EuroCD 3

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ EuroCD 3 / EuroCD 3.iso / Communication / Citadel_BBS / Docs / cit_hlp.lha / READ.HLP < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1994-05-23 | 7.8 KB | 189 lines

Advanced Reading Options ------------------------ ^variantname's Advanced Reading commands contain a number of useful options which can greatly enhance your pleasure if you take just a couple of minutes to find out what they can do. Study the following carefully... Basics You should already be familiar with the basic single stroke Message Reading commands and the general idea of "dot" commands. The generic format of the .Read commands for viewing Messages is <.R>ead [Option ...] [Read Command [date-spec] ] <CR> Or, in English, ".Read" followed by zero or more "Options" followed by a single, optional "Read Command" (default is <N>ew messages) and optional "date-spec". We'll explain these one at a time, starting with the "Read Commands" (since you should find them familiar anyways), then the "date-spec", and finally the "Options". Don't worry, this WILL make sense ... Read Commands Here are the four basic Read Commands for messages; each should be ended with a C/R: <.R>ead <F>orward will print all messages in room from beginning. <.R>ead <N>ew messages will print all new messages in room. <.R>ead <O>ld-reverse will print all old msgs in reverse order in room. <.R>ead <R>everse will print all messages in reverse chronological order. These four should be familiar from the single stroke command set, and they are exactly the same. However, as you'll see, they are NOT superfluous. Date-Spec A "date-spec" is simply some date of your choosing, expressed in normal Citadel format. For instance, July 4th, 1989 would be 89Jul4 (or 89Jul04). If the current year was 1989, you could shorten that to Jul4. In fact, the month can be shortened even farther if it remains "unique" within the range of months. For instance, you can't type "Ju" because ^nodetitle won't know if you mean July or June. However, you can type "N4" to mean November 4th, because there is no other month with the first letter of November. But what does this have to do with reading? When you use it with one of the Read Commands, you are telling ^variantname to either Read only those messages since or before that date, depending on the exact Read Command you are using. For example, .<R>ead <N>ew 88Jan4 will print all the new messages in the room entered SINCE January 4, 1988, while .<R>ead <O>ld-reverse 88Jan4 will print all the old messages in the room entered BEFORE January 4, 1988, and in reverse order. In general, Read New and Read Forward used with a date-spec will display messages written since the given date, while Read Reverse and Read Old-reverse will display messages written before the given date. The date-spec is completely optional, but it is useful when you have logged into a system for the first time and only want to read messages entered since a day a few days before. Options The Options actually fall into three groups, from which you can mix and match nearly any combination (don't worry, those which don't make sense will be blindingly obvious). The groups are Search Options, Transfer Options, and the Global Option. You have three Search options: o ser. This lets you search for messages from a particular user, and, if this is a network system, for messages from a particular system. o hrase. This lets you search for messages containing a given phrase. o <L>ocal. This lets you search for messages originating on ^nodetitle. Both the User and Phrase options are used in the same way: specify them while you are typing in the command, and after you hit a carriage return you will be prompted for each in turn. Local, on the other hand, doesn't require any further input, since it only means the system should search for messages which were written on this system (and thus the command only makes sense in Shared rooms). A couple of examples. Suppose you wanted to find all the New messages written by Joe Blow. You'd type (at the room prompt) .<R>ead ser <N>ew <CR> The system would then prompt for a name, to which you'd type "Joe Blow" (sans quotes), and the system would go searching the New messages for those written by good old Joe. Or suppose you wanted to find a message from Joe when he was writing on a local system named "Mundane" (so the message header looks like "... Joe Blow @ Mundane ..."). Then, after you typed .Read User New <CR>, you'd respond to the User prompt with "Joe @ Mundane" (notice you didn't have to type in the entire name to find "Joe Blow" -- this applies as well to the system name). Suppose you wanted to find all the messages, new or not, containing the Phrase "archaeology". You'd type .<R>ead hrase <F>orward <CR> The system would then prompt for the phrase, to which you'd type "archaeology" (case-insensitive search, by the way), and the system would happily search all the messages in the current room for such messages. ^variantname also supports transferring messages via several transfer protocols besides basic ASCII. Since this is an Option, that's where the command would go. You may use any of the three basic transfer protocols of ^variantname (<X>modem, <Y>modem [but in SINGLE FILE mode only, not BATCH], and <W>xmodem). Additionally, ^nodetitle supports the following protocols via external drivers which you may use to download messages: ^dlprotocols A basic example, downloading all the New messages in a room via Xmodem: .<R>ead <X>modem <N>ew You would then be asked if you were ready, and if you answer Yes, the system would drop into Xmodem download mode, in which all those New messages will be transferred as a text file, formatted to your current screen width setting. (Answering No aborts the transfer). Naturally, you can combine any of the transfer protocols with any of the other options already discussed. For instance, .<R>ead <Y>modem ser <N>ew would result in the system prompting for a User name to search on and then try to start a Ymodem Single download, resulting in a transfer of all messages which written by the user you typed in using Ymodem. The Compressed option (.Read Compressed) allows you to download messages into a file which is then compressed using a compression program you select. This option can, and should be, used in conjunction with other options, particularly the Protocols mentioned above. When you touch the carriage return after typing in your command line, you'll be prompted for the compression style you wish to use from a list, and the resultant file will be sent in that format. Please note that not all installations will support this option since it requires work on the sysop's part. Finally, the Global Option. You may read the entire board in one swell foop if you wish. The Global modifier is used to do this. The typical use for this command would be .<R>ead <G>lobal <N>ew <C/R> which would give you all the new messages and mark all the rooms as being read by you -- Forward, Old, and Reverse when used with Global do not. However, the Global modifier may be used in combination with other modifiers. For instance, if you want to find all the messages accessible to you that contain the phrase "Todd has chickenpox", you would type .<R>ead <G>lobal hrase <F>orward <C/R> and type that phrase in when prompted. And if you wanted the messages compressed .<R>ead <C>ompressed <G>lobal hrase <F>orward <C/R> Don't forget, all of the above can be combined in a number of useful combinations. Don't be afraid to do a little experimentation! Miscellaneous ------------- Finally, .<R>ead <S>tatus will print the number of messages in system, etc. Use .<R>ead ? to get a complete list of read options. %ADVANCED Back to the advanced commands help menu. %HELPOPT Get a list of all help files in the system. %MAINHELP First level of help system.