.  Each parameter can include up to 255 characters.

  If you specify only one parameter, you can omit the parentheses.

  The commas delimit individual parameters.  To  specify  a  parameter
  that  contains  any  special  characters  or delimiters, enclose the
  parameter in quotation marks.

/PASSALL
 /PASSALL
 /NOPASSALL (default)

  Specifies whether the symbiont bypasses all formatting and sends the
  output  QIO  to  the  driver with format suppressed.  All qualifiers
  affecting  formatting,  as  well  as  the   /HEADER,   /PAGES,   and
  /PAGE_SETUP qualifiers, will be ignored.

/PRIORITY
 /PRIORITY=n

  Specifies the priority of the print job.  The priority value must be
  in  the  range  of 0 through 255, where 0 is the lowest priority and
  255 is the highest.

  The default value for /PRIORITY is the value of the SYSGEN parameter
  DEFQUEPRI.   You  must  have either OPER (operator) or ALTPRI (alter
  priority) privilege to raise the priority value above the  value  of
  the  SYSGEN  parameter MAXQUEPRI.  No privilege is needed to set the
  priority lower than the MAXQUEPRI value.

/QUEUE
 /QUEUE=queue-name[:]

  Requests that the print job be placed on the specified queue. If  no
  queue is specified, files are queued to SYS$PRINT.

/RESTART
 /RESTART (default)
 /NORESTART

  Specifies  whether  the  job  can  restart  after  a  crash   or   a
  STOP/QUEUE/REQUEUE command.

/SETUP
 /SETUP=module[,...]

  Calls for the specified modules  to  be  extracted from  the  device
  control  library and copied to the printer before a file is printed.
  By default, no device control modules are copied.

  Note that the module names are not checked for  validity  until  the
  time  that  the file is actually printed.  Therefore, PRINT/SETUP is
  susceptible to typing errors and other mistakes, and is  recommended
  only for experimental setups.

  For production setups, see DEFINE/FORM/SETUP.

/SINCE
 /SINCE[=time]
 /NOSINCE

  Selects only those items that are dated after the specified time.

  You can specify either an absolute time or a combination of absolute
  and delta times.  See Section 2.5 of the VAX/VMS DCL Concepts Manual
  for complete information on specifying time values.   You  can  also
  use  the  keywords  TODAY,  TOMORROW,  and YESTERDAY.  If no time is
  specified, TODAY is assumed.

/SPACE
 /SPACE
 /NOSPACE (default)

  Controls whether output is to  be  double-spaced.   The  default  is
  /NOSPACE, which results in single-spaced output.

/TRAILER
 /TRAILER[=keyword]
 /NOTRAILER

  Controls whether a trailer page is printed at the  end  of  a  file.
  The   trailer  page  displays  the  job  entry  number  as  well  as
  information about the user submitting the job and  the  files  being
  printed.

  The /TRAILER qualifier  can take either of two keywords:
  ALL or ONE.  The ALL keyword indicates that each  file  in  the  job
  will  be preceded by a trailer page.  The ONE keyword indicates that
  a trailer page will apply only to the last copy of the last file  in
  the job.

  Use the /[NO]TRAILER qualifier to override the  installation-defined
  defaults that have been set for the printer queue you are using.

1 QUIT

 QUIT exits from NEWS without updating the user's NEWS context file. Thus,
 no changes are made to the set of unread items nor are any changes made
 to the set of marked items and fill filters. This is a more controlled
 quit than Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Y.

1 READ

 This command reads the current item from the current selected news group,
 and displays the item on the screen. The normal display is page-by-page,
 however the arrow keys and the Prev/Next Screen keys as well as the
 UP and DOWN commands can be used to move the display through the text.

 The actions of READ can be modified by giving a Newsitem number, which
 will display that item.

2 Parameters

Newsitem

 This parameter to read may be either the number of a news item, a "."
 (to re-read the last read item from the start), or "*" to read the
 last item in the group.

2 Qualifiers

/HEADER

 Normally NEWS will suppress the display of all network routing
 headers. This qualifier produces a full display of the item contents
 including mail header lines.

/NEW

 This command will display the next Unread news item from the set of
 registered newsgroups. This may cause an implicit Select of a different
 newsgroup to obtain the next unread item.

/EDITOR

 This qualifier will use an editor in read-only mode to view the
 newsitem. This is useful when it is required to scroll up and down
 through the item text, or extract a part of the text into a file.

 The default editor is the TPU editor, but this is user  definable (see
 the subtopic Logical_names).

/TPU

 This qualifier is equivalent to the /EDIT qualifier.

 This qualifier will use an editor in read-only mode to view the
 newsitem. This is useful when it is required to scroll up and down
 through the item text, or extract a part of the text into a file.

 The default editor is the TPU EDT emulator, but this is user
 definable (see the subtopic Logical_names).

/NEXT

 When reading a news item this command causes the remainder of the text
 display to be skipped, and the next item to be displayed.

/LAST

 When reading a news item this command causes the remainder of the text
 display to be skipped, and the previous item to be displayed.

/BACK

 This qualifier is equivalent to the /LAST qualifier.

 When reading a news item this command causes the remainder of the text
 display to be skipped, and the previous item to be displayed.

/PARENT

 NEWS items may reference a previous item that has been posted. In such
 a case the text of the item commonly begins with the line:
  "In article {<identifier>}, {user address} writes:"

 When a news item references previous items, the header includes the
 identifier of the parent item. READ/PARENT will display the parent
 item referenced by the current item.

/IDENTIFIER

 All NEWS items are identified by a unique message identification string.
 (This identifier can be displayed using the READ/HEADER command, and
 noting the "Message-Id: ..." line).

 An item to be displayed can be selected by providing the identifier
 of the item. e.g.:

  READ/IDENTIFIER=<243@csc.anu.oz>

/ROT13

 Some news items are posted using a basic encryption method (rot13).
 This qualifier uses the decryption algorithm to display the message
 contents.

/MARKER
 /MARKER [=tag]

 This command displays the text of the NEXT newsitem marked with the
 specified tag value. If no tag value is specified then the next item
 marked with any tag is used.

/FOLLOWUP
 /FOLLOWUP
 /FOLLOWUP/NEW

 This command scans the current newsgroup for the next newsitem with a
 subject field which matches that of the current newsitem subject (within
 the current newsgroup). In this way the responses (if any) to the current
 newsitem can be viewed.

 If used in conjunction with the /NEW qualifier, this command can be used
 to present all unread items in a conversation ordering.

/PREV

 NEWS maintains a history of the last 10 items read. READ/PREV pops the
 most recent item index off this history stack and displays the item.
 Repeated calls to READ/PREV will continue to pop the stack until the
 history stack is emptied.

/TOPIC

 READ will display the oldest posted newsitem in the same conversation
 stream as the current item. The oldest item will be original posting in
 the conversation stream if the original item is still retained on the
 system.

1 REFRESH

 In screen mode this command repaints the screen. This command is (by
 default) bound to the Ctrl-W key.

1 REGISTER

 Adds newsgroups into the user's register file. Registering into a
 newsgroup implies that NEWS will automatically keep track of which items
 in the newsgroup have been read, and the user can view only unread news
 items (with the READ/NEW command).

 Format:

  REGISTER [newsgroup-name]

2 Parameters

Newsgroup-name

 This specifies the name of the newsgroup to register. If the parameter
 is not specified, the current newsgroup is added to the register file.

2 Qualifiers

/ALL

 This qualifier will register the user for ALL newsgroups on the system.
 On a system with a high quantity of network news this must be considered
 a brave act!

/BEFORE
 /BEFORE=date

 This qualifier will register all newsgroups created before the specified
 time. VMS date-time format is used.

/CONFIRM

 This qualifier directs NEWS to prompt for confirmation before adding
 a newsgroup to the registered list.

/LOCAL

 This qualifier will register all newsgroups which are "local" newsgroups
 (as distinct to those newsgroups which are distributed through the News
 network.

/NETGROUPS

 This qualifier will register all newsgroups which are maintained as
 network-wide newsgroups.

/NEW

 This qualifier will register the user for all newsgroups created on
 the system since the last time a REGISTER/ALL or REGISTER/NEW command
 was given. Thus the user is automatically registered into all recent
 newsgroups, and can then elect to deregister from some of those
 newsgroups.

/PRIORITY
 /PRIORITY=number

 This qualifier assigns a read priority to the newsgroup. This is
 particularly useful if you are registered in a number of newsgroups,
 and would like to view new items (using READ/NEW) in a particular
 order of newsgroups. The value is a number (between 1 and 255),
 increasing with priority.

 For example, if you have new items in net.animals and soc.chinese
 and the priority of soc.chinese is greater then net.animals, new
 items in soc.chinese will be displayed first when using READ/NEW).

/RECORD

 This qualifier is used to record the current date as the last register
 update time. This implies that subsequent REG/NEW commands will only
 select those newsgroups created after the current date.

/SINCE
 /SINCE=date

 This qualifier will register all newsgroups created since the specified
 time. VMS date-time format is used.

1 REPLY

 REPLY posts a MAIL reply directly to the sender of a news item. This
 is used to respond directly to the poster of an item without the item
 appearing on the net.

 News will pre-load the edit buffer with the text of the item to which
 to reply is being sent, then invoke the editor. (The default editor
 is the TPU EDT emulator, but this is user definable - see the
 subtopic Logical_names).

 On a normal exit from the editor the item is posted via VMS Mail to the
 sender (The sender's address is mapped into the equivalent VMS Mail
 address by site specific address transformation rules).

2 Qualifiers

/HEADERS

 By default the news item headers are stripped off the item text before
 it is mailed. This qualifier loads the item header lines into the mail
 buffer as well as the body of the text.

/SUBJECT
 /SUBJECT=text string

 This specifies the subject header of the mail reply. If not specified,
 NEWS will prompt for a Subject: field.

/SELF
 /NOSELF [default]

 This is a mail qualifier which will forward a copy of the outgoing mail
 item back to the sender.

1 SAVE

 Format:

   SAVE [output-file [item-range]]

 SAVE extracts a news item into a text file.

 The output-file parameter specifies the name of the file to save to, and
 the item-range specifies the range of item numbers to save.

2 Qualifiers

/ALL

 Specifies that all items in the current newsgroup are to be extracted to
 the specified file.

/APPEND

 Appends the items to the specified file. If the file does not exist, it
 is created.

/AUTHOR
 /AUTHOR=mailaddress

 Specifies that only those items (from the specified item-range) posted
 from the specified mail address are to be saved. This qualifier is a
 synonym for /FROM.

/BEFORE
 /BEFORE=date-time

 Specifies that only those items (selected from the specified item-range)
 postmarked before the specified date are to be saved.

/FROM
 /FROM=mailaddress

 Specifies that only those items (from the specified item-range) posted
 from the specified mail address are to be saved. This qualifier is a
 synonym for /AUTHOR.

/HEADER
 /HEADER        [default]
 /NOHEADER

 Specifies whether or not to include the full item headers in the saved
 text.

/MARKER
 /MARKER [=tags]

 Specifies that only those items marked with one of the specified tag
 values are to be saved.

/SEEN

 Marks the saved item as seen.

/SINCE
 /SINCE=date-time

 Specifies that only those items (selected from the specified item-range)
 postmarked after the specified date are to be saved.

/SUBJECT
 /SUBJECT="string"

 Save only those items (selected from the specified item-range) which
 contain the specified string within the item subject line. This qualifier
 is a synonym for /TITLE.

/TITLE
 /TITLE="string"

 Save only those items (selected from the specified item-range) which
 contain the specified string within the item subject line. This qualifier
 is a synonym for /SUBJECT.

/UNREAD

 Save only those items (selected from the specified item-range) which have
 not been read. This qualifier is a synonym for /UNSEEN.

/UNSEEN

 Save only those items (selected from the specified item-range) which have
 not been read. This qualifier is a synonym for /UNSEEN.

1 SEARCH

 This command directs NEWS to locate a newsitem which contains a
 specified text string. The next item which contains the text string is
 displayed on the screen. Repeated calls to SEARCH (without specifying a
 text string) will locate successive occurrences in other news items that
 are in the specified newsgroups.

 Format:

  SEARCH [target]

 This operation make tie up your terminal for long periods, particularly
 if you have specified "*" as the newsgroup to search. To interrupt the
 search, press any key - the normal command prompt will appear at the
 base of the screen.

2 Parameters

Target

 This parameter specifies the search string target. If not specified the
 previous target string is used.

 The search is usually case-insensitive, but this may be reversed (made
 case sensitive) by specifying a mixed-case string (i.e. upper case only
 and lower case only target strings are case-insensitive). To specify a
 mixed-case string you must enclose the string in "" characters (e.g.
 SEARCH "String")

2 Qualifiers

/NEWSGROUPS

 By default the search is limited to the current newsgroup. This can be
 modified by specifying the newsgroups which should be searched. The
 wildcard character ('*') may be used to include a set of newsgroups.
 A number of newsgroups may be specified with the usual list notation.

 For example:

  SEARCH/NEWSGROUPS=(aus.*,anu.*) wombats

/EDIT

 This qualifier will use an editor in read-only mode to view the
 newsitem. This is useful when it is required to scroll up and down
 through the item text, or extract a part of the text into a file.

 The default editor is the TPU EDT emulator, but this is user
 definable (see the subtopic Logical_names).

/TPU

 This qualifier is equivalent to the /EDIT qualifier.

 This qualifier will use an editor in read-only mode to view the
 newsitem. This is useful when it is required to scroll up and down
 through the item text, or extract a part of the text into a file.

 The default editor is the TPU EDT emulator, but this is user
 definable (see the subtopic Logical_names).

/HEADER

 Normally NEWS will suppress the display of all network routing
 headers. This qualifier produces a full display of the item contents
 including mail header lines.

/DISPLAY
 /NODISPLAY

 Determines whether the item text will be displayed following the search.
 By default the text is displayed, but if /NODISPLAY is specified, the
 screen directory will be positioned on the item, but not displayed.

1 SCREEN

 This enters NEWS' screen display mode. In this mode there are three
 screen levels: the Newsgroup screen, where every newsgroup header is
 displayed, a Newsitem screen, displaying newsitem headers, and an Item
 text screen, displaying item contents.

 The current object is shown by a cursor on the left of the display. The
 cursor can be moved up and down by the arrow keys or the UP and DOWN
 commands (or Prev-Screen and Next-Screen commands on VT220 keyboards).

 This is the default mode for NEWS. The line mode can be selected by the
 command: NOSCREEN.

1 SELECT

 SELECT changes newsgroup context to the nominated newsgroup.The command
 normally takes one parameter, the name of the newsgroup to select.

 If no newsgroup is specified then SELECT will perform one of two actions,
 depending on the current context: if the newsgroup directory is currently
 displayed, then SELECT will open the current newsgroup. If a newsitem
 directory is currently displayed, SELECT will open the current newsitem,
 and display the item text.

 Format:

       SELECT [newsgroup-name]
2 Parameters

 newsgroup-name

 The name of the newsgroup to  be  selected.   If  no  folder  name  is
 specified, the current newsgroup is selected.
2 Qualifiers

/NEW

 This qualifier is used in place of a newsgroup to select the next
 registered newsgroup which contains unread news items. If the current
 newsgroup contains unread items, then no action is performed.

/MARK
 /MARK =[tag]

 This command moves the current item pointer to the NEXT newsitem marked
 with the specified tag value. If no tag value is specified than the next
 item marked with any tag is used.

1 SEND

 Format:

    SEND [file-name]

 SEND creates and sends a VMS MAIL message from within NEWS. SEND will, by
 default, prompt for the To: address and Subject line, and invoke the
 editor to create the MAIL message.

 You can send a mail message to the author of the current news item you're
 reading by using the /AUTHOR qualifier, and you can send a mail item to
 all members of a restricted newsgroup by using the /MEMBERS qualifier.

 You can also pre-load the edit buffer with the text of the message you're
 reading by using the /EXTRACT qualifier.

2 Qualifiers

/AUTHOR

 Directs SEND to address the mail to the address of the user who posted
 the message you are currently reading.

/EDIT
 /EDIT      [default]
 /NOEDIT

 /EDIT directs SEND to call the editor to assemble the mail message.
 /NOEDIT bypasses this call to the editor.

/EXTRACT

 Directs SEND to load the edit buffer with the text of the item you are
 currently reading. By default SEND clears the edit buffer before invoking
 the editor to create the mail message.

/HEADERS
 /HEADERS

 Used with /EXTRACT, this qualifier directs NEWS to load all message
 header lines into the message buffer. Otherwise a subset of the message
 headers are included into the edit buffer.

/QUOTE
 /QUOTE=">"     [default]
 /QUOTE="string"
 /NOQUOTE

 Used with /EXTRACT, this qualifier is used to alter the quote character
 used to delimit the original item in the edit buffer. By default the
 original item is loaded using the "> " string at the start of each line
 to indicate included text.

 Using /QUOTE="string", an arbitrary string may be used as the quotation
 string. Using /NOQUOTE includes the item text verbatim, without quotes.

/MEMBERS

 If the current newsgroup is configured with a membership list then the
 mail message will be addressed to all members of this list (in addition
 to any addresses specified with the /TO qualifier).

/SELF

 By default a copy of the mail message will NOT be sent to yourself. The
 /SELF qualifier overrides this default.

/SUBJECT
 /SUBJECT="subject-string"

 SEND will normally prompt for the subject line of the mail message. The
 /SUBJECT qualifier is used to supply a subject string in the command
 line.

/TO
 /TO=address

 SEND will normally prompt for the addresses to mail. These addresses may
 be specified in the command line:
    SEND/TO="address-list"

1 SET

 SET modifies the control information for newsgroups or for news items in
 the News database. SET a also modifies various user-definable aspects of
 the NEWS user interface.

 The following subtopics describe those attributes which are displayed via
 the SET command.

2 ACCESS

 SET ACCESS is a NEWS MANAGEMENT command.

 Format:

    SET ACCESS newsgroup

 SET ACCESS allows the local news manager to define a VMS access control
 list to control read and write access to a newsgroup via the VMS ACL
 mechanisms.

 NOTE: access control is managed more consistently by using the SET
 NEWSGROUP/RESTRICT and then managing a membership list using the
 ADD/DELETE/MODIFY/SHOW MEMBER commands. The SET ACCESS command is not
 recommended as the best means of access control for NEWS.

 SET ACCESS invokes the VMS ACL Editor to allow the local news manager to
 define or modify the access control list associated with the newsgroup.
 The access control list is placed on the matching directory in the NEWS
 data area.

2 BROADCAST_TRAPPING

 Format:

    SET BROADCAST_TRAPPING  [default]
    SET BROADCAST_TRAPPING ON

    SET NOBROADCAST_TRAPPING
    SET BROADCAST_TRAPPING OFF

 NEWS by default has broadcast trapping enabled. All broadcast messages to
 the terminal are trapped by NEWS, and displayed at the base of the screen,
 in order to avoid overwriting of parts of the screen.

 This trapping may be disabled by specifying BROADCAST_TRAPPING OFF or
 NOBROADCAST_TRAPPING.

2 CLASS

 Format:

    SET CLASS class-name

 This command modifies the current directory selection criteria to display
 those newsgroups which have been entered into the specified class.

 To turn off class selection criteria, use the class name "*" as the
 specified class.

2 DISPLAY

 This command is used to set display functions of NEWS. With this release
 of NEWS only one display setting is modifiable: SCANSIZE.

3 Qualifiers

/SCANSIZE

 Format:

    SET DISPLAY/SCANSIZE=n

 SCANSIZE determines the number of lines to display of the first page of an
 item text. When using a low speed terminal, it is often helpful to only
 display the first few lines of the item to determine whether to view the
 remainder of the item text.

 This parameter can also be specified as a logical name "NEWS_SCANSIZE".

2 HISTORY

 SET HISTORY is a NEWS MANAGEMENT command.

 Format:

    SET HISTORY
    SET HISTORY ON

    SET NOHISTORY
    SET HISTORY OFF

 NEWS normally maintains a history file of recent message identifiers which
 have been held on the local system. This file is referred to whenever a
 new item is added into NEWS to ensure that the item has not already been
 held on this system, so as to avoid looping news items in the NEWS
 network.

 This history function can be disabled by the SET NOHISTORY or SET HISTORY
 OFF commands. It will remain disabled until explicitly re-enabled by the
 NEWS manager.

2 ITEM

 SET ITEM is a NEWS MANAGEMENT command.

 SET ITEM modifies the newsgroup retention attributes of news items.

 Format:

     SET ITEM item-num/HOLD=n

 This command requires the number of a newitem (or defaults to the current
 newsitem). Only one qualifier is associated with this command, /HOLD.

3 Qualifiers

/HOLD

 Format:

    SET ITEM/HOLD=n

 This command qualifier defines the retention period for individual news
 items The value of the qualifier is specified in days.

 If a 0 value is given, this indicates that a higher level (newsgroup
 based) default value should be used.

 If a value of '*' is given, this indicates that the retention is PERMANENT
 -- the item will require manual deletion by the local NEWS Manager.

2 LINE_EDITING

 Format:

    SET LINE_EDITING
    SET LINE_EDITING ON

    SET NOLINE_EDITING  [default]
    SET LINE_EDITING OFF

 By default VMS NEWS disables the cursor keys line editing functions. The
 up and down arrow cursor keys are bound to the UP and DOWN commands.

 VMS line editing may be enabled with the SET LINE_EDITING. In this case
 the keypad key 5 is bound to the UP function, and keypad 2 is bound to the
 DOWN function, and the arrow cursor keys perform the normal line editing
 functions.

2 MANAGER

 SET MANAGER is a NEWS MANAGEMENT command.

 Format:

    SET MANAGER     [default]
    SET MANAGER ON

    SET NOMANAGER
    SET MANAGER OFF

 A user who holds the NEWS_MGR_ID identifier is identified to NEWS as a
 local news manager, and can execute all the management commands.

 These manager privileges can be disabled by the SET NOMANAGER command, and
 enabled at a later stage by the SET MANAGER command. Note that on startup
 manager privileges ARE enabled.

2 SUPERVISOR

 Format:

    SET SUPERVISOR
    SET SUPERVISOR ON

    SET NOSUPERVISOR
    SET SUPERVISOR OFF

 NEWS allows two types of moderation of a newsgroup: The USENET model of
 moderation is one where all postings into a moderated newsgroup are
 intercepted and mailed directly to the e-mail address of the moderator of
 the newsgroup. The moderator's responsibility is to approve the posting
 and place it into the newsgroup with an approval stamp. A USENET moderator
 is identified by a match of the user's e-mail address with the list of
 moderator addresses. Such a moderator is more accurately called an
 Approval Moderator.

 VMS NEWS also has a second level of supervision of a newsgroup, which
 effectively allows a subset of the NEWS Manager's privileges to be given
 to nominated users, effective for a particular newsgroup. Such a Local
 Supervisor can control the membership list for a restricted newsgroup by
 adding, altering and removing member records, and cancelling messages that
 were posted from the local system into the controlled newsgroup.

 Users who have such local supervisor privileges do not have such privileges
 enabled at the start of the session: the privileges are enabled by the SET
 SUPERVISOR command for all locally supervised newsgroups. A user who is
 nominated as a Approval Moderator is automatically configured as a VMS
 NEWS local supervisor if the Approval Moderator's mail address is located
 on the local node.

2 NEWSGROUP

 SET NEWSGROUP is a NEWS MANAGEMENT command.

 SET NEWSGROUP modifies  the control attributes of a newsgroup. control
 attributes include the lifetime of items on the local system, newsgroup
 moderator addresses, and whether the newsgroup is served from a remote
 NNTP server.

 Newsgroups are automatically deleted from the NEWS system if the last new
 item in the newsgroup was posted to the group more than n days previously.
 There are three levels of default for this value: A global compile-time
 constant (defined in the file NEWSSITE.H, normally 60 days), which may be
 overridden by a dynamic global value (SET NEWSGROUP default/HOLD=n days),
 which may be overridden for individual newsgroups by a dynamic newsgroup
 specific value (SET NEWSGROUP name/HOLD=n days). The value is specified in
 units of days, but there is an additional value, '*' which specifies that
 the newsgroup is not to be automatically deleted.

 Newsitem records are automatically deleted once they have remained on the
 system for a set number of days. This retention period has fours levels of
 default: A global compile-time constant (defined in the file NEWSSITE.H,
 normally 30 days), which may be overridden by a dynamic global value (SET
 NEWSGROUP */ITEMHOLD=n days), which may be overridden for specific
 newsgroups by a dynamic newsgroup default value (SET NEWSGROUP
 name/ITEMHOLD=n days), which may be overridden for individual news items
 (SET ITEM number/HOLD=n days). The value is specified in units of days,
 but there is an additional value, '*' which specifies that the newsgroup
 is not to be automatically deleted.

 Format:

     SET NEWSGROUP/qualifiers

     SET NEWSGROUP newsgroup-name/qualifiers

     SET NEWSGROUP default/quals

 If no newsgroup name is given with the command the command assumes the
 name of the 'current' newsgroup. If the newsgroup is specified as
 'default' then the attributes referred to by this command are the system
 defaults.

 The qualifiers accepted for the global default ('default') are /ITEMHOLD,
 /HOLD, /CACHE and, in the case where a particular newsgroup is named,
 /MODERATOR and /SERVER.

3 Qualifiers

/HOLD
 /HOLD=n

 This command qualifier defines the retention period for newsgroups. The
 value of the qualifier is specified in days.

 If a 0 value is given, this indicates  that  a  higher  level  default
 value should  be  used. If a value of '*' is given, this indicates that
 the retention is PERMANENT -- the newsgroup will never be automatically
 deleted by the SKIM command.

/ITEMHOLD
 /ITEMHOLD=n

 This command qualifier defines the default retention period  for  news
 items within a newsgroup. The value of the qualifier is specified in days.

 If a 0 value is given, this indicates that a higher level default value
 should be used. If a value of '*' is given as the value for days, this
 indicates that the default newsitem retention is PERMANENT.

/MODERATOR
 /MODERATOR
 /MODERATOR=address

 /NOMODERATOR

 This command sets the newsgroup as a moderated newsgroup, or clears the
 moderator condition.

 Only the moderator of a moderated newsgroup may post items into that
 newsgroup - all other users who attempt to post to a moderated newsgroup
 will have the news posting intercepted and re-directed as e-mail to the
 moderator address.

 The value of the /MODERATOR is an internet-style address of the moderator.
 In the case where no address is given, backbone addressing is assumed.

 The /NOMODERATOR is used to clear the moderator condition.

/LOCAL
 /LOCAL
 /NOLOCAL

 Newsgroups are defined by default to be Network newsgroups - A network
 newsgroup is created in response to a network-wide "newgroup" control
 message, and is deleted in response to a network-wide "rmgroup" or
 "checkgroups" message.

 Newsgroups which are local to a this site, or local to a domain within the
 wider network are created with the /LOCAL qualifier. This ensures that the
 newsgroup will not be deleted by such network control messages.

/NOTICE
 /NOTICE="notice-string"
 /NONOTICE

 Newsgroups may be tagged with a notice string. This notice message is
 displayed as part of the newsgroup directory heading, and is intended
 to hold current status messages about the newsgroup. The notice string
 is limited to a maximum size of 124 characters.

/RESTRICT
 /RESTRICT
 /NORESTRICT

 Sets the newsgroup as a restricted access newsgroup. Making the newsgroup
 restricted limits the access to the newsgroup to those users who are
 entered as "members" of the newsgroup (see ADD MEMBER). Users who are not
 listed as members of the newsgroup cannot read or write into this
 newsgroup.

/SERVER
 /SERVER=node
 /NOSERVER

 Newsgroups may be linked to a remote NEWSSERVER via DECNET. The presence
 of a remote server for a newsgroup implies that the local site need not
 keep the text files of all items within a newsgroup on local storage --
 when a user on the local system reads an item, the remote server passes a
 copy of the text on demand.

 This configuration can be used to reduce the overall storage demands for
 NEWS if a number of network-connected systems are all running NEWS. One
 system may be nominated as the server for a number of client nodes, or a
 number of systems can be used to serve subsets of the total newsgroup set
 to the clients (i.e. a node may be configured as a client for some
 newsgroups, and a server for other newsgroups).

 This qualifier requires a node name as a value - this name is the network
 node name of the remote server.

/TITLE
 /TITLE="title-string"

 Newsgroups may optionally have a title string. This title is displayed
 in the head of a newsgroup directory, and is intended as a (short)
 description of the newsgroup. The string length is restricted to
 124 characters.

/WRITE
 /WRITE
 /NOWRITE

 By default all newsgroups are writeable by all users (there is a
 qualification to this assertion - a set of newsgroups can be setup as
 read-only by use of the NEWS_NETPOST/NEWS_NONETPOST identifiers - the
 newsgroup set refers to the /NOLOCAL newsgroups).

 A newsgroup can be setup as a read-only newsgroup by the command:

    SET NEWSGROUP name/NOWRITE


 Once a newsgroup has been set as /NOWRITE only those users with write
 permission can post to this newsgroup (see ADD MEMBER to grant write
 permission to a username).

/CACHE
 /CACHE=3                   [default]
 /CACHE=n
 /NOCACHE

 The /CACHE qualifier is used in conjunction with the /SERVER qualifier.

 If a newsitem is served from a remote system, and a local user requests to
 view the contents of that item, the server system copies the text of the
 item into the local user's scratch area. By default, a copy of this text
 is also placed in the local NEWS database, so that further requests to
 read the item do not need to access the remote server.

 This retention of the local copy can be inhibited by using the
 /NOCACHE with the SET command -- in such a case all requests to view
 the item will generate remote server requests.

/PROTOCOL
 /PROTOCOL=protocol

 The /PROTOCOL qualifier is used in conjunction with the /SERVER qualifier.
 Valid values for this qualifier are "DECNET" or "TCP". The default value
 is "DECNET".

 If a newsgroup is served from a remote system, then either DECNET or TCP
 may be used to access the remote system. This qualifier sets the protocol
 to use when performing the remote access.

2 PROFILE

 Format:

    SET PROFILE

 SET PROFILE is used to define a usage profile for NEWS. The profile may
 contain the specification of the editor to use with NEWS, the default
 action of the OPEN command, the class to be selected on NEWS startup, the
 personal name to use with all postings, a set of qualifiers to use with
 all PRINT commands, and a startup DIRECTORY setting.

 Many of these settings can also be defined using logical names. The
 PROFILE settings take precedence over any such logical name settings.

3 Qualifiers

/AUTOMATIC
 /AUTOMATIC= { DIRECTORY | UNSEEN }

 This controls the default action of the OPEN and SELECT commands. by
 default the OPEN (and SELECT) command displays the directory of the opened
 newsgroup. By specifying UNSEEN, the first unseen item will be displayed
 when the OPEN or SELECT command is executed.

/CLASS
 /CLASS=classname
 /NOCLASS

 By default NEWS will startup with the same selection conditions as were
 used when NEWS last exited. You can specify a class to select on startup
 by using the /CLASS qualifier.

 The values of the classname are either a valid class name, or the string
 "MAIN". MAIN indicates that no class selection should be used, and all
 newsgroups should be included in the directory selection conditions.

 The default behaviour can be restored by using the /NOCLASS parameter.

/DIRECTORY
 /DIRECTORY=dir-qualifier
 /NODIRECTORY

 NEWS will normally retain the directory context across invocations of the
 program (i.e. If you had executed DIR/NEW before exiting NEWS, then when
 you next run NEWS, the initial newsgroup directory state will be restored
 to DIR/NEW). It is possible to specify a constant initial directory state
 by defining a value for this qualifier as one of the strings:

    ALL   NEW   REGISTER   SINCE   SINCE=vms_date

 If a PROFILE value is specified then this value will override that of the
 logical name NEWS_DEFAULT_DIRECTORY.

/EDITOR
 /EDITOR=editor
 /NOEDITOR

 This qualifier is used to link an editor to NEWS. The editor is used to
 generate new postings, and to edit forwarded mail, and (optionally) in
 readonly mode, to scan the item contents (READ/EDITOR).

 By default NEWS links the TPU editor to NEWS, using the value of the
 logical name TPUSECINI (or TPU$SECTION, depending on the version of VMS
 used) as the section to use.

 The value of this qualifier may be one of:

 * EVE (or TPU) to use the TPU emulator with either the EVE section, or
   the section as defined by the appropriate TPU logical name.

 * EDT to use the callable EDT interface

 * A command procedure (including the "@" symbol) which specifies a
   spawned command procedure to use as the editor for NEWS.

/NEWREGISTER
 /NEWREGISTER
 /NEWREGISTER=newsgroups
 /NONEWREGISTER

 By default you will NOT be automatically registered for any new newsgroups
 which are created from time to time on the local system.

 By specifying /NEWREGISTER you will be registered for each new newsgroup
 immediately after it is created on the local system. You can also specify
 a pattern, or a list of patterns to match against for automatic
 registration.

 For example to only register new newsgroups created in the hierarchies
 "comp.*" and "aus.*" the command is:

    SET PROFILE/NEWREGISTER="comp.*,aus.*"

 The automatic registration action can be turned off by the qualifier
 /NONEWREGISTER.

/PERSONAL_NAME
 /PERSONAL_NAME="name"
 /NOPERSONAL_NAME

 Sets the personal name string. This name is appended to your network
 address in all NEWS postings.

 If not specified as a PROFILE entry, the logical name NEWS_PERSONAL_NAME
 is used (if defined), and if there is no logical name your VMS MAIL
 profile is examined to extract your MAIL personal name.

/PRINT
 /PRINT="qualifier-string"
 /NOPRINT

 Sets the default print qualifiers for all NEWS PRINT commands. The
 qualifiers used may be any valid NEWS print qualifier string (See the
 subtopic describing the PRINT command).

/RCFILTER
 /RCFILTER
 /NORCFILTER

 By default all accessible newsgroups are displayed in a full newsgroup
 directory display. The number of newsgroups can be restricted by the
 command SET PROFILE/RCFILTER. This instructs NEWS to only use those
 newsgroups as entered in the NEWSRC file.

 To reduce the number of newsgroups displayed in the directory listing:
    Run NEWS and enter the command  "SET PROFILE/RCFILTER"
    Exit NEWS and then edit the NEWSRC file, deleting the lines
     referring to newsgroups you wish to remove from the display.

/RCORDER
 /RCORDER
 /NORCORDER [default]

 By default all newsgroups are displayed within the newsgroup directory
 screen in alphabetical order. By specifying SET PROFILE/RCORDER,
 newsgroups are ordered as shown in the NEWSRC. file. To change the
 directory display order:
    Run NEWS and enter the command  "SET PROFILE/RCORDER"
    Exit NEWS and then edit the NEWSRC file, altering the
     order of entries as required

/TEMPORARY

 If specified the PROFILE changes given are only effective for the current
 NEWS session.

2 SEEN

 By default, this command marks items within the currently selected
 newsgroup as "seen". This can be altered by specifying one of the
 following qualifiers.

3 Qualifiers

/POINTER

 This command marks all newsitems up to (and including) the 'current' item
 as having been viewed by the user.

/BEFORE
 /BEFORE=date

 This command marks all items in the current newsgroup which were
 postmarked by the local system before the date specified as having been
 viewed by the user.

 The date format is the standard VMS date-time format. "TODAY" and
 "YESTERDAY" are accepted as valid date strings.

/FOLLOWUP

 All newsitems in the current newsgroup with a subject field the same as
 the current newsitem will be marked as read.

 This command is used to skip entire conversation streams: all newsitems
 with related subject fields will be marked as having been read.

1 SHOW

 SHOW displays the control information for newsgroups or for news items in
 the News database. SHOW also reports on various user-definable aspects of
 the NEWS user interface.

 The following subtopics describe those attributes which are displayed via
 the SHOW command.

2 CLASSES

 This command lists all user defined class names, and also lists the
 newsgroup names which have been assigned to each class. The currently
 selected class is marked with an asterisk.

2 CONFERENCE

 See the subtopic "SHOW ENTRY".

2 ENTRY

 Format:

    SHOW ENTRY [newsgroup]

 Displays the status and configuration information for the specified
 newsgroup. This information includes the current item count, the default
 retention time settings, the markers placed within the newsgroup and the
 classes into which the newsgroup has been added, as well as the relevant
 NNTP server information if the newsgroup is configured as NNTP-served.

 The newsgroup name be be abbreviated to a unique substring, and wildcards
 ('*', '%') may be used to list the attributes of a number of newsgroups.

2 ITEM

 Format:

    SHOW ITEM [item-num]

 SHOW ITEM displays the retention period for the current, or specified,
 news item.

2 KILL

 SHOW KILL displays the current kill filter set. Kill filters are applied
 to all unseen items, and if an item matches any of the kill filters the
 item will not be displayed when using the READ/NEW command.

2 MARKER

 Format:

  SHOW MARKER [tag]

 SHOW MARK displays a listing of the set of marked newsitems. If no tag
 value is specified, then all mark tag values are displayed. If a tag is
 used then only those tag values which match the tag (using wildcard
 matching) are displayed.

2 MEMBER

 Format:

    SHOW MEMBER [username]

 This command lists the attributes of a member of the currently selected
 newsgroup. If the newsgroup is a public access newsgroup then there is no
 associated membership list, and a status message is displayed.

 The listing displays the username of the member, the user's privileges
 with respect to this newsgroup and the user's mail address.

 This command also displays the mail address of the moderator of a moderated
 newsgroup. The newsgroup referred to by this command is the currently
 selected newsgroup.

 The local NEWS manager may also nominate a set of local users who have
 supervisor privileges for this newsgroup. Such privileges all the listed
 users the ability to alter the membership list of the newsgroup and a
 number of other newsgroup control functions. This command also lists the
 usernames of such local supervisor with respect to this newsgroup and
 their mail addresses (if not that of their local username).

 If /ALL is not specified, and no username is given, NEWS will prompt for a
 username.

3 Qualifiers

/ALL

 List the attributes of all members of a newsgroup.

/SUPERVISOR

 List the attributes of all members who have supervisor privilege with
 respect to this newsgroup.

2 SUPERVISOR

 Lists the local supervisor for the current newsgroup.

2 NEWSGROUP

 Format:

    SHOW NEWSGROUP [newsgroup-name]

    SHOW NEWSGROUP *

 SHOW NEWSGROUP displays the control attributes of the current or specified
 newsgroup. The control attributes include the retention settings, server
 settings and moderator address.

2 NOTE

 Format:

    SHOW NOTE [item-number]

 This command displays the header lines of the current (or nominated note
 if an item number is specified with the command). As well as the supplied
 header lines, the display also shows the local postmark time, and the
 local expiration date of the item.

2 PROFILE

 This command displays your current NEWS profile settings. The display
 includes the default editor, the default class on startup, the NEWS
 personal name, default qualifiers for the PRINT command, OPEN default
 action and the startup directory setting. Note that PROFILE entries are at
 a higher precedence than the logical names which also define your NEWS
 profile.

1 SKIM

 SKIM is a NEWS MANAGEMENT Command.

 SKIM checks aspects of the news database for internal consistency, and
 also enforces news item and newsgroup expiry time limits.

 By default the command will check all news items, all newsgroups, all
 message identifiers and all item files in the news database, removing any
 inconsistencies found in the News database. By default all deleted items
 are NOT archived.

 Any of these functions can be stopped by use of the /NOxxx qualifier in
 the command line.

2 Qualifiers

/ARCHIVE
 /NOARCHIVE     [default]
 /ARCHIVE=filename

 This can be used in conjunction with /ITEMS to archive a copy of every
 item that is to be deleted from the News database. The items are stored
 using batch format. The items are appended to the archive file until the
 archive file reaches 250k bytes in size, when a new version of the
 archive file is opened.

/DIRECTORIES
 /DIRECTORIES       [default]
 /NODIRECTORIES

 When a newsgroup is deleted, the directory chain corresponding to that
 newsgroup is not deleted at this point. The /DIRECTORIES pass of the SKIM
 is responsible for locating directories which have no corresponding
 newsgroup and deleting such directories.

 This phase of the SKIM is performed by default if ALL newsgroups are
 specified in the SKIM command. If a subset of the current local newsgroup
 set is passed to the SKIM command, or if the qualifier "/NODIRECTORIES"
 is specified, this phase will be skipped.

/FILES
 /FILES         [default]
 /NOFILES

 SKIM/FILES examines every .ITM file in the news database, purging all
 back versions of any file, and deleting any .ITM files which have no
 corresponding entry in the item database.

/HISTORY
 /HISTORY           [default]
 /HISTORY=days
 /NOHISTORY

 NEWS uses a "history" file to prevent looping of news items. All items
 identifiers which have been stored on the local system are passed to the
 history file once the local item copy is expired. The file is used to
 ensure the correct operation of "cancel" and "supersedes" control
 messages.

 The history file is an indexed file, containing date - item identifier
 pairs. When a new item is added to the local news database, a check is
 made to this history file to ensure that the item was not stored on the
 system in the past.

 The /HISTORY pass of SKIM removes old entries from this history file. By
 default items remain in the file for 45 days, but this value may be
 changed by specifying the number of days as a value of the /HISTORY
 qualifier.

/ITEMS
 /ITEMS         [default]
 /NOITEMS

 SKIM/ITEMS performs a pass over all current news items:

  1. Deletes items which are older than the pre-determined item life.

  2. Deletes any items which have no associated message identifier
     entry.

  3. Updates any inconsistencies in the newsgroup file concerning the
     number of items in each newsgroup.

 The /ARCHIVE qualifier can be used in conjunction with this pass to
 archive any files that are to be deleted from the news database.

/NEWSGROUPS
 /NEWSGROUPS        [default]
 /NONEWSGROUPS

 SKIM/NEWSGROUPS performs the following operations:

  1. Checks the existence of all items in the newsgroup, and update
     newsgroup counts if inconsistent.

  2. Deletes any newsgroup which has had no new entries for a site
     determined period (Thus cancellation of dormant newsgroups is
     automatic with this command.

/FILECHECK
 /FILECHECK         [default]
 /NOFILECHECK

 This qualifier is used in conjunction with the /ITEMS skim phase.

 The default action of the SKIM is to attempt to open each item file,
 and make the necessary corrections to the database if the file cannot
 be accessed. If the NEWS database extends to many thousands of items
 this open operation will take up a large amount of CPU time.

 The check can be omitted by specifying the /NOFILECHECK qualifier,
 which will speed up the SKIM run by a considerable factor.

/VERBOSE
 /VERBOSE       [default]
 /NOVERBOSE

 Skim will normally output messages indicating the skim action during
 each phase. These messages can be suppressed with the /NOVERBOSE
 qualifier.

/SERVED
 /SERVED            [default]
 /NOSERVED

 The /SERVED pass by the SKIM command interrogates the remote nodes
 configured as NNTP servers to the local system, and updates the local
 database to be consistent with the items held on the remote system.

1 SKIP

 SKIP will mark items as having been read by the user. If the current
 screen is the newsitem directory, then SKIP will mark the current
 newsitem as read - if the screen is the newsgroup directory then
 SKIP will mark ALL items in that newsgroup as read.

 The command takes one optional parameter, a newsgroup name, which can be
 used to mark as read ALL items in the nominated newsgroup.


2 Parameters

Newsgroup

 This qualifier changes context to the named newsgroup when recording
 items as skipped.

2 Qualifiers

/ALL

 This qualifier will mark ALL news items in ALL registered newsgroups
 as having been read by the user.

/POINTER

 This will mark all items (on an item screen) as being read, up to, and
 including, the current item.

/BEFORE
 /BEFORE=date

 This will mark all items as read which were created before the date
 specified. If the qualifier /ALL is used this will span all newsgroups.
 By default this will span the current newsgroup.

 The date format is the standard VMS date-time format. The default value
 of this qualifier is "TODAY"

/FOLLOWUP

 All newsitems in the current newsgroup with a subject field the same as
 the current newsitem will be marked as read.

 This command is used to skip entire conversation streams: all newsitems
 with related subject fields will be marked as having been read.

/NEWSGROUP

 This qualifier will mark ALL items in the current newsgroup as read.
 If the screen is displaying the newsgroup directory then /NEWSGROUP
 is the default action - if the screen is displaying the newsitem
 directory then /NONEWSGROUP is the default action, and only the
 current item will be marked

1 SPAWN

  Creates a subprocess of the current process.   The  context  of  the
  subprocess  is  copied  from  the  current process.  You can use the
  SPAWN command to leave NEWS  temporarily,  perform  other  functions
  (such  as  displaying  a  directory listing or printing a file), and
  then return to NEWS.

   Format:

       SPAWN [command]
2 Parameters

 command

  Specifies the DCL command string that executes in the context of the
  created  subprocess.   When  the  command  completes, the subprocess
  terminates and control is returned to the parent  process.   If  not
  specified,  a  subprocess is created transferring control to the DCL
  command level.
2 Qualifiers

/INPUT

 /INPUT=file-spec

 Specifies an input file containing one or more DCL command strings to
  be  executed  by  the  spawned subprocess.  If you specify a command
  string along with an input file, the  command  string  is  processed
  before the commands in the input file.  Once processing is complete,
  the subprocess is terminated.

/LOGICAL_NAMES

 /[NO]LOGICAL_NAMES

 Specifies that the logical names of the parent process be  copied  to
  the  subprocess.   When  you  do  not want the subprocess to use the
  logical  names  of  the  parent  process, enter the /NOLOGICAL_NAMES
  qualifier.  The default is /LOGICAL_NAMES.

/OUTPUT

 /OUTPUT=file-spec

 Identifies the  output  file  to  which  the  results  of  the  SPAWN
  operation  are  written.   You  should  specify an output other than
  SYS$OUTPUT whenever you specify the /NOWAIT qualifier to prevent 
  output from being displayed  while  you  are specifying new commands.  
  If you omit the /OUTPUT qualifier, output  is written to the current  
  SYS$OUTPUT device.

/PROCESS

 /PROCESS=subprocess-name

 Specifies the name of the subprocess to be created.  The default name
  of the subprocess is USERNAME_n.

/SYMBOLS

  /[NO]SYMBOLS

  Determines whether the system passes DCL global and local symbols to 
   the subprocess. The default is /SYMBOLS.

/WAIT

 /WAIT

 Controls whether the system waits until the subprocess  is  completed
  before   allowing  more  commands  to  be  specified.   The  /NOWAIT
  qualifier allows you to specify new  commands  while  the  specified
  subprocess  is running.  If you specify /NOWAIT, you should also use
  /OUTPUT to direct the output to a file rather than displaying it  on
  the screen to prevent your terminal from being used by more than one
  process simultaneously.

2 Examples

  1.   
       NEWS> SPAWN SHOW TIME

  This example shows how to create a  subprocess  containing  the  DCL
  command SHOW TIME while you are in NEWS.

  2.   
       NEWS> SPAWN /NOLOGICAL_NAMES SET HOST
       _Node: MARS
          .
          .
          .
       $ LOGOUT
       CRAMMER logged out at ...

       %REM-S-END, control returned to node _BETA::

       NEWS>

  This example shows  how  to  use  the  SPAWN  command  to  create  a
  subprocess  in which you SET HOST to another node.  When you want to
  leave node MARS and  move  back  to  node  BETA,  enter  the  LOGOUT
  command.   The /NOLOGICAL_NAMES qualifier prevents the logical names
  of the parent process from being copied to the subprocess.

1 TOP

 This command moves the screen display to the start of the display screen.
 The command is invoked by the key sequence PF1 - PrevScreen.


1 TOPIC

 TOPIC displays the original topic of the current item. This command
 refers to conversation streams, where each posting in a conversation
 contain explicit references to the preceding articles in the same
 conversation.

 TOPIC attempts to follow this chain of reverse references  back to the
 original posting at the head of these backward references, or if this
 posting is no longer available, locates the oldest item in the
 conversation and display it.

 READ/TOPIC is a synonym for TOPIC.

2 Qualifiers

/HEADER

 Directs NEWS to display all header lines of the newsitem. By default only
 the subject line, sender address and date of the item are shown in the
 display.

/EDITOR

 Use a callable editor in read-only mode to display the newsitem. By
 default this is the TPU editor, but this may be altered by the NEWS_VIEW
 logical name. See the section on NEWS settings for details. For
 compatibility with previous versions of NEWS, /TPU is equivalent to
 /EDITOR.

/ROT13

 Some newsitem are posted using rot13 encryption. This qualifier decrypts
 the newsitem for display.

1 UNMARK

 Format:

  UNMARK [tag]

 UNMARK clears the mark from the current news item. If a tag is specified
 with the command, then only those tag values will be cleared. If no tag
 is specified, then all tags will be removed from the item. The tag may be
 specified using wildcard characters.

1 UNREAD

 This command marks the current item as UNREAD - The item will be remarked
 again as unread, and will be displayed at a later stage by the READ/NEW
 command (if the item is in a registered newsgroup).

 This command is useful to mark items for re-reading at a later stage.

1 UP

 Format:

  UP [number]

 In screen mode this moves the cursor up one line. The command has an
 optional numeric parameter, the number of lines to move up.

 This command may be used with the newsgroup directory, news item
 directory or news text displays.

 The command "UP 1" is equivalent to the up arrow key, and "UP 18" is
 equivalent to the Prev Screen key.

2 Parameters

Number

 This parameter specifies the number of lines to move up. If omitted, the
 default is 1 line.

1 UPDATE

 Format:
    UPDATE [newsgroup]

 When NEWS is invoked it takes a snapshot of the local NEWS database, and
 presents this snapshot in a directory format to the user. If another user
 posts to NEWS, or the NEWS transport system reads in a news batch during
 an interactive session, these snapshots of the database summary are not
 immediately automatically updated.

 UPDATE clears the image section which maps the database and reads in a
 new copy of the database snapshot, including any changes made since your
 session was started.

 If a newsgroup name is specified then the update function is performed on
 that newsgroup only.

1 VERSION

 This command will display the version and creation date of the NEWS
 software.

 This help file was updated to reflect NEWS Version 5.9C, and was last
 updated on 19 December 1989.

1 WRITE

 WRITE is used to post new items into NEWS.

 This command is synonymous to "POST", and is documented under "POST".

