The slrn reference manual Matthias Friedrich Thomas Schultz Thomas Wiegner Peter J Ross Version 0.9.9, September 2008 Using and customizing the slrn newsreader ______________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1.1 Downloading slrn 1.2 Getting help 1.3 About this manual 1.3.1 History 2. Configuration 2.1 A brief introduction to the built-in S-Lang prompt 3. Command line switches 4. Environment variables 5. The slrn configuration file 5.1 Basics 5.2 Preprocessing of configuration files 5.2.1 #iffalse, #ifntrue 5.2.2 #iftrue, #ifnfalse 5.2.3 #if$ENV 5.2.4 #ifn$ENV 5.2.5 #if$ENV string1 string2 ... 5.2.6 #ifn$ENV string1 string2 ... 5.2.7 #ifdef SYMBOL1 SYMBOL1 5.2.8 #ifndef SYMBOL1 SYMBOL2 ... 5.3 Configuration commands 5.3.1 autobaud 5.3.2 charset 5.3.3 color 5.3.4 compatible_charsets 5.3.5 group_display_format 5.3.6 grouplens_add 5.3.7 header_display_format 5.3.8 ignore_quotes 5.3.9 include 5.3.10 interpret 5.3.11 mono 5.3.12 nnrpaccess 5.3.13 posting_host 5.3.14 server 5.3.15 set 5.3.16 setkey 5.3.17 strip_re_regexp 5.3.18 strip_sig_regexp 5.3.19 strip_was_regexp 5.3.20 unsetkey 5.3.21 visible_headers 6. Configuration variables 6.1 abort_unmodified_edits 6.2 art_help_line 6.3 art_status_line 6.4 auto_mark_article_as_read 6.5 beep 6.6 broken_xref 6.7 cansecret_file 6.8 cc_followup 6.9 cc_post_string 6.10 charset 6.11 check_new_groups 6.12 color_by_score 6.13 confirm_actions 6.14 custom_headers 6.15 custom_sort_by_threads 6.16 custom_sort_order 6.17 decode_directory 6.18 display_cursor_bar 6.19 drop_bogus_groups 6.20 editor_command 6.21 editor_uses_mime_charset 6.22 emphasized_text_mask 6.23 emphasized_text_mode 6.24 failed_posts_file 6.25 fallback_charset 6.26 fold_headers 6.27 followup_custom_headers 6.28 followup_date_format 6.29 followup_string 6.30 followup_strip_signature 6.31 followupto_string 6.32 force_authentication 6.33 generate_date_header 6.34 generate_email_from 6.35 generate_message_id 6.36 group_help_line 6.37 group_status_line 6.38 grouplens_host 6.39 grouplens_port 6.40 grouplens_pseudoname 6.41 header_help_line 6.42 header_status_line 6.43 hide_pgpsignature 6.44 hide_quotes 6.45 hide_signature 6.46 hide_verbatim_marks 6.47 hide_verbatim_text 6.48 highlight_unread_subjects 6.49 highlight_urls 6.50 hostname 6.51 ignore_signature 6.52 inews_program 6.53 kill_score 6.54 lines_per_update 6.55 macro_directory 6.56 mail_editor_command 6.57 mail_editor_is_mua 6.58 max_low_score 6.59 max_queued_groups 6.60 metamail_command 6.61 mime_charset 6.62 min_high_score 6.63 mouse 6.64 netiquette_warnings 6.65 new_subject_breaks_threads 6.66 no_autosave 6.67 no_backups 6.68 non_Xbrowser 6.69 organization 6.70 overview_date_format 6.71 post_editor_command 6.72 post_object 6.73 postpone_directory 6.74 prefer_head 6.75 printer_name 6.76 process_verbatim_marks 6.77 query_next_article 6.78 query_next_group 6.79 query_read_group_cutoff 6.80 quote_string 6.81 read_active 6.82 realname 6.83 reject_long_lines 6.84 reply_custom_headers 6.85 reply_string 6.86 replyto 6.87 save_directory 6.88 save_posts 6.89 save_replies 6.90 score_editor_command 6.91 scorefile 6.92 scroll_by_page 6.93 sendmail_command 6.94 server_object 6.95 show_article 6.96 show_thread_subject 6.97 signature 6.98 signoff_string 6.99 simulate_graphic_chars 6.100 smart_quote 6.101 sorting_method 6.102 spoiler_char 6.103 spoiler_display_mode 6.104 spool_active_file 6.105 spool_activetimes_file 6.106 spool_check_up_on_nov 6.107 spool_inn_root 6.108 spool_newsgroups_file 6.109 spool_nov_file 6.110 spool_nov_root 6.111 spool_overview_file 6.112 spool_root 6.113 supersedes_custom_headers 6.114 top_status_line 6.115 uncollapse_threads 6.116 unsubscribe_new_groups 6.117 use_blink 6.118 use_color 6.119 use_flow_control 6.120 use_grouplens 6.121 use_header_numbers 6.122 use_localtime 6.123 use_metamail 6.124 use_mime 6.125 use_recommended_msg_id 6.126 use_slrnpull 6.127 use_tilde 6.128 use_tmpdir 6.129 use_uudeview 6.130 username 6.131 warn_followup_to 6.132 wrap_flags 6.133 wrap_method 6.134 write_newsrc_flags 6.135 Xbrowser 7. Interactive functions 7.1 group functions 7.1.1 add_group 7.1.2 bob 7.1.3 catchup 7.1.4 eob 7.1.5 evaluate_cmd 7.1.6 group_search 7.1.7 group_search_backward 7.1.8 group_search_forward 7.1.9 help 7.1.10 line_down 7.1.11 line_up 7.1.12 move_group 7.1.13 page_down 7.1.14 page_up 7.1.15 post 7.1.16 post_postponed 7.1.17 quit 7.1.18 redraw 7.1.19 refresh_groups 7.1.20 repeat_last_key 7.1.21 save_newsrc 7.1.22 select_group 7.1.23 subscribe 7.1.24 suspend 7.1.25 toggle_group_formats 7.1.26 toggle_hidden 7.1.27 toggle_list_all 7.1.28 toggle_scoring 7.1.29 transpose_groups 7.1.30 uncatchup 7.1.31 unsubscribe 7.2 article functions 7.2.1 article_bob 7.2.2 article_eob 7.2.3 article_left 7.2.4 article_line_down 7.2.5 article_line_up 7.2.6 article_page_down 7.2.7 article_page_up 7.2.8 article_right 7.2.9 article_search 7.2.10 author_search_backward 7.2.11 author_search_forward 7.2.12 browse_url 7.2.13 cancel 7.2.14 catchup 7.2.15 catchup_all 7.2.16 create_score 7.2.17 decode 7.2.18 delete 7.2.19 delete_thread 7.2.20 enlarge_article_window 7.2.21 evaluate_cmd 7.2.22 exchange_mark 7.2.23 expunge 7.2.24 fast_quit 7.2.25 followup 7.2.26 forward 7.2.27 forward_digest 7.2.28 get_children_headers 7.2.29 get_parent_header 7.2.30 grouplens_rate_article 7.2.31 goto_article 7.2.32 goto_last_read 7.2.33 header_bob 7.2.34 header_eob 7.2.35 header_line_down 7.2.36 header_line_up 7.2.37 header_page_down 7.2.38 header_page_up 7.2.39 help 7.2.40 hide_article 7.2.41 locate_article 7.2.42 mark_spot 7.2.43 next 7.2.44 next_high_score 7.2.45 next_same_subject 7.2.46 pipe 7.2.47 post 7.2.48 post_postponed 7.2.49 previous 7.2.50 print 7.2.51 quit 7.2.52 redraw 7.2.53 repeat_last_key 7.2.54 reply 7.2.55 request 7.2.56 save 7.2.57 show_spoilers 7.2.58 shrink_article_window 7.2.59 skip_quotes 7.2.60 skip_to_next_group 7.2.61 skip_to_previous_group 7.2.62 subject_search_backward 7.2.63 subject_search_forward 7.2.64 supersede 7.2.65 suspend 7.2.66 tag_header 7.2.67 toggle_collapse_threads 7.2.68 toggle_header_formats 7.2.69 toggle_header_tag 7.2.70 toggle_headers 7.2.71 toggle_pgpsignature 7.2.72 toggle_quotes 7.2.73 toggle_rot13 7.2.74 toggle_signature 7.2.75 toggle_sort 7.2.76 toggle_verbatim_marks 7.2.77 toggle_verbatim_text 7.2.78 uncatchup 7.2.79 uncatchup_all 7.2.80 undelete 7.2.81 untag_headers 7.2.82 view_scores 7.2.83 wrap_article 7.2.84 zoom_article_window 7.3 readline functions 7.3.1 bdel 7.3.2 bol 7.3.3 complete 7.3.4 cycle 7.3.5 del 7.3.6 delbol 7.3.7 delbow 7.3.8 deleol 7.3.9 down 7.3.10 enter 7.3.11 eol 7.3.12 left 7.3.13 quoted_insert 7.3.14 right 7.3.15 self_insert 7.3.16 trim 7.3.17 up ______________________________________________________________________ 1. Introduction slrn (``S-Lang read news'') is a newsreader, i.e. a program that accesses a newsserver to read messages from the Internet News service (also known as ``Usenet''). It runs in console mode on various Unix- like systems (including Linux), 32-bit Windows, OS/2, BeOS and VMS. Beside the usual features of a newsreader, slrn supports scoring rules to highlight, sort or kill articles based on information from their header. It is highly customizable, allows free key-bindings and can easily be extended using the sophisticated S-Lang macro language. Offline reading is possible by using either slrnpull (shipped with slrn) or a local newsserver (like leafnode or INN). 1.1. Downloading slrn Directions for downloading the latest version of slrn are available from the slrn web site at . If you are running Linux, slrn is probably included in your distribution. However, please note that some distributors modify the sources; in this case, slrn might not always behave as it is described here. 1.2. Getting help First of all, please read the documentation found in this file and in the slrn FAQs at . Questions not covered by the docs are on-topic in news.software.readers. If you speak German, you also might want to subscribe to de.comm.software.newsreader. slrn-user is a mailing list for discussion of the use, development and extension of slrn. You can subscribe to it through the web interface at . To keep track of slrn's development, simply subscribe to slrn- announce. It is a moderated list that informs you about new releases, important bugfixes or major changes to the website. The subscription address is . All announcements are also mailed to slrn-user, so there is no need to read both lists. 1.3. About this manual This manual is the official reference for using and customizing the slrn newsreader. If you find that slrn behaves differently than described here, it means you found a bug (either in this manual or in slrn itself) and should report it. The manual is written in SGML using the ``linuxdoc'' DTD and has been ``rendered'' using the linuxdoc-tools package. The manual and other official documentation have their own web page at where you can find these files in several different formats, as well as instructions on how to get the latest development version (which might be useful if you need documentation for a developer version of slrn). If you want to contribute to the manual (e.g. write additional chapters), please contact us, either privately or via the slrn-user mailing list at . We also appreciate feedback about errors, bad language or suggestions concerning this manual. 1.3.1. History This manual was started by Matthias Friedrich and Thomas Schultz in 1999 since there was no up-to-date end-user documentation available. As of version 0.9.7.0, it has been part of the official documentation. Since they first started it, the manual has undergone the following revisions: 2008-07-04: Revision 2.7 Updated the manual for changes in version 0.9.9. 2004-10-04: Revision 2.6 Added a brief introduction to the S-Lang prompt within slrn and updated the manual for version 0.9.8.1. 2003-08-25: Revision 2.5 Updated the manual for version 0.9.8.0. 2002-04-31: Revision 2.4 Added a section that describes the ``preprocessing'' facility and changed the manual's structure. 2002-03-13: Revision 2.3 Updated the manual for version 0.9.7.4. 2001-11-05: Revision 2.2 Updated the manual for version 0.9.7.3. 2001-08-20: Revision 2.1 Updated the manual for slrn 0.9.7.2; added a section about the functions of the ``readline'' interface. 2001-06-06: Revision 2 Added a section that describes all interactive functions and updated the manual for slrn 0.9.7.1. 2001-03-28: Revision 1.1 Manual updated to reflect the changes in slrn 0.9.7.0. 2000-09-27: Revision 1 First public release, explaining all slrnrc commands, configuration and environment variables and command line switches. 2. Configuration Basically, there are four ways to change slrn's behaviour: o ``environment variables'' o ``a global configuration file'' o ``a personal configuration file'' o ``command line options'' The list is sorted by priority - environment variables are overridden by settings in configuration files that are in turn overridden by command line options. Have a look at the following chapters for a detailed description of the above configuration facilities. Note: Please do not use options that are called ``obsolete'' in this manual. They are only included for backwards compatibility and will probably be removed before version 1.0 is released. 2.1. A brief introduction to the built-in S-Lang prompt When trying various configuration settings, you may find it quite inconvenient to constantly toggle between slrn and your editor and to restart slrn each time you made a change. Maybe you also want to play around with some settings without making (permanent) changes to your config file. In these cases, making yourself familiar with the built- in S-Lang prompt of slrn can be worthwhile. You get to the prompt by calling ``evaluate_cmd'' (by default bound to ``CTRL-X ESC'') in either group or article mode. You will notice that the bottom status line changes and displays S-Lang> - behind that prompt, you can enter your commands. Basically, you can do anything here that you could do in a macro, so if you want to explore the full capabilities of this prompt, you'll have to read the documentation that comes with S-Lang and look at the file slrnfuns.txt that comes with slrn. However, you can also do some simple things without understanding much about S-Lang: o To find out the current value of a config variable, use a command like this one: message(string(get_variable_value("use_metamail"))) After this, the current value of the variable will appear in the bot- tom status line. By the way, the call to string() is only needed when querying an integer variable, so you can omit it if you want when get- ting the value of a string variable. o If you want to set a config variable at runtime, you need to know whether its type is integer or string (if in doubt, look it up in this manual). To set a variable, use something like set_integer_variable("use_metamail", 0) % for integer variables set_string_variable("metamail_command", "metamutt") % for string variables Note that changing a variable does not always have an immediate effect: For example, changing ``sorting_method'' does not automati- cally imply a re-sorting of the articles. By the way, you can call the intrinsic function sort_by_sorting_method from the S-Lang prompt afterwards in this specific case. o You can also load macros dynamically using a line like () = evalfile("my-macro.sl") Note that you need those funny leading brackets and the equals sign in this case, because evalfile returns 1 on success. Using the given notation, we simply ignore the returned value. If we didn't do any- thing with it, it would be left on the stack and when this happens too often, you'll get a stack overflow at some point. If you really want to understand this, please read the file slang.txt that comes with the S-Lang documentation. Otherwise, simply use the notation given here. 3. Command line switches The following options can be used when calling slrn from the command line: -a Read active file when checking for new news. This can be permanently turned on by setting ``read_active'' to 1. -C Use colors without checking if the terminal supports it. -C- Don't use colors, even if the terminal supports it. -d Get group descriptions (taglines) from the news server. Please note that this may cause a download of several hundred kilobytes and thus can take a long time. The output is saved to a local file, so you only need to do this once. May not be specified in combination with ``--create''. -Dname Add name to the list of predefined preprocessing tokens, which can be used in your slrnrc file to have conditionally interpreted lines. For example, you can use the following slrnrc entry if you want to read mailing lists (stored as MH mail directories in /home/username/Mail/) with slrn -DMAIL: #ifdef MAIL set spool_inn_root "/home/username/Mail" set spool_root "/home/username/Mail" set spool_nov_root "/home/username/Mail" set server_object "spool" set read_active 1 server "/home/username/Mail" ".jnewsrc.mail" #endif Similarly, you can test if a given environment variable is set: #if$DISPLAY set editor_command "xjed '%s' -g %d -tmp" #endif -f file Use file as the newsrc file for this session. This is permanently set via the ``server'' configuration command. -h [snews://]host[:port] Connect to the NNTP server on host, overriding the $NNTPSERVER environment variable. If no port is given, the default NNTP port (119) will be used. The prefix snews:// indicates that slrn should attempt a secure connection. This will result in an error message when SSL support is not compiled in. Like -p, this option is only accepted after --nntp or when NNTP is the default mode. -i file Read file as the initialization (slrnrc) file. The default is to use .slrnrc (or slrn.rc on VMS, OS/2 and Windows) in your home directory. -k Don't read the ``score file''. -k0 Read the score file, but inhibit ``expensive'' scoring. A scoring rule is ``expensive'' if it contains header lines that are not included in the server's overview files. This makes applying them slow. -n Do not check for new groups (usually resulting in a faster startup). You can permanently set this via ``check_new_groups''. -m Force mouse support (without checking if it works on the current terminal). To permanently activate mouse support, you can use the ``mouse'' configuration variable. -p N Use port N to connect to the NNTP server. -w Wait for a key before switching to full screen mode. This is useful if you want to read the startup messages. -w0 Like -w, but only waits if a warning or error message occurred on startup (e.g. an expired scorefile entry or a bogus group) --create Read the active file (the list of all groups) from the news server to create an initial newsrc file. --debug file Write debugging output to file. In NNTP mode, this logs the dialog with the server; the spool backend currently only uses this for error messages. --help Show help for command line switches. --inews Use an external ``inews program'' to post articles. --kill-log file Keep a log of all articles that were killed by the scorefile in file. --nntp Use builtin NNTP support for reading and posting (an external program is used to post if the ``force inews'' compile time option is set). --pull Spool outgoing articles locally for slrnpull to send. --show-config Print version, some compile time settings, internal variables after parsing the slrnrc, and environment variables used by slrn. --spool Read directly from spool. --version Print version and some compile time settings. 4. Environment variables This section contains a list of all environment variables that are relevant for slrn. Please note that environment variables have a low priority. They can be overridden by both configuration file and command line switches. COLORTERM If this variable is set, slrn will assume that your terminal supports ``ANSI color sequences''. It also enables a workaround for a problem with the ``mouse reporting'' when running slrn inside of an rxvt. DISPLAY If set, slrn assumes that X11 is running and uses ``Xbrowser'' when browsing a URL. Otherwise, ``non_Xbrowser'' is called. EDITOR See ``$SLRN_EDITOR''. HOME See ``$SLRNHOME''. HOSTNAME If no ``hostname'' is given, the value of this environment variable is used. As a last resort, slrn will call gethostname(3), gethostbyname(3) and getaddrinfo(3) (if available) to find a value it can work with. The hostname can also be hardcoded when building slrn (see OUR_HOSTNAME in slrnfeat.h). The value of OUR_HOSTNAME can either be the hostname as a string or the name of a file containing the hostname. Note that the environment variable overrides the hardcoded default and that the configuration variable overrides both. LOGNAME See ``$USER''. NAME If you did not set ``realname'', slrn tries to get a value from $NAME. On Unix systems, it also queries the /etc/passwd gecos field. NNTPSERVER You can use this variable to tell slrn which NNTP server to connect to. It can be overridden by the command line option ``-h''. It is possible to compile in a default setting in case the user does not set $NNTPSERVER. This is done in slrnfeat.h by either setting NNTPSERVER_FILE to the name of a file containing the hostname or by directly setting NNTPSERVER_NAME to the hostname. In case both are defined, slrn first tries to read the file and only uses NNTPSERVER_NAME as a fallback. ORGANIZATION If ``organization'' is unset, the value of this variable is used. It overrides the compile time setting of OUR_ORGANIZATION (default is unset) in slrnfeat.h. Both the environment variable and the compile time default can optionally point to a file from which the organization line will be read. PRINTER On Unix systems, slrn pipes the current article to an external program in order to print it. If you do not specify the program using ``printer_name'', it uses ``lpr -P$PRINTER'' as the default. PWD This variable is only used on Unix systems that don't support getcwd(3). In these cases, it should be set to the current directory at the time slrn is invoked. This is usually nothing the user has to worry about. REPLYTO The value of this variable is used as the default if you do not set ``replyto'' in your slrnrc file. SLANG_EDITOR See ``$SLRN_EDITOR''. SLRNHELP The help window you get when hitting ``?'' inside slrn shows the default key bindings, which may or may not be the ones you are currently using. This is why slrn allows you to change the help text by creating a ``help file'' and letting $SLRNHELP point to it (the absolute filename is needed here). If $SLRNHELP is unset, slrn tries to read help.txt in the config directory. Your slrn distribution should include the file help.txt which you can copy and modify to suit your needs. It also serves as an example of the syntax of slrn help files. SLRNHOME When interpreting filenames as relative to your home directory, slrn uses this variable to find out what your home directory is. If $SLRNHOME is unset, $HOME is used instead. SLRNPULL_ROOT If you want to use slrnpull, you need to define a directory where it will look for its configuration files and spool the articles. An absolute filename is needed here. There is a compile time default for it in slrnfeat.h (SLRNPULL_ROOT_DIR, default: "/var/spool/news/slrnpull"), which can be overridden by the environment variable $SLRNPULL_ROOT. If an alternate root directory is given via the command line parameter ``-d'', it overrides both. SLRN_EDITOR If you did not define an editor in ``editor_command'' et al, slrn checks this variable. If it is unset, slrn subsequently looks at $SLANG_EDITOR, $EDITOR and $VISUAL. The last desperate call goes to edit (VMS and Windows), e (OS/2) or vi (Unix). SLRN_SLANG_DIR If set slrn will search for S-Lang macros here. If not set slrn will search in the default path, which is defined at compile time (usually /share/slrn/slang). TMP Indicates the directory in which slrn should save temporary files. If it is unset or does not contain an existing directory, $TMPDIR is tried. If both are unset, /tmp is used on UNIX systems, the current working directory on OS/2 and Windows and SYS$LOGIN: on VMS. An exception to this are temporary files created to invoke ``metamail''. In this case, $TMP is only queried on OS/2 and Windows NT. TMPDIR See ``$TMP''. USER If ``username'' is unset, slrn tries to get your login name from the system first. If this fails, it looks at $USER and $LOGNAME. VISUAL See ``$SLRN_EDITOR''. 5. The slrn configuration file 5.1. Basics Most customizations in slrn are done using an initialization file. If your administrator wanted to provide reasonable defaults for your system, he might have created a global configuration file. When reading such a file, slrn tells you its filename at startup (use ``slrn -w'' if you want to read the startup messages easily). The right place for your own settings is your personal configuration file, which by default is .slrnrc (or slrn.rc on VMS, OS/2 and Windows) in your home directory. It is possible to override settings from the global file here. An slrn configuration file consists of ``configuration commands'', each one on a line of its own. Most commands require arguments that can be either strings or integer values. If a string contains whitespace, you have to enclose it in double quotes ("). The percent sign (%) is used as the comment character. From this character on, everything else on the same line will be ignored. Example: % Name of signature file to use set signature ".signature" If you set the same variable more than once in your configuration file, the last setting will take effect. The easiest way to build a personal configuration file is to make a copy of the annotated sample slrn.rc that is included in the slrn distribution and to tailor it to your needs. This manual contains a list of all ``configuration commands'' and ``variables''. 5.2. Preprocessing of configuration files slrn uses routines from libslang to parse its configuration files. Among other things, a simple preprocessing facility similar to cpp(1) is provided that makes it possible to use a number of conditions in your configuration files. Apart from minor syntactic differences, this is how they are used: #if... % Configuration commands to use if the condition is true. #elif... % ``else if'' % Commands to use if the first condition is false but % the above condition is true. #else % Execute these commands if none of the above conditions % were true. This is the fallback case. #endif As usual, you can only use one ``#if'' condition, any number of ``#elif'' conditions (including none) and up to one ``#else'' state- ment. If the ``#endif'' statement is missing, everything up to the end of the file is included. Conditions may be nested, but you may not use whitespace in front of the ``#'' characters. However, whitespace may be used freely after the leading ``#'' which is useful for indenting. 5.2.1. #iffalse, #ifntrue The equivalent of ``#if 0'' in cpp(1) which always returns false. This can be used to deactivate a part of your configuration without having to set a comment character (``%'') in front of each line. Example: #iffalse This code will never be included in your configuration file. #endif 5.2.2. #iftrue, #ifnfalse The inverse of ``iffalse''. This condition is always true which means that configuration commands in this block will always be executed. 5.2.3. #if$ENV This condition is true if the environment variable $ENV is set. Example: #if$DISPLAY % The environment variable DISPLAY is set, so we assume % that X is running and use an editor with GUI. set editor_command "gvim +%d %s" #else % DISPLAY is unset, so we fall back to a textmode editor set editor_command "vi +%d %s" #endif 5.2.4. #ifn$ENV This condition is true if the environment variable ENV is not set. 5.2.5. #if$ENV string1 string2 ... The condition is true if the contents of the environment variable ENV are equal to at least one of its argument strings. The arguments have to be separated using whitespace. There is no quoting mechanism for space or tabulator characters. Example: #if$TERM rxvt % In my rxvt, ``default'' is a light background; % ``color15'' is re-defined as a dark shade of blue. color normal "black" "default" color headers "color15" "default" color thread_number "blue" "default" % [...] More color settings follow #elif$TERM linux wsvt* % On the Linux or NetBSD console, I prefer a black background % to reduce flickering: color normal "lightgray" "black" color headers "brightblue" "black" color thread_number "brown" "black" % [...] More color settings follow #endif The strings may contain wildcard characters. The ``?'' character matches an arbitrary single character and ``*'' matches any number of characters (including none). To use them literally, you have to escape them with a backslash (``\*'' and ``\?''). The backslash itself also has to be escaped when used literally (``\\''). 5.2.6. #ifn$ENV string1 string2 ... The condition is true if the contents of the environment variable ENV are equal to none of its argument strings. The arguments have to be separated using whitespace. There is no quoting mechanism for space or tabulator characters. As with ``#if$ENV'', wildcards can be used. 5.2.7. #ifdef SYMBOL1 SYMBOL1 This condition is true if any of its arguments is a defined preprocessor symbol. You can define symbol using the ``-D'' command line switch. Depending on the operating system, one of the following symbols is defined: ``UNIX'', ``WIN32'', ``NT'', ``VMS'', ``OS2''. Example: #ifdef UNIX % On Unix, printer_name is the command to use for printing set printer_name "lpr -Pmy_printer" #elifdef WIN32 % On Win32, printer_name is set to the print queue set printer_name "MyPrinter" #endif 5.2.8. #ifndef SYMBOL1 SYMBOL2 ... This condition is true if none of its arguments is a defined preprocessor symbol. 5.3. Configuration commands 5.3.1. autobaud Usage: autobaud Default: off The autobaud command may be used to synchronize the output rate slrn uses to the terminal baud rate. 5.3.2. charset Usage: charset option charset option can be one of these: display slrn will use this character set when displaying articles. Default: detected from locale settings if supported by OS. (autodetection not supported in (cyg)win) outgoing This setting will be used for the charset encoding of outgoing articles and emails. Setting a value like "iso-8859-15,utf-8" is possible; slrn will try the settings from left to right and use the first for which encoding succeeds. config Set this value if your .slrnrc contains non-ascii characters. Default: us-ascii editor Set this value if the encoding your editor uses is different from the locale setting. Default: value from charset display 5.3.3. color Usage: color display_element foreground background [attributes] If your terminal supports ANSI color sequences, you can use the color command to define your own color scheme. You can assign a different color to almost every element on your screen. display_element can be one of these: article Regular text in the article body. author The author's name / email address in header overview. boldtext Text in the article body that is interpreted as *bold*. box Text inside of selection boxes (like the one you see when choosing a sorting mode). cursor The cursor you see in the group window and in header overview. date The article date in the header overview. description The group descriptions (taglines) in group window. error Error messages in the bottom line. frame The frame around selection boxes (see also: ``box''). from_myself The ``From:'' header line or realname in header overview, in case it contains your ``name''. group The group names in group window. grouplens_display ``GroupLens'' scores. header_name The name of header lines in the pager (e.g. ``From:''). header_number The header number in header overview. headers The content of header lines in the pager. high_score The exclamation mark (``!'') used to denote ``high scoring'' articles in header overview. italicstext Text in the article body that is interpreted as /italic/. menu The first line of your display. If ``mouse reporting'' is turned on, it contains a menu. menu_press A menu item while you click on it. message The messages and prompts in the bottom line of the screen. neg_score The subject / score of articles with a negative score value, depending on the setting of ``color_by_score''. normal Everything that does not have its own color object. pos_score The subject / score of articles with a positive score value, depending on the setting of ``color_by_score''. pgpsignature ``PGP signatures'' appended to the article body. quotes ``Quoted text'' in the article body. It is now possible to distinguish up to 8 levels of quoted material by using color objects ``quotes0'' to ``quotes7''. response_char The highlighted character you need to press if you want to make a selection (e.g. in ``[Y]es or [N]o?''). selection The ``cursor'' used in selection boxes (see also: ``box''). signature ``Signatures'' appended to the article body. status The status lines slrn displays. subject The subject in header overview (see also: ``unread_subject''). thread_number The number of articles in the thread (displayed in header overview next to collapsed threads). tilde The ``tilde'' displayed at the end of the article body. tree The thread tree drawn in the header overview. underlinetext Text in the article body that is interpreted as _underlined_. unread_subject Color for unread subjects. Please see the entry on ``highlight_unread_subjects'' for details. url Used to ``highlight URLs'' in the article body. verbatim Text in the article body enclosed by ``verbatim marks''. The foreground and background colors have to be set to one of the following strings: black gray red brightred green brightgreen brown yellow blue brightblue magenta brightmagenta cyan brightcyan lightgray white Additionally, you can use the default foreground / background colors of your terminal via the keyword ``default''. Please note that the colors in the right column are all ``bright'' (or ``bold''). On many terminals, they can only be used for the foreground. If you think your terminal has more than 8 background colors, but slrn refuses to use them, you might need to chose a different terminfo entry. On modern xterms and rxvt, setting $TERM to xterm-16color should work. Some terminals support more than 16 colors, and slrn can then use 256 colors when compiled against slang-2. The additional values for foreground and background colors are specified as colorN, where N is a decimal number from 0 to 256. In this case, $TERM may need to be set to xterm-256color. After the color settings, you can optionally use attributes (like underline and bold) the same way you would specify them using the ``mono'' command (see there for details). A sample color scheme (which simply sets the colors to their compile time default) can be found in the slrn.rc file that should have come with your slrn distribution. 5.3.4. compatible_charsets This command is obsolete, use ``charset'' instead. 5.3.5. group_display_format Usage: group_display_format number format-string This command allows you to change the way the groups are presented to you in the group window. You can save up to 10 different formats and switch among them using ``toggle_group_formats'' (default binding: ESC a). The default settings are: group_display_format 0 " %F%-5u %n%45g%d" group_display_format 1 " %F%-5u %n%50g%-8l-%h" group_display_format 2 " %F%-5u [%-6t] %n" number is the number of the format (0-9). The following % escapes can be used: F Group flag (`U' for unsubscribed, `N' for new) d Group description (needs to be downloaded once with slrn -d) h ``High water mark'' (highest article number in the group) l ``Low water mark'' (lowest article number in the group) n Group name t Total number of articles in the group (estimate) u Number of unread articles in the group The special descriptors ``%g'' and ``%?'' work like in ``header_display_format''. 5.3.6. grouplens_add Usage: grouplens_add newsgroup Add newsgroup to the list of groups for which you want to download GroupLens scores. 5.3.7. header_display_format Usage: header_display_format number format-string This command can be used to customize the way article headers are presented in the header overview in article mode. You can specify up to 10 different formats and switch among them using ``toggle_header_formats'' (default binding: ESC a). This command may also be used with a prefix argument to select a particular format, e.g., ESC 0 ESC a will select the 0th format. Here are slrn's default settings: header_display_format 0 "%F%B%-5S%G%-5l:[%12r]%t%s" header_display_format 1 "%F%B%G%-5l:[%12r]%t%s" header_display_format 2 "%F%B%-5l:%t%s" header_display_format 3 "%F%B%-5S%-5l:%t%50s %r" header_display_format 4 "%F%B%-5S [%10r]:%t%49s %-19g[%17d]" number is the number of the format (0-9). format-string is a string containing printf(3) style % escapes. This is the generic format: %[[-*]w]x The brackets indicate optional items: w may consist of one or more digits and specifies the width of the field. In fields with a fixed width, the minus sign (-) can be used to right justify an item, the asterisk (*) to center justify it. Please note that these modifiers have no effect if the text does not fit into the field. The item specifier (x) is required and, depending on its value, has the following meaning: % percent character B body status for true offline reading: 'H' means no body (header only), 'M' means body is marked for download C prints `C' if current thread is collapsed D date (as defined by overview_date_format) F flags (read/unread, `*' and `#' tags, header number) G GroupLens score P prints `P' if current article has a parent (inside threads) S score T thread tree b article size (usually in kilobyte) c number of messages in current subthread d date f from header l article length (number of lines) n server number r author's real name s subject t number of messages in thread plus tree Additionally, the special format descriptor %Xg can be used. It is not substituted by text, but specifies that the next write on the screen should take place in column X (numbered from 0). If X is negative, the cursor is placed X columns from the right edge of the window. Thus, "%F%-5l:%t%s%-20g %r" indicates that the header window will contain (in that order): the flags, the number of lines the article contains (right justified in a 5 character field), a `:', the tree, the subject, and, beginning 20 columns from the right edge of the window and separated by a blank, the author's real name. A %? construct can be used to print a string only if one of the above descriptors expands to a non-zero string (i.e. one that is not empty and does not contain only a single whitespace or the number `0'). It has the following syntax: %??? %??&? You can use escape sequences in optional strings; however, it is not possible to nest them, nor to have literal `?' or `&' characters in them. Example: If you want to display the number of messages for collapsed threads and the number of lines in the message otherwise, you can use the following: %?C?%-3c&%-3l? Note: The descriptor %b automatically choses a ``unit'' (bytes / kilobytes / megabytes) and works best when given four characters of space, i.e. %-4b. The descriptors %t and %T write directly to the screen, so they cannot be ``tested'' with the %? operator and ignore the requested field width (i.e. ``%10t'' is the same as ``%t''; the ``10'' is ignored). The descriptor %t is included for backwards compatibility and equivalent to ``%?C?%-3c& ? %T''. See also: ``group_display_format'', ``overview_date_format'' 5.3.8. ignore_quotes Usage: ignore_quotes pattern [pattern] ... The regular expressions given here are used to determine quoted lines in the body of an article. You can define up to 5 different patterns (this is meant to make up for the lack of an OR operator in S-Lang regexps). Please try to keep them as exact as possible, so that slrn is able to distinguish different quoting levels - e.g. use ``^>'' rather than ``^>*''. By default, only one pattern is set: ``^ ? ?[><:=|]'' 5.3.9. include Usage: include filename You can use this command to load an additional file that contains configuration commands. With this feature, you can easily keep startup files for different key bindings, colors etc. filename is relative to your home directory (see ``$SLRNHOME''). This can safely be done multiple times and recursively. Example: include ".slrnrc-colors" 5.3.10. interpret Usage: interpret filename This command loads and executes an S-Lang macro file. filename may be an absolute or relative path. Relative paths are resolved by checking first your ``macro_directory'' if set, then $SLRNHOME if set, then $HOME, and finally the default directory set at compile-time for the macros included with slrn. This command has no effect if the S-Lang interpreter has been deactivated at compile time. 5.3.11. mono Usage: mono display_element attributes You can use this command to customize slrn's appearence on monochrome displays. See section ``color'' for a description of display_element. attributes can be one of o bold o blink o underline o reverse or ``none'' to turn off video attributes. The attributes can also be combined (simply separate them with blanks). You can find sample settings in the slrn.rc file that should have come with your slrn distribution. If you don't like blinking, you can turn it off altogether via ``use_blink''. If you run slrn with colors, these settings will not have any effect. 5.3.12. nnrpaccess Usage: nnrpaccess host username password This command can be used to set the necessary data for servers that request NNRP authentification. host is the full hostname of the server. If you do not feel comfortable with leaving your password written on disk, you might want to set the password (and optionally the username as well) to an empty string (""). slrn will then prompt for it on startup. If your server requires a username, but no password, set it to a blank (" ") and you won't be prompted. 5.3.13. posting_host Usage: posting_host hostname The hostname specified in this command will be used to generate Message-IDs. Please note that it is usually not necessary to set this manually, as slrn uses the fully-qualified domain name of the machine it is running on for this task, which is the correct solution in most cases. However, if your system is part of a local network, it might not have an official hostname. As the current MESSFOR draft permits the use of hostnames without a DNS record for Message-ID generation, some providers started to give each user a unique hostname that may be used here. Note: Do not use this command unless you fully understand the implications. Specifically, do not enter an arbitrary string here! Instead, please turn off ``generate_message_id'' if the hostname found by slrn is not unique. 5.3.14. server Usage: server nntp-server[:port] newsrc-file By default, slrn uses .jnewsrc in your home directory (jnews.rc on VMS, OS/2 and Windows) as its newsrc file. If you want to define a different filename for it or if you want to access more than one server, you can use this command. It tells slrn to use newsrc-file when connecting to nntp-server (which has to be the full hostname of the server and an optional port number or, if you are reading from spool, the path of the spool directory). If your server requires a password, you will also need to use the ``nnrpaccess'' command. 5.3.15. set Usage: set varname value The set command is used to assign values to the ``configuration variables'' described below. varname has to be a valid variable name. value is either a string (best enclosed in double quotes ``"'') or an integer value (number), depending on the variable. Example: set realname "Matthias Friedrich" set kill_score -9999 Note: If you set a variable which controls a feature that has not been compiled in, slrn will not give you an error message. The setting will simply remain without an effect. 5.3.16. setkey Usage: setkey keymap function key-sequence This command allows you to map slrn's functions to keys. There are three different keymaps: The ``group'' keymap contains all functions in group mode, ``article'' contains the functions in article mode (note that header overview and pager do not have separate keymaps); finally, the ``readline'' keymap can be used to customize the line editor. function specifies the function that is executed when key-sequence is pressed. In key-sequence, special keys can be addressed in different ways. First of all, the control key plus a character C is written as ^C. The special function keys found on most keyboards have the following (case insensitive) names: Additionally, the keys through denote the function keys. When you use these symbolic names, slrn uses the terminfo database (if available) to look up the key sequences generated be those keys, so if these names do not seem to work, make sure you selected the correct terminal (e.g. via the $TERM environment variable). Alternatively, you can specify special keys by entering the key sequence they generate directly. To do this, the following shortcuts may be useful: \e escape \r return \\ backslash \NNN the key sending keycode (octal) NNN A full list of available functions can be found in sections ``group functions'' and ``article functions''. 5.3.17. strip_re_regexp Usage: strip_re_regexp pattern [pattern] ... Here, you can define up to 5 different regular expressions to detect non-standard back references created by broken user agents. They will be stripped on followups. By default, slrn only checks for the standard ``Re:''. This test is performed before strip_re_regexp is even tried and it cannot be turned off. Note: This variable does not affect the way slrn sorts subjects. For example, ``subject'' and ``Re: subject'' are equivalent when sorting; ``subject'' and ``AW: subject'' are not, even if you defined ``^AW:'' in strip_re_regexp. The reason for this is that it would be too expensive to do a full regexp search whenever comparing subjects. 5.3.18. strip_sig_regexp Usage: strip_sig_regexp pattern [pattern] ... slrn itself makes sure that you use the signature delimiter that current drafts prescribe (``-- '' - mind the trailing space!). If you want it to recognize different delimiters as well (e.g. ones created by broken software), you can use this command to define (up to five) regular expressions that match them. 5.3.19. strip_was_regexp Usage: strip_was_regexp pattern [pattern] ... When changing the ``Subject:'' header line, some people follow a convention and include the old subject in brackets (e.g. ``new subject (was: old subject)''). You can use this command to strip the old subject automatically on followups and when creating scorefile entries based on the subject (so it will still match when the old subject is stripped). To do this, I recommend the setting `` ?(was:.*)$''. Note: This variable does not affect sorting. See ``strip_re_regexp'' for an explanation. 5.3.20. unsetkey Usage: unsetkey keymap key-sequence The unsetkey command undoes a key binding. Please see ``setkey'' for more information. Example: unsetkey group "\e" 5.3.21. visible_headers Usage: visible_headers header_lines With this command, you can specify a comma-separated list of header_lines that should still be visible in the article pager when the display of all headers is turned off (this is toggled via ``toggle_headers'', by default bound to `t'). Note that the strings are not regular expressions. However, substrings can be used; e.g. ``X-'' matches all headers beginning with ``X-''. It's also possible to exclude certain headers by preceding them with a bang (`!'). If multiple entries match, the last one decides whether or not the header is displayed, so ``X-,!X-Trace:'' shows all X-headers except ``X-Trace:''. Headers mentioned in visible_headers that don't occur in the article are silently ignored. Example: visible_headers "From:,Subject:,Newsgroups:,Followup-To:,Reply-To:" 6. Configuration variables The following variables can be set using the ``set'' configuration command: 6.1. abort_unmodified_edits Type: integer Default: 0 If non-zero, slrn aborts posting or email operations if the user did not modify the article. See also: ``editor_command'', ``post_editor_command'', ``mail_editor_command'' 6.2. art_help_line Type: string Default: (unset) This string is displayed in the bottom line while you are reading an article. It is intended as a quick help when you cannot remember what key to press ;-) If unset, the following line is used (localized): SPC:Pgdn B:PgUp u:Un-Mark-as-Read f:Followup n:Next p:Prev q:Quit See also: ``group_help_line'', ``header_help_line'' 6.3. art_status_line Type: string Default: (unset) This variable can be used to customize the status line of the article pager. It accepts all % escapes that work for ``header_display_format'' plus the ones listed here: H Prints `H' unless headers are hidden I Prints `P' unless PGP signatures are hidden L Current line (e.g. "1/18") P Percentage of the way through the article Q Prints `Q' unless quotes are hidden T Prints `S' unless signatures are hidden V Prints `V' unless verbatim text is hidden W Prints `W' if wrapping is enabled p Prints `<' if the window is panned (scrolled horizontally) v Prints `v' unless verbatim marks are hidden When unset, slrn uses "%p%n : %s %-20g -- %L (%P)" (localized). See also: ``group_status_line'', ``header_status_line'', ``top_status_line'' 6.4. auto_mark_article_as_read Type: integer Default: 1 If non-zero, every article you open will automatically be marked as read. 6.5. beep Type: integer Default: 1 This variable controls how slrn tries to get your attention. 0 do not beep 1 send audible bell 2 send visible bell 3 send both visible and audible bell 6.6. broken_xref Type: integer Default: 0 When you set this variable to a non-zero value, slrn requests articles by Message-ID instead of header number. This provides support for servers with broken "Xref:" headers and should otherwise be left untouched. 6.7. cansecret_file Type: string Default: (unset) If you want slrn to put cancel-locks into the articles you post, set this variable to a file that contains the secret (the password, which you can chose arbitrarily) you want to use to generate them. Cancel-locks are a way of making sure that nobody else but you can cancel or supersede your articles (as long as he does not have your password, so keep it to yourself). Please note that this feature needs to be enabled at compile time (it requires the additional library canlock) and that cancel locks only have an effect if the server supports them. 6.8. cc_followup Type: integer Default: 1 This variable controls whether slrn sends email copies ("courtesy copies") of followups: 0 Never send email copies automatically 1 Prompt if original poster requested a copy 2 Send email copy if original poster requested it 3 Always prompt 4 Send copy if poster requested it; prompt otherwise The original poster can indicate that he wishes to receive an email copy by adding an "(X-)Mail-Copies-To:" header line to his posting. If it contains the keyword "nobody" ("never" is not covered by current drafts, but also accepted), the poster does not want any email copies. slrn will not prompt you in that case. When using settings three or four, please keep in mind that many people on usenet consider "courtesy copies" to be impolite because they do not want to read the same message both in their private email and in a newsgroup. See Also: ``cc_post_string'' 6.9. cc_post_string Type: string Default: "[This message has also been posted to %n.]" (localized) This string will be included in the mail copies of any article you send. However, it won't be displayed in the editor and will not be included in the posting sent to the newsgroup. The variable may contain the sequence %n, which will be replaced by the newsgroup(s) the article was posted to. If you need a "verbatim" % character, use %%. Note: cc_followup_string used to support all % sequences defined by ``followup_string''. This has been changed, as it could lead to wrong data getting inserted in some cases. If you miss a special sequence, please report it as a feature request. See Also: ``cc_followup'' 6.10. charset This variable is obsolete, use ``charset'' instead. 6.11. check_new_groups Type: integer Default: 1 If you do not want to check for new groups on startup and when doing a ``group refresh'' (by default bound to `G'), you can set this variable to 0. This has the same effect as using the command-line parameter -n. 6.12. color_by_score Type: integer Default: 3 Determines whether or not color should be used to indicate the score of an article. The following settings are possible: 0 scores do not influence colors 1 scores are colored by their value 2 subjects are colored by score 3 both scores and subjects are colored by score If this feature is enabled, slrn uses the color objects neg_score, pos_score and high_score when printing the score / subject of articles with a non-zero score value. 6.13. confirm_actions Type: integer Default: 31 This variable decides in which situations slrn will ask you to confirm an action. It has a bitmapped value which can be the sum of any combination of the following numbers: 1 Confirm marking groups as read or un-read. 2 Confirm printing an article. 4 Confirm posts, followups, replies and supersedes. 8 Confirm leaving a group by following a news: URL. 16 Confirm quitting ") in the first column. 6.19. drop_bogus_groups Type: integer Default: 1 When a group is removed from the server, slrn will automatically drop it from your newsrc file, which is generally what you want to do in this situation. However, some broken servers make groups appear as if they were removed, requiring their users to re-subscribe manually when they become available again. If your server is affected, you can set this variable to zero. 6.20. editor_command Type: string Default: (unset) The value of this variable is used as a shell command to start your favourite editor. However, slrn will prefer the more specific variables - there is one for each case in which an editor is needed: Posting an article or a followup: slrn uses ``post_editor_command'' Replying by mail: slrn uses ``mail_editor_command'' Editing a score file: slrn uses ``score_editor_command'' editor_command is a kind of fall-back if the more specific editor command is not set. If editor_command is empty, slrn looks at ``$SLRN_EDITOR'' et al. The following % escapes can be used: %s name of the file to edit %d number of the first line of the message body If no escapes are found, the filename is simply appended to the specified command. Example: set editor_command "jed '%s' -g %d -tmp" See also: ``charset editor'' 6.21. editor_uses_mime_charset This variable is obsolete, use ``charset'' instead. 6.22. emphasized_text_mask Type: integer Default: 1 This variable controls what parts of an article should be scanned for emphasized text (like *this*, _this_ or /that/), which will then be processed according to the value of ``emphasized_text_mode''. It has a bitmapped value which can be the sum of any combination of the following numbers: 1 scan message portion (the non-quoted, non-signature part) 2 scan quoted text 4 scan signature 8 scan header lines For example, if you wanted slrn to look for emphasized text in both the message and the quoted portions, you would set this variable to 3 (1+2). 6.23. emphasized_text_mode Type: integer Default: 3 This variable controls how slrn displays text that has been recognized as emphasized. If it is non-zero, the text will be highlighted according to the color objects boldtext, italicstext and underlinetext. Additionally, there are two values which have special meanings: If set to 1, the characters which were used for emphasis (`*', `/' and `_', respectively) are not printed on the screen; if set to 2, these characters are written as spaces. In all other cases (including the default value), they will not be changed. See also: ``emphasized_text_mask'' 6.24. failed_posts_file Type: string Default: (unset) If posting failed for some reason, your article will be saved to the file specified by failed_posts_file. It this variable is unset, it defaults to the value of SLRN_FAILED_POST_FILE in slrnfeat.h, typically either "slrn-failed- post.txt" (UNIX and VMS) or "failpost.txt" (OS/2 and Windows). See also: ``save_posts'' 6.25. fallback_charset Type: string Default: iso-8859-1 Violating RFC recommendations, some broken newsreaders post unencoded 8 bit characters in the headers or post non us-ascii characters in the body with a missing "Content-Type:" declaration. Setting this variable will help slrn to guess the correct encoding of the posting. Hint: It might be a good idea to set this variable to "Windows-1252" if you read Western or to "iso-8859-2" if you read Eastern European newgroups. Note: There is no need to set this variable to "utf-8"; slrn will always try "utf-8" first. 6.26. fold_headers This variable is obsolete. 6.27. followup_custom_headers Type: string Default: (unset) Use this variable to create additional headers when posting a followup. You can use all % escapes that are defined in ``followup_string''. The headers you add this way will also show up in your editor and can be modified. Note: It is generally not possible to override existing headers using followup_custom_headers. See note at ``custom_headers'' for details. See also: ``reply_custom_headers'', ``supersedes_custom_headers'' 6.28. followup_date_format Type: string Default: (unset) This variable defines the format string for the "%D" specifier in ``followup_string''. Its syntax is identical to the one of strftime(3). If unset, slrn uses %Y-%m-%d (localized). See also: ``use_localtime'' 6.29. followup_string Type: string Default: "On %D, %r <%f> wrote:" (localized) Each followup you write will automatically be prefixed by the value of followup_string. The following % sequences are recognized and replaced with the corresponding text that is extracted from the article you are answering: %s Subject %m Message-ID %r Real name %R Real name up to the first space (first name) %f Email address %n Current newsgroup %d Date %D Date (as defined by followup_date_format) %% % Note: It is common practice to have at least the name of the person you are quoting in your followup_string. See also: ``followup_date_format'', ``reply_string'' 6.30. followup_strip_signature Type: integer Default: 1 If non-zero, the signature is stripped automatically from the article you are answering when writing followups or replies. This is considered good netiquette whenever you do not want to refer to the signature in your reply. See also: ``ignore_signature'', ``hide_signature'', ``strip_sig_regexp'' 6.31. followupto_string Type: string Default: "["Followup-To:" header set to %n.]" (localized) When you write a followup to a crossposting, slrn will ask you whether you want to set a "Followup-To:" header line (which is good netiquette in many cases). If you tell slrn to include the header at that point, it will also insert followupto_string as the first line of the body of your article to inform your readers about this. In this variable, you can use the same percent escapes as in ``followup_string''. 6.32. force_authentication Type: integer Default: 1 If this variable is set to ``0'', slrn sends authentication data only if the server requests it. Although this conforms to RFC 2980, in practice you need to volunteer authentication to some servers, so the default setting is ``1'' whenever a username and password are specified with the nnrpaccess command. Usually, changing this setting from the default will produce undesirable results, such as being able to read but not post, or seeing only a limited number of newsgroups. Note: If you need to set this variable on a per-server basis, use a startup_hook(): Example: ______________________________________________________________________ define startup_hook() { !if (strcmp (server_name(), "send-no-password.com")) set_integer_variable("force_authentication", 0); } ______________________________________________________________________ See also: ``nnrpaccess'' 6.33. generate_date_header Type: integer Default: 0 Usually, the generation of "Date:" header lines can be left to the server. If it does not do this correctly, please complain to its administrator, as a working system clock is essential for a news server. That being said, you can still have slrn generate that header line itself by changing this variable; you might want to use this to make postings sent via slrnpull reflect the time they were written. However, please note that this might lead to articles being rejected if your system clock does not work correctly or an outgoing post was left in the queue for a long time. 6.34. generate_email_from Type: integer Default: (system dependent) If non-zero, a "From:" header line is generated when sending email. On Unix systems, this is usually not necessary, because the MTA will do the job for you and might even be configured to reject messages that already have a "From:" header. This variable defaults to 0, except on Windows and OS/2, where this feature is turned on by default. Its value cannot be changed when SLRN_HAS_STRICT_FROM was enabled at compile time (default is off). 6.35. generate_message_id Type: integer Default: 1 If non-zero, slrn creates its own "Message-ID:" header lines (consisting of the string "slrn", time, process id, user- and hostname) when posting. Setting this variable has no effect if creation of Message-IDs has been disabled at compile time. Note: Although creating your own Message-IDs has a lot of advantages, you should only allow slrn to do so if the hostname of the machine it is running on is a FQDN (fully qualified domain name) or you can provide a unique hostname. Otherwise, you cannot guarantee that your Message-IDs are unique and should leave the job to your news server. Also consider turning on ``use_recommended_msg_id''. See also: ``posting_host'', ``username'' 6.36. group_help_line Type: string Default: (unset) This string is displayed in the bottom line of the group menu. It is intended as a quick help. If unset, the following line is used (localized): SPC:Select p:Post c:CatchUp l:List q:Quit ^R:Redraw (u)s:(Un)Subscribe See also: ``art_help_line'', ``header_help_line'' 6.37. group_status_line Type: string Default: (unset) This variable affects the status line in group mode. It accepts all % escapes that are defined for ``group_display_format'' plus the following ones: D Prints `*' if newsrc file needs saving, `-' otherwise L Current line (e.g. "1/34") P Percentage of the way through the group window s Name of the current server When unset, slrn takes -%D-News Groups: %s %-20g -- %L (%P) (localized) as the default. See also: ``art_status_line'', ``header_status_line'', ``top_status_line'' 6.38. grouplens_host Type: string Default: (unset) If you intend to use GroupLens, this variable has to contain the name of the server that carries the GroupLens scores. This variable does not have an effect if GroupLens support is disabled; see ``use_grouplens'' for details. See also: ``grouplens_port'', ``grouplens_pseudoname'' 6.39. grouplens_port Type: integer Default: 0 This variable contains the port you want slrn to use when connecting to ``grouplens_host''. See also: ``grouplens_pseudoname'', ``use_grouplens'' 6.40. grouplens_pseudoname Type: string Default: (unset) This variable is for your registered GroupLens pseudoname. See also: ``grouplens_host'', ``grouplens_port'', ``use_grouplens'' 6.41. header_help_line Type: string Default: (unset) This string is displayed in the bottom line in article mode when no article is shown (e.g. while you are just browsing through the headers). If unset, the following line is used (localized): SPC:Select Ctrl-D:PgDn Ctrl-U:PgUp d:Mark-as-Read n:Next p:Prev q:Quit See also: ``art_help_line'', ``group_help_line'' 6.42. header_status_line Type: string Default: (unset) You can use this variable to customize the status line of the header window. Here is a list of valid % escapes: L Current line (e.g. "1/74") P Percentage of the way through the header list T Number of articles in the current subthread h Number of high scoring articles in the group k Number of articles killed by the scorefile l Number of low scoring articles n Name of the current group p Prints `<' if the window is panned (scrolled horizontally) r Number of read articles in the group t Total number of articles in the group u Number of unread articles in the group The special descriptors "%g" and "%?" work like in ``header_display_format''. When unset, the default is (the localized form of) "%p[%u/%t unread] Group: %n%-20g -- %L (%P)". See also: ``art_status_line'', ``group_status_line'', ``top_status_line'' 6.43. hide_pgpsignature Type: integer Default: 0 If non-zero, PGP signatures in articles will not be displayed. The setting of this variable can be changed using ``toggle_pgpsignature'' (default binding: `]') while slrn is running. See also: ``hide_signature'' 6.44. hide_quotes Type: integer Default: 0 This variable can be used to hide quoted text. If it is non-zero, quoted text from the nth level on is hidden in the article pager (where n is the value of hide_quotes). To toggle the value at runtime, you can use the ``toggle_quotes'' command. 6.45. hide_signature Type: integer Default: 0 If non-zero, signatures in articles (as defined by ``strip_sig_regexp'') will not be displayed. The setting of this variable can be changed using ``toggle_signature'' (default binding: `\') while slrn is running. See also: ``followup_strip_signature'', ``hide_pgpsignature'', ``ignore_signature'' 6.46. hide_verbatim_marks Type: integer Default: 0 If ``process_verbatim_marks'' is turned on, you can hide "verbatim marks" (#v+ and #v-) in the article body by setting this variable to a non-zero value. It can also be changed using ``toggle_verbatim_marks'' while slrn is running. 6.47. hide_verbatim_text Type: integer Default: 0 If ``process_verbatim_marks'' is turned on, you can hide text marked as "verbatim" by setting this variable to a non-zero value. It can also be changed using ``toggle_verbatim_text'' while slrn is running. See also: ``hide_verbatim_marks'' 6.48. highlight_unread_subjects Type: integer Default: 1 If non-zero, the subjects of unread articles are highlighted. There are two possible ways of doing this: When set to one, unread subjects are printed bright (when using colors) or bold (in monochrome mode). This will obviously not have any visible effect if the subject is printed bold or in a bright color anyways. Besides that, the special color "default" does not have a bright version. When set to two, unread subjects are printed in the color you set with ``unread_subject''. In this case, only subjects of unread articles can be ``colored by score''. 6.49. highlight_urls Type: integer Default: 1 If non-zero, URLs are highlighted in the article pager using the ``url'' color object. This affects all portions of the message that are scanned for emphasized text. Note: When mouse reporting is enabled, highlighted URLs are also "clickable"; if you use the left or right mouse key, slrn will prompt you for changes to the URL before launching the browser. See also: ``emphasized_text_mask'', ``mouse'' 6.50. hostname Type: string Default: (unset) hostname is used as the domain part of the email address slrn puts in your "From:" header, so it should be set to just that. This may or may not be the hostname of the machine slrn is running on, depending on whether you have an email account on that machine and whether you want to use it for your usenet postings. Please see the entry ``$HOSTNAME'' for a discussion of slrn's default behaviour if this variable is unset. Note: In each case, slrn either uses the information you set in ``posting_host'' or returned by gethostbyname(3) to generate its Message-IDs, so their domain part is not influenced by the value of this variable. See also: ``realname'', ``username'' 6.51. ignore_signature Type: integer Default: 0 If you use ``article_page_down'' (default binding: space) to read an article "page by page", you might find it annoying if the last page contains nothing but the author's signature. If you set this variable to a non-zero value, slrn will not scroll down in those cases, but immediately goes to the next article instead. See also: ``hide_signature'', ``strip_sig_regexp'' 6.52. inews_program Type: string Default: (compile time setting) To post your articles, you can use an external program (usually inews(1)) instead of the builtin NNTP routines slrn offers (see ``post_object'' for details). In this case, inews_program can be used to specify the command you want slrn to pipe outgoing articles to. Note: This variable will not work if SLRN_HAS_USER_INEWS in slrnfeat.h was disabled at compile time. Obviously, it also has no effect if inews support is not compiled in. 6.53. kill_score Type: integer Default: -9999 When the score of an article is equal or less than kill_score points, it will be killed. This means that it will not be displayed in article mode at all, so you won't be bothered with it. See also: ``max_low_score'', ``min_high_score'' 6.54. lines_per_update Type: integer Default: 50 When entering a group or reading an article, slrn displays a "percentage meter" in the bottom line, telling the user how many articles (or lines) have already been read. This variable controls how often this message is updated (default is to update it every 50 read articles / lines). You may want to change this value, depending on the speed of your server connection and of your display. Note: If you set this variable to less than 5, slrn will ignore it and use the default of 50 instead (or 20, when reading short articles that contain less than 200 lines). 6.55. macro_directory Type: string Default: (compile time setting) This variable specifies (in a comma separated list) paths to additional directories where you wish to keep your S-Lang macros. These paths may be absolute (beginning with "/") or relative to $HOME (or $SLRNHOME if set), and tell slrn where to look when loading macros with the ``interpret'' command. In Unix, the configure script automatically sets the default of this variable to the directory where the macros that come with slrn are installed. If it was called without any parameters, this is /usr/local/share/slrn/slang. If a macro does not exist in a path listed in macro_directory, slrn will first try to find it in $HOME (or $SLRNHOME), then in the compile-time default directory. Example: interpret "News/macros/my-macro.sl" interpret "/usr/share/slrn/slang/util.sl" can be replaced with set macro_directory "News/macros,/usr/share/slrn/slang" interpret "my-macro.sl" interpret "util.sl" 6.56. mail_editor_command Type: string Default: (unset) This variable is interpreted as a shell command which will be used to invoke your editor of choice when you want to reply by email. If it is unset, slrn will use the editor defined by ``editor_command''. Note: The variable may contain % escapes. A list of them can be found in the section on ``editor_command''. See also: ``post_editor_command'', ``score_editor_command'' 6.57. mail_editor_is_mua Type: integer Default: 0 Set this variable if your ``mail_editor_command'' is a Mail User Agent, i.e. sends the email itself. This makes sure it does not get sent twice (both by your MUA and slrn). Example (using mutt as an external mailer): set mail_editor_command "mutt -H '%s'" set mail_editor_is_mua 1 6.58. max_low_score Type: integer Default: 0 Articles with a score lower than max_low_score will automatically be marked as read and receive the "HEADER_LOW_SCORE" header flag. However, they are still displayed in the header overview. See also: ``kill_score'', ``min_high_score'' 6.59. max_queued_groups Type: integer Default: 20 To reduce startup time, slrn sends the initial GROUP commands needed to find the number of unread messages in each group in batches (by default, 20 at a time). However, there are (few) servers which do not seem to like this - in those cases, slrn hangs at startup. If you experience this, try setting max_queued_groups to 1. Note: If you set this variable to 0 (or lower), it will switch back to 1 automatically. 6.60. metamail_command Type: string Default: (unset) When you select an article which uses a MIME content type or encoding not supported by slrn, an external program can be launched to view it. This variable contains the name of the program which will be used in those cases. slrn will write the article to a temporary file, so the command used here has to accept a filename as its argument. If this variable is unset, slrn will try to invoke metamail. Setting this variable has no effect if MIME support has not been compiled in. See also: ``use_metamail'' 6.61. mime_charset This variable is obsolete, use ``charset'' instead. 6.62. min_high_score Type: integer Default: 1 Articles with a score of at least min_high_score points are marked as "high" (the "HEADER_HIGH_SCORE" header flag is set; this is indicated in header overview by an exclamation mark). Articles with "high" scores are displayed first in sorting modes 2-11 and you will be able to jump to the next "high scoring" article using ``next_high_score'' (default binding: `!'). See also: ``kill_score'', ``max_low_score'', ``sorting_method'' 6.63. mouse Type: integer Default: 0 If this variable is non-zero and you run slrn inside an xterm compatible X terminal emulation program, some basic mouse support will be activated. The following table lists what you can do with the mouse: In group mode: Object Button Action --------------------------------------- Top Status line any specified by button label Group Name any select group Bottom Status line middle toggle display of unread groups Bottom Status line left page-down Bottom Status line right page-up In article mode: Object Button Action --------------------------------------------- Top status line any specified by button label Header status line left header page down right header page up middle hide article window Article status line left next unread right previous unread middle toggle quotes Header item any select item Article window left article page down right article page up middle hide article window URL in article window left/right confirm and browse URL middle browse URL Note: Setting this variable to -1 will always activate mouse support, even if it does not work (and is therefore useless) on the current terminal. 6.64. netiquette_warnings Type: integer Default: 1 When non-zero, slrn will warn you if your posting does not conform to some generally accepted netiquette guidelines. You can still force the posting, so it's probably a good idea to keep this turned on to make sure that you do not violate these rules without noticing it. Note: Currently, this feature warns you when crossposting to more than four groups or without setting a "Followup-To:", or if the "Followup- To:" header line contains multiple groups. Additionally, you are notified if your signature has more than four lines. See also: ``reject_long_lines'' 6.65. new_subject_breaks_threads Type: integer Default: 0 In large threads, the tree built by looking at the "References:" can become quite complex and sometimes confusing. Thus, some people prefer to see a separate thread tree whenever the "Subject:" header line changes. Set this variable to 1 if you want this (more, but smaller trees). By default, slrn puts articles with identical subjects into the same thread, even if they are not linked by a "References:" header. If you want slrn to thread based on references only, set this variable to 2 (also gives you more, but smaller trees). If you want to enable both of these features, use 3 as the value. Note: Before comparing subjects, a leading "Re: " and a trailing "(was: ...)" is cut off. However, the regular expressions in ``strip_re_regexp'' and ``strip_was_regexp'' are not used. 6.66. no_autosave Type: integer Default: 0 By default, slrn creates an autosave copy of your newsrc file (ending in ".as") whenever you leave a group. Thus, you won't lose (much) data if slrn (or the system it runs on) should go down hard. If you set this variable to 1, this feature is turned off. If you set it to 2, slrn will autosave to the newsrc file itself (not to a temporary file). See also: ``no_backups'' 6.67. no_backups Type: integer Default: 0 If non-zero, no backups of the newsrc file are created. See also: ``no_autosave'' 6.68. non_Xbrowser Type: string Default: (unset) The command in this variable will be used to start a text mode web browser when ``browse_url'' (default binding: `U') is called. slrn will chose the text mode web browser if ``$DISPLAY'' is unset or no command could be found in ``Xbrowser''. 6.69. organization Type: string Default: (compile time setting) Using this variable, you can set the "Organization:" header line to an arbitrary string. A discussion on how slrn obtains the default value can be found in the entry on ``$ORGANIZATION''. 6.70. overview_date_format Type: string Default: (unset) This variable defines the format string for the "%D" specifier in ``header_display_format''. Its syntax is identical to the one of strftime(3). If unset, slrn uses "%d %b %y %H:%M". See also: ``use_localtime'' 6.71. post_editor_command Type: string Default: (unset) This variable is interpreted as a shell command which will be used to invoke your editor of choice when you edit a new posting or write a followup. If it is unset, slrn will use the editor defined by ``editor_command''. Note: The variable may contain % escapes. You will find a list of them in the section on ``editor_command''. See also: ``mail_editor_command'', ``score_editor_command'' 6.72. post_object Type: string Default: (unset) Controls the method slrn uses to post articles. It can be one of "nntp" (use builtin NNTP support), "inews" (pipe article to an external program) or "slrnpull" (spool messages for slrnpull to send). If the variable is unset, the default depends on the compile time setting of SLRN_DEFAULT_POST_OBJ in slrnfeat.h. See also: ``server_object'', ``use_slrnpull'' 6.73. postpone_directory Type: string Default: (unset) Directory where articles you want to postpone are saved. If this variable is unset, slrn will try to use "News/postponed" for this purpose. 6.74. prefer_head Type: integer Default: 0 This variable affects "expensive scoring": If available, slrn uses the XOVER and XHDR extensions to retrieve only the needed header lines; otherwise, the HEAD NNTP command is used to get all headers. Although this notably increases network traffic, it might be faster, depending on your connection and the number of "expensive" headers you score on. In this case, you can set this variable and slrn will prefer HEAD over XOVER / XHDR. When set to 2, slrn never tries to use XOVER. This is only useful for servers with broken XOVER implementations. 6.75. printer_name Type: string Default: (unset) This variable can be used to customize the ``print'' function. Its meaning and the default action depend on the operating system: On Unix systems, it can contain a command to which slrn will pipe the article you want to print. For example, you would set it to "my_print_filter | lpr -Pmy_printer" if you want the article to be processed by my_print_filter and then printed on "my_printer". If unset, the default action is to use lpr with the value of ``$PRINTER'' as the -P option. On Windows98, you can set this variable to the name of the print queue you want to use. Here, the default is to use the setting in "win.ini". On Windows XP, you have to share your attached printer and assign a "share name". The printer_name string has to be set to this "share name". print is not yet implemented for VMS. 6.76. process_verbatim_marks Type: integer Default: 1 If this variable is set to a non-zero value, slrn will interpret text enclosed by "#v+" and "#v-" (on a line of their own) as "verbatim". Verbatim text will be displayed according to the color object verbatim; emphasized text it might contain will not be highlighted. This is especially useful when dealing with source code. Note: slrn is currently the only program that interprets these verbatim marks. This is due to the lack of a standard that would describe a way to mark text as "verbatim" in usenet articles. See also: ``emphasized_text_mask'', ``emphasized_text_mode'', ``hide_verbatim_marks'' 6.77. query_next_article Type: integer Default: 1 When you use ``article_page_down'' (default binding: space) while you are already at the end of an article, slrn moves to the next unread article. If this variable is set to 0, this will happen automatically; if it is 1, you will be asked to confirm that you want to select the new article. See also: ``query_next_group'' 6.78. query_next_group Type: integer Default: 1 When you use ``article_page_down'' (default binding: space) while you are at the end of the last unread article in a group, slrn can move to the next newsgroup that contains unread articles. If this variable is set to 0, this will happen automatically; if it is 1, you will be asked to confirm that you want to select a new group. See also: ``query_next_article'' 6.79. query_read_group_cutoff Type: integer Default: 100 When you enter a newsgroup and slrn is about to read more than query_read_group_cutoff article headers, it will prompt you to confirm (or change) the number of articles to read. This feature is turned off if you set this variable to 0. Setting this variable to a negative number -n has a similar effect. However, slrn will not prompt you in this case; instead, it will automatically download n articles if more are present. 6.80. quote_string Type: string Default: (unset) This string will be used to indent quoted text in followups and replies. If the variable is unset, slrn uses ">". Note: slrn's default is the only quote prefix commonly accepted on Usenet. Please do not change it unless you are posting to a group or network that follows different rules. See Also: ``smart_quote'' 6.81. read_active Type: integer Default: 0 If this variable is non-zero, slrn will read the active file from the server when starting. If your server carries few groups or your network connection is fast (e.g. because you are using a local newsserver), this may lead to a faster startup. If it is slow, you should leave the default setting untouched. 6.82. realname Type: string Default: (unset) It is considered good netiquette to set this variable to your real name. It will be included in the "From:" header line. If you do not set it, slrn tries to get a value from ``$NAME''. On UNIX systems, it also queries the /etc/passwd gecos field. See also: ``hostname'', ``username'' 6.83. reject_long_lines Type: integer Default: 2 If set to 1, slrn will not allow you to post articles containing non- quoted lines which are longer than 80 characters. If you set it to 2, slrn will merely issue a warning that you can decide to ignore (e.g. when posting source code). Setting this variable to 0 turns the check off. Please note that long lines are generally considered bad netiquette. See also: ``netiquette_warnings'' 6.84. reply_custom_headers Type: string Default: (unset) Use this variable to create additional headers when replying to a posting (via email). You can use all % escapes that are defined in ``followup_string''. The headers you add this way will also show up in your editor and can be modified. Note: It is not possible to override existing headers using reply_custom_headers. See also: ``custom_headers'', ``followup_custom_headers'', ``supersedes_custom_headers'' 6.85. reply_string Type: string Default: "In %n, you wrote:" (localized) This variable determines the attribution line slrn uses when replying via email. You can use the same % escapes as in ``followup_string''. 6.86. replyto Type: string Default: (unset) You can use this variable to set the address you want replies to your articles to be sent to. You only need to set this if you do not want people to send replies to the address in the "From:" header line. If you do not set this variable, slrn tries to get a default value from ``$REPLYTO''. See also: ``hostname'', ``username'' 6.87. save_directory Type: string Default: (unset) Sets the default directory where saved articles are placed. If it is unset, slrn uses "News". Note: If save_directory is not an absolute pathname, it is interpreted as being relative to your home directory as determined by the environment variables ``$SLRNHOME'' or ``$HOME''. See also: ``decode_directory'', ``postpone_directory'' 6.88. save_posts Type: string Default: (unset) Specifies a file to which every article you post should be appended (in standard mailbox format). If unset, slrn will not even try to make a copy of your postings; if it cannot write to the specified file, it will give a warning and post nonetheless. Note: If the filename in save_posts does not contain an absolute path, it is interpreted as being relative to your home directory (see ``$SLRNHOME''). Hint: If you get error messages when using this variable, you possibly pointed it to a directory instead of a file. See also: ``save_replies'' 6.89. save_replies Type: string Default: (unset) Specifies a file to which every reply you send by email should be appended (in standard mailbox format). The same rules apply as for ``save_posts''. Note: If you send a Cc (carbon copy) of one of your articles by email, the posting will only be appended to the folder in save_posts, not to save_replies. 6.90. score_editor_command Type: string Default: (unset) Defines the program that will be called to edit your score file. If unset, the editor in ``editor_command'' is used. Note: The variable may contain % escapes. They are listed in the section on ``editor_command''. See also: ``mail_editor_command'', ``post_editor_command'' 6.91. scorefile Type: string Default: (unset) If you want to score articles, you need to set this variable to the filename of your scorefile. It is interpreted as being relative to your home directory (unless it starts with a slash), or relative to $SLRNHOME if this is set. If you want to use more than one scorefile, you need to use an include statement in the scorefile itself. Please do not confuse this with the ``include'' slrnrc command discussed above. For further details on scoring, please refer to the file score.txt that should have come with your slrn distribution. The FAQ also answers questions about scoring and includes some examples. A future version of this manual might also include a separate section about the concept of "scoring". 6.92. scroll_by_page Type: integer Default: 0 If set to non-zero, both group window and header window will scroll by a full page instead of a single line. This does not affect the article window, as it has separate commands for scrolling by ``lines'' and by ``full pages''. Note: If you change this variable at runtime, the change will take effect as soon as you select a group or enter group mode. 6.93. sendmail_command Type: string Default: (compile time setting) slrn uses this string as a command to send email (when forwarding or replying). Input will be piped to the program if the system supports it. On systems without pipes, sendmail_command will be given the name of a temporary file containing the email as the last command line argument. The default is set at compile time. On Unix, the configure script tries to find the sendmail binary; otherwise, you can set SLRN_SENDMAIL_COMMAND in slrnfeat.h. Hint: Some sendmail replacements for Windows expect the input to be piped to the program, what slrn is not able to do. You can handle this by adding a "<" at the end of the string. 6.94. server_object Type: string Default: (unset) Controls the method slrn uses to read news. It can be either "nntp" (connect an NNTP server) or "spool" (read from a local spool). If this variable is unset, the default behaviour depends on the compile time #define SLRN_DEFAULT_SERVER_OBJ in slrnfeat.h. If NNTP support is compiled in, it is used by default. See also: ``post_object'', ``use_slrnpull'' 6.95. show_article Type: integer Default: 0 If non-zero, the first article is automatically displayed when entering a group. 6.96. show_thread_subject Type: integer Default: 0 When viewing a thread tree, slrn usually does not display subjects that are identical to the one of the previous posting as this would make the screen look busy without giving any additional information. If you still prefer to have all subject lines displayed, you can set this variable to a non-zero value. 6.97. signature Type: string Default: (compile time setting) slrn can append a signature to all outgoing articles and mails. Set signature to the name of your signature file or to an empty string if you don't want to use a signature. slrn will not give any error message if the file specified in signature does not exist. The default of this variable is defined in slrnfeat.h (SLRN_SIGNATURE_FILE): It is ".signature" on Unix and VMS and "signatur.txt" on OS/2 and Windows. If the signature contains non us-ascii characters make sure they have the same encoding defined in ``charset editor'' Note: If your signature file doesn't start with sig dashes ("-- \n"), slrn will add them automatically. See also: ``signoff_string'' 6.98. signoff_string Type: string Default: (unset) The value of this variable will be inserted before the signature. This is useful for people who want to sign off their messages with their name, like it is common in some groups. Note: If you use this feature, do not append much more than your name with it, or you will annoy your readers. If you want to tell people the URL of your homepage or append some funny quote to your postings, put it in your ``signature file''. 6.99. simulate_graphic_chars Type: integer Default: 0 If you see strange characters in the thread tree, you can set this variable to a non-zero value to make slrn restrict itself to the use of simple ASCII characters to represent the thread tree. slrn does this automatically if you use OS/2 or Windows and your system does not have line drawing characters. Note: It also might be possible to fix your terminal to support proper line drawing (which looks much better). Please see the slrn FAQ for details. 6.100. smart_quote Type: integer Default: 1 slrn can be told to insert a blank between your ``quote_string'' and previously unquoted lines, leading to a result most people find better readable. This variable controls the way slrn formats quotes: 1 Insert whitespace before previously unquoted lines 2 Do not quote blank lines 3 Do not quote blank lines, but insert a whitespace before others 6.101. sorting_method Type: integer Default: 3 This variable controls in which order articles will be displayed in the header window: 0 do not sort 1 perform threading 2 sort by subject 3 thread, then sort by subject 4 sort by score 5 thread, then sort by score 6 sort by score, then by subject 7 thread, then sort by score and subject 8 sort by date with most recent first 9 thread, then sort by date with most recent first 10 sort by date with most recent last 11 thread, then sort by date with most recent last 12 custom sorting As all the options offered by sorting_method can be replaced with a corresponding setting for custom sorting, this variable will be removed at some point in the future. To learn more about the powerful options in custom sorting, please look at the variables ``custom_sort_order'' and ``custom_sort_by_threads''. 6.102. spoiler_char Type: character Default: '*' This character will be used to hide "spoiler" text (i.e. text preceded by a formfeed character). The interpretation of formfeed characters as "spoilers" can be turned off at compile time with: ./configure --disable-spoilers See also: ``spoiler_display_mode'' 6.103. spoiler_display_mode Type: integer Default: 1 This variable defines what happens when a spoiler is revealed (this is typically done by hitting space, which is the default binding of ``article_page_down''): 0 keep the display still, and reveal the current spoiler 1 start a new page, and reveal the current spoiler 2 keep the display still, and reveal all spoilers 3 start new page, and reveal all spoilers See also: ``spoiler_char'' 6.104. spool_active_file Type: string Default: "data/active" Sets the location of the active file that lists all available newsgroups. The filename is relative to ``spool_inn_root'', unless it starts with a slash ('/'). The default of this variable is set at compile time in slrnfeat.h (#define SLRN_SPOOL_ACTIVE). Note: Of course, you only need to set the spool* variables if you want to read your news directly from spool (e.g. when using slrnpull). When using an NNTP server, setting them will have no effect. See also: ``spool_inn_root'', ``server_object'', ``post_object'', ``use_slrnpull'' 6.105. spool_activetimes_file Type: string Default: "data/active.times" This variable provides the name of your news server's active.times file. This file contains the creation dates of the newsgroups. The notes that can be found in the entry for ``spool_active_file'' also apply to this variable. See also: ``spool_inn_root'' 6.106. spool_check_up_on_nov Type: integer Default: 0 If non-zero, slrn checks whether the articles referenced by the news overview files actually exist. This may add a perceptible delay and is redundant with servers that keep their overview files up to date. However, some servers don't, so if you see a lot of "article not available" errors, you might want to turn this on. Note: Setting this option also allows slrn to find out the article size if it's not in the overview file, See also: ``spool_active_file'', ``spool_nov_file'' 6.107. spool_inn_root Type: string Default: "/var/lib/news" The directory that contains the active, active.times and newsgroups files. The default of this variable is set at compile time in slrnfeat.h (#define SLRN_SPOOL_INNROOT). See also: ``spool_active_file'', ``spool_activetimes_file'', ``spool_newsgroups_file'' 6.108. spool_newsgroups_file Type: string Default: "data/newsgroups" This variable provides the name of your news server's newsgroups file. The file contains a list of newsgroups with short descriptions (taglines). The notes that can be found in the entry for ``spool_active_file'' also apply to this variable. See also: ``spool_inn_root'' 6.109. spool_nov_file Type: string Default: ".overview" The name of your news server's overview files. See also: ``spool_nov_root'' 6.110. spool_nov_root Type: string Default: "/var/spool/news" The root directory of the news overview database. Often, this is the same as ``spool_root''. See also: ``spool_nov_file'' 6.111. spool_overview_file Type: string Default: "data/overview.fmt" This variable provides the name of your news server's overview.fmt file, which describes the format of the overview files. The notes that can be found in the entry for ``spool_active_file'' also apply to this variable. See also: ``spool_inn_root'' 6.112. spool_root Type: string Default: "/var/spool/news" The root directory of your news spool. See also: ``spool_inn_root'', ``spool_nov_root'' 6.113. supersedes_custom_headers Type: string Default: (unset) This variable is used to create additional headers when superseding a message. Otherwise, it works exactly like ``followup_custom_headers''. See also: ``custom_headers'', ``reply_custom_headers'' 6.114. top_status_line Type: string Default: (unset) Using this variable, you can customize the status line slrn displays at the top of the screen. It can be set to a format string that works like the one used in ``header_display_format''. The following % escapes can be used: % percent character d current date n name of the current newsgroup s name of the current server t current time v version of slrn The special sequences `%g' and `%?' work as described in ``header_display_format''. When unset, slrn uses "slrn %v ** Press '?' for help, 'q' to quit. ** Server: %s" (localized) as the default. Note: The current time and date are printed in the preferred representation for the current locale. If you have date/time information in the status line, you should be aware that it is not automatically redrawn every second. 6.115. uncollapse_threads Type: integer Default: 0 If non-zero, all threads will be uncollapsed when entering a group. 6.116. unsubscribe_new_groups Type: integer Default: 0 If non-zero, new newsgroups won't be subscribed automatically. 6.117. use_blink Type: integer Default: (system dependent) Enables blinking of display if non-zero. The default is 0 if your terminal supports colors, 1 if not. Note: If you run a color terminal and find that setting this variable to 1 makes it possible to use bright colors for the background, please look into using a different terminfo entry. See section ``color'' for details. 6.118. use_color Type: integer Default: (system dependent) Forces the use of colors (if set to 1) or the use of monochrom mode (if set to 0). When unset, color is automatically used if your terminal supports it according to its termcap entry. 6.119. use_flow_control Type: integer Default: 0 If set to non-zero, ^S/^Q processing by the terminal driver is enabled. This means that you will be able to "freeze" the screen using Control-S and "thaw" it by pressing Control-Q. 6.120. use_grouplens Type: integer Default: 0 If non-zero, slrn will try to contact your ``grouplens server'' to exchange GroupLens scores. This variable has no effect if GroupLens has not been enabled at compile time. Note: As far as we could find out, GroupLens is not in use any more. If this is incorrect, we would be grateful for a pointer to additional information on it. 6.121. use_header_numbers Type: integer Default: 1 If non-zero, header numbers are displayed at the left margin to make article selection more efficient. 6.122. use_localtime Type: integer Default: 1 This variable determines if your local timezone is used by the "%D" specifiers in ``followup_date_format'' and ``overview_date_format''. The following settings are possible: 0 always use GMT 1 use local timezone in overview_date_format 2 use local timezone in followup_date_format 3 always use local timezone Note: This setting does not affect the "Date:" header lines in your own postings. They are not even generated by slrn, unless you set ``generate_date_header''. VMS and BeOS do not support using GMT. 6.123. use_metamail Type: integer Default: 1 If non-zero, slrn calls the program given in ``metamail_command'' to processes MIME articles it cannot handle. 6.124. use_mime This variable is obsolete. 6.125. use_recommended_msg_id Type: integer Default: 0 When posting, some newsservers suggest a Message-ID to the client; that way, the client knows in advance which Message-ID the article will have and can save it for later reference. If this variable is set, slrn makes use of this: The server-proposed ID will be used for the posting and saved along with the article in the ``save_posts'' folder. If both this variable and ``generate_message_id'' are set, slrn uses the server's ID rather than generating its own. 6.126. use_slrnpull Type: integer Default: 0 If non-zero, slrn will spool outgoing postings to let slrnpull send them instead of contacting the newsserver itself. The same effect can be achieved by setting ``post_object'' to "slrnpull". See also: ``server_object'' 6.127. use_tilde Type: integer Default: 1 If non-zero, tildes ("~") are displayed at the end of an article like it is done in the vi editor. 6.128. use_tmpdir Type: integer Default: 0 If non-zero, temporary files for postings, followups and replies will be held in the directory specified by ``$TMP'' (the entry there also explains what will happen if $TMP is unset). 6.129. use_uudeview Type: integer Default: (compile time setting) If your copy of slrn has support for external uudeview libraries (--with-uu), but you still want to use the (faster, but less sophisticated) builtin routines for decoding binary files, set this variable to 0. Otherwise, it has no effect. 6.130. username Type: string Default: (system specific) Contains your user name (login name). It is used as the local part of your email address and as a part of the Message-ID: header (if slrn is configured to create one). If it is unset, slrn tries to get your login name from the system first. If this fails, it looks at ``$USER'' and ``$LOGNAME''. If it cannot find a valid user name, an error message is issued and the program is aborted. Note: Do not confuse your user name with your real name! See also: ``hostname'', ``realname'' 6.131. warn_followup_to Type: integer Default: 1 When a "Followup-To:" header line is set, your followup will appear in different newsgroups than the original posting. If you always want to be notified of this, you can set this variable to 2. The default setting (1) only warns you when your followup would not appear in the group you are currently reading; setting it to 0 disables this warning completely. 6.132. wrap_flags Type: integer Default: 3 This variable controls what text is wrapped in the article pager when pressing the ``wrap_article'' key (bound to "W" by default): 0 wrap body only 1 wrap headers and body 2 wrap quoted material and body 3 wrap headers, quoted material and body If you want to wrap long lines automatically, without having to press a key, you can set the variable to one of these values: 4 wrap body only 5 wrap headers and body 6 wrap quoted material and body 7 wrap headers, quoted material and body See also: ``wrap_method'', ``wrap_article'' 6.133. wrap_method Type: integer Default: 2 With this variable, you can control how slrn wraps long lines. When 0, it wraps at word boundries, leaving words that are longer than your line width untouched. When 1, it always wraps at the right border of the screen. When 2, it first tries so find a good place to wrap the line and wraps at the right border only when necessary. See also: ``wrap_flags'' 6.134. write_newsrc_flags Type: integer Default: 0 If this variable is zero, all groups are saved when writing your newsrc file. If it is 1, unsubscribed groups are not saved; if it is 2, unsubscribed groups are not saved if there are any unread messages in them. 6.135. Xbrowser Type: string Default: (unset) Used to start an X11 web browser on a URL when ``browse_url'' (default binding: `U') is called. If ``$DISPLAY'' is set, slrn tries to execute the command stored in Xbrowser. Otherwise, non_Xbrowser is used instead. The string may contain "%s" which will be replaced with the chosen URL. If no such substring is found, the URL is simply appended to the specified command. Example: set Xbrowser "netscape %s &" See also: ``non_Xbrowser'' 7. Interactive functions This section lists all functions with their compiled in bindings. Some functions accept a prefix argument; it can be set by pressing escape and a number before calling the function (e.g. to call ``select_group'' with the prefix argument four, you need to press "ESC 4 ENTER". If you want, you can use the ``setkey'' configuration command to bind them to different keys. However, please note that the online help won't be updated automatically. If you want it to reflect your changes, you currently need to make use of the ``$SLRNHELP'' environment variable and change ``art_help_line'' et al. Note: If a function is bound to an uppercase letter, you can call it without holding down shift as long as the corresponding lowercase letter is unbound (e.g. pressing `p' in group mode will post an article, although ``post'' is really bound to `P'). This does not work the other way round (e.g. pressing `M' will do nothing, as ``move_group'' is bound to `m' and `M' is unbound by default). 7.1. group functions The functions described here are available in group mode. 7.1.1. add_group Default: "a" Prompts for a newsgroup that gets added to your list. If the group is in your newsrc file, but was hidden or unsubscribed, it is shown. Otherwise, the server is queried - if the group exists, it is inserted after the current group. In any case, the cursor is moved to the group. 7.1.2. bob Default: "CTRL-K UP" "ESC <" Moves the cursor to the first newsgroup that is currently visible ("beginning of buffer"). 7.1.3. catchup Default: "c" Marks the current group as read. 7.1.4. eob Default: "CTRL-K DOWN" "ESC >" Moves the cursor to the last newsgroup that is currently visible ("end of buffer"). 7.1.5. evaluate_cmd Default: "CTRL-X ESC" Reads a line and interprets it as S-Lang. 7.1.6. group_search Default: "/" Old alias of ``group_search_forward''. 7.1.7. group_search_backward Default: "\" Works like ``group_search_forward'', but searches backwards. 7.1.8. group_search_forward Default: "/" Searches for a substring in group names and descriptions ("tag lines"), starting at the current cursor position and wrapping around the list if necessary. Hidden and unsubscribed groups are not taken into account. See also: ``group_search_backward'' 7.1.9. help Default: "?" Displays the online help for group mode. 7.1.10. line_down Default: "DOWN" "N" "CTRL-N" Moves the cursor to the next visible group. 7.1.11. line_up Default: "UP" "CTRL-P" Moves the cursor to the previous visible group. 7.1.12. move_group Default: "m" Allows you to move the current newsgroup to another position. You can move it around using the keys bound to ``line_up'' and ``line_down'' (the up and down arrow keys by default). When finished, press Return. It is probably a good idea to make all groups visible first, calling using ``toggle_hidden'' if necessary. When there are hidden groups, the current group is placed directly before the next visible group when moving it towards the top or directly after it when moving to the bottom, which may or may not be where you really wanted it to be. 7.1.13. page_down Default: "PAGEDN" "CTRL-D" "CTRL-V" Scrolls down one page. 7.1.14. page_up Default: "PAGEUP" "CTRL-U" "ESC V" Scrolls up one page. 7.1.15. post Default: "P" Post an article. The default is to post to the current newsgroup. If no newsgroup or no subject is specified, slrn does not even invoke the editor. 7.1.16. post_postponed Default: "ESC P" Lets you chose an article from the ``postpone directory'' to re-edit, post or delete it. 7.1.17. quit Default: "q" "CTRL-X CTRL-C" Quits slrn. 7.1.18. redraw Default: "CTRL-R" "CTRL-L" Redraws the screen. This should only be necessary when another program wrote to stdout directly. 7.1.19. refresh_groups Default: "G" Queries server for new articles; unless display of all groups was turned on with ``toggle_list_all'', groups without unread messages are hidden. This function also checks for new groups if ``check_new_groups'' is on. 7.1.20. repeat_last_key Default: "." Repeats the last keystroke. 7.1.21. save_newsrc Default: "X" Updates your newsrc file. It contains information about the groups you are subscribed to, the order in which they should be displayed and what articles you marked as read. This file is automatically written when ``quitting'' slrn. 7.1.22. select_group Default: "RETURN" "SPACE" Enters the current group for reading. When using a prefix argument, this function also downloads previously read articles: 1 Select group with article number query. 2 Select group, but do not apply scores. 3 Select group with query, but do not apply scores. 4 Select group. 7.1.23. subscribe Default: "s" Subscribe to the current newsgroup. If used with a prefix argument, slrn will prompt you for a regular expression and subscribe to all groups matching it. 7.1.24. suspend Default: "CTRL-Z" Suspends slrn (if allowed by your shell). 7.1.25. toggle_group_formats Default: "ESC A" Toggles between the different ``group display formats''. You can chose a particular format by specifying a prefix argument (e.g. the function selects the second display format when called with two as the prefix argument). 7.1.26. toggle_hidden Default: "l" If some groups are hidden because they contain no unread articles, this function makes them visible and vice versa; however, this function does not toggle the display of unsubscribed groups (see ``toggle_list_all'' for this). 7.1.27. toggle_list_all Default: "L" This function prompts for a wildmat expression and displays all groups that match it (querying the server if necessary). If your server does not support the "LIST ACTIVE" NNTP command with a wildmat argument and ``read_active'' is off, only groups from your newsrc file are taken into account; in that case, you might not find this feature very useful. When calling toggle_list_all the second time, the unsubscribed groups are hidden again. You can also hide the unsubscribed groups by using this function with the prefix argument one or show all unsubscribed groups with the prefix argument two (does not query the server). 7.1.28. toggle_scoring Default: "K" Toggles between slrn's scoring types: Full Use "expensive" (full header) scoring which may be slow. Simple Score based on XOVER data only (faster). None Turn off scoring. Cancel Keep current setting. 7.1.29. transpose_groups Default: "CTRL-X CTRL-T" Transpose the position of the current group with the one above it in the list. If there are hidden groups between them, they remain untouched. If you want to rearrange your group list, you'll probably find the ``move_group'' function more convenient. 7.1.30. uncatchup Default: "ESC u" Marks all articles in the current group as unread. 7.1.31. unsubscribe Default: "u" Unsubscribe the current group. If used with a prefix argument, slrn will ask you for a regular expression and unsubscribe all groups that match it. Information about read articles in unsubscribed groups is kept. 7.2. article functions These functions can be used in article mode, i.e. after selecting a group and downloading its headers. 7.2.1. article_bob Default: "<" Shows the first page ("beginning of buffer") of the current article. 7.2.2. article_eob Default: ">" Shows the last page ("end of buffer") of the current article. 7.2.3. article_left Default: "LEFT" Pans the article window back to the left (after using ``article_right''). 7.2.4. article_line_down Default: "ESC DOWN" "RETURN" Scrolls the article down one line. 7.2.5. article_line_up Default: "ESC DOWN" Scrolls the article up one line. 7.2.6. article_page_down Default: "SPACE" Scrolls the article down one page. If a spoiler is visible, this function reveals it. How exactly this is done depends on the setting of ``spoiler_display_mode''. If you are already at the end of the article, slrn goes to the next article (when reading from an slrnpull spool, headers for which no article bodies are present get skipped). If there is no next unread article in the group, it goes to the next group. If there is no next group with unread headers, it returns to the group screen. Whether or not you are prompted first in these cases depends on the settings of ``query_next_article'' and ``query_next_group''. 7.2.7. article_page_up Default: "b" "DELETE" Scrolls the article up one page. 7.2.8. article_right Default: "RIGHT" Pan the article window to the right. This is useful if the article contains long lines and wrapping is turned off. See also: ``wrap_flags'', ``wrap_article'' 7.2.9. article_search Default: "/" Searches for a given substring in the current article, starting at the cursor position. 7.2.10. author_search_backward Default: "A" Like ``author_search_forward'', but searching backwards, starting at the cursor. 7.2.11. author_search_forward Default: "a" Searches the "From:" header lines in the current group for a given substring, starting at the cursor position. 7.2.12. browse_url Default: "U" Searches for URLs in the current article and displays them in a menu. If you select one of them, slrn starts your browser on it. An exeption to this are "nntp:" URLs - slrn handles those itself by trying to fetch the referenced article or switching to the given newsgroup. See also: ``non_Xbrowser'', ``Xbrowser'' 7.2.13. cancel Default: "ESC CTRL-C" Cancels the current article (i.e. sends a request to delete it to your server). slrn only allows you to cancel articles you wrote yourself. Please note that due to abuse of cancel messages, some servers are configured to ignore them. 7.2.14. catchup Default: "C" "ESC C" Marks all articles up to the currently selected one as read. 7.2.15. catchup_all Default: "c" "ESC c" Marks all articles in the current group as read. 7.2.16. create_score Default: "K" Interactively creates a score file entry based on data from the currently selected article. If this function is called with a prefix argument, it opens the score file for manual editing. See also: ``score_editor_command'' 7.2.17. decode Default: ":" This function decodes files that are included in articles using the UU or base64 encoding. You first need to specify a temporary file to which the articles that should be decoded are saved. Then, the actual decoding takes place; the resulting files are put in the directory given in ``decode_directory''. When finished, slrn will ask you whether you want to delete the temporary file, which is usually not needed any longer at this point. By placing the cursor on a collapsed thread, you can decode the files in all articles in it. Multipart binary postings can be decoded by using ``tag_header'' to tag all parts first (you need to do this in the correct order; slrn does not re-arrange the parts). 7.2.18. delete Default: "d" "Deletes" the current article (i.e. marks it as read) and proceeds to the next unread header. If the cursor is on a collapsed thread, all articles in it are marked as read. 7.2.19. delete_thread Default: "ESC d" Marks the current article and its subthread (all of its "children" in the thread tree) as read. 7.2.20. enlarge_article_window Default: "^" Enlarges the article window one row. See also: ``shrink_article_window'' 7.2.21. evaluate_cmd Default: "CTRL-X ESC" Reads a line and interprets it as S-Lang. Identical with ``evaluate_cmd'' in group mode. 7.2.22. exchange_mark Default: "," Returns to the article previously marked using ``mark_spot''. Before that, the mark is moved to the current article, so you can jump back to it by calling exchange_mark again. 7.2.23. expunge Default: "x" Removes all articles from the list that are marked as read and not tagged as important (using ``toggle_header_tag''). 7.2.24. fast_quit Default: "Q" Quit slrn immediately (without returning to group mode first). 7.2.25. followup Default: "f" Write a followup on the current article. The following prefix arguments are accepted: 1 Insert all headers. 2 Insert all headers, but do not modify the article (no quoting, don't strip or attach signatures). 7.2.26. forward Default: "F" Forward (mail) the current article to someone. All headers are included when using the prefix argument ``1'', and the subject is prepended with ``Fwd:''. If you wish, you can edit the e-mail before it is sent (to add a comment or cut down the article to the relevant part). 7.2.27. forward_digest Default: "g" This function can be used to skip to the next part in mailing list digests or to find the next section section in many FAQs. To do this, it first tries to find a line that starts with "Subject:" (followed by a blank or a tab); if no such line is present, it looks for a line that starts with a digit. 7.2.28. get_children_headers Default: "ESC CTRL-P" Reconstructs the current sub-thread (i.e. finds all children of the selected posting). Using a prefix argument makes this function less "thorough", which means that it is faster, but more likely to miss some articles. For those who are interested in the technical details of this: get_children_headers queries the server for articles that have the current Message-ID in the "References" header line. Unless a prefix argument is set, this is done recursively for each child. This often finds additional articles, as the current Message-ID might have been dropped from the "References" header when it became too long at some point. Note: This function depends on the "XPAT" NNTP extension, which is not supported by all servers. Even when it's supported, it will only find articles that were posted to the current group. 7.2.29. get_parent_header Default: "ESC p" Goes to the current article's parent, downloading it from the server if necessary. When used with a prefix argument, the whole thread is reconstructed; the prefix argument two makes this faster, but more likely to miss some articles (see ``get_children_headers'' for a discussion of this). 7.2.30. grouplens_rate_article Default: "0" Set a GroupLens rating for the current article. 7.2.31. goto_article Default: "j" Jumps to an article with a given header number. Here, "header number" refers to the number assigned to the article by the server, not the one which is by default shown at the left border of the header window. 7.2.32. goto_last_read Default: "L" Jumps to the last article you read. 7.2.33. header_bob Default: "ESC <" Goes to the first article in this group ("beginning of buffer"). 7.2.34. header_eob Default: "ESC >" Goes to the last article in this group ("end of buffer"). 7.2.35. header_line_down Default: "DOWN" "CTRL-N" Goes to the next visible article in this group. 7.2.36. header_line_up Default: "UP" "CTRL-P" Goes to the previous visible article in this group. 7.2.37. header_page_down Default: "PAGEDN" "CTRL-D" "CTRL-V" Scrolls the header window down one page. 7.2.38. header_page_up Default: "PAGEUP" "CTRL-U" "ESC V" Scrolls the header window up one page. 7.2.39. help Default: "?" Displays the online help for article mode. 7.2.40. hide_article Default: "H" Hides the article pager (or shows it, if it was hidden). 7.2.41. locate_article Default: "ESC l" Locates an article by its Message-ID, downloading it from the server if necessary. 7.2.42. mark_spot Default: ";" Marks the current article. This makes it possible to come back to it later using ``exchange_mark''. 7.2.43. next Default: "n" Goes to the next unread article, uncollapsing threads if necessary. When reading from an slrnpull spool, headers for which the article body is not present get skipped. If the group does not contain a next unread header, slrn skips to the next group. Whether this happens automatically or you are prompted first depends on the setting of ``query_next_group''. 7.2.44. next_high_score Default: "!" Goes to the next article with a ``high score''. 7.2.45. next_same_subject Default: "=" Goes to the next article that has the same subject as the currently selected article. 7.2.46. pipe Default: "|" Pipes the current article to a program. 7.2.47. post Default: "P" Posts an article. This function is identical with ``post'' in group mode. 7.2.48. post_postponed Default: "ESC P" Post a postponed article. Identical with ``post_postponed'' in group mode. 7.2.49. previous Default: "p" Goes to the previous unread article, uncollapsing thread if necessary. When reading from an slrnpull spool, headers for which the article body is not present get skipped. 7.2.50. print Default: "y" Sends the selected article to a printer. See ``printer_name'' for a discussion of how exactly this function prints the article and how it can be customized. When used with a prefix argument, the article is printed unwrapped and including all hidden lines (e.g. header lines or signatures that are not displayed in the article pager). 7.2.51. quit Default: "q" Returns to group mode. 7.2.52. redraw Default: "CTRL-L" "CTRL-R" Redraws the screen. Identical with ``redraw'' in group mode. 7.2.53. repeat_last_key Default: "." Repeats the last keystroke. 7.2.54. reply Default: "r" Reply to the selected article via email. 7.2.55. request Default: "m" If only the header of an article has been fetched, this command will mark its body for download the next time slrnpull is run; if the body was already marked for download, it gets unrequested. When you use this function on a collapsed thread, it will work on all postings inside it that do not yet have a body. If some of them are already marked for download, but some others are not, it does not toggle the state of each individual article, but requests all bodies. 7.2.56. save Default: "o" Saves the current article to a file (in mbox format). If the cursor is on a collapsed thread or you used ``tag_header'' to tag articles, you are prompted whether you want to save the whole thread or all tagged articles, respectively. The default filename is the name of the current group in the directory specified by ``save_directory''. 7.2.57. show_spoilers Default: "ESC ?" Reveals the next spoiler (i.e. all currently hidden text up to the next formfeed character). When used with a prefix argument, all spoilers are revealed. This function can be customized using ``spoiler_display_mode''. 7.2.58. shrink_article_window Default: "CTRL-^" Shrinks the article window one row. See also: ``enlarge_article_window'' 7.2.59. skip_quotes Default: "TAB" Skips quoted text. What slrn regards as quoted text is determined by ``ignore_quotes''. 7.2.60. skip_to_next_group Default: "N" "ESC RIGHT" Goes to the next group that contains unread articles. If there is no such group, this function returns to group mode. 7.2.61. skip_to_previous_group Default: "ESC LEFT" Goes to the previous group that contains unread articles, returning to group mode if no such group exists. 7.2.62. subject_search_backward Default: "S" Like ``subject_search_backward'', but searching backwards. 7.2.63. subject_search_forward Default: "s" Searches the subjects in the current group for a given substring, beginning at the cursor. 7.2.64. supersede Default: "ESC CTRL-S" Supersedes the current article, i.e. allows you to re-edit it and sends it to the server along with a request to replace the original version with it. Like with ``cancel'', this is not honored by some servers due to abuse of this feature and only allowed by slrn if you are the author of the current article. 7.2.65. suspend Default: "CTRL-Z" Suspends slrn (if allowed by your shell). 7.2.66. tag_header Default: "#" Attaches a numerical tag to the current header and moves the cursor down one line. If the header is already tagged, the tag is removed. When applied on a collapsed thread, all articles in it are tagged (or untagged, respectively). Numerical tags are useful to ``save'' or ``decode'' multiple messages. 7.2.67. toggle_collapse_threads Default: "ESC t" (Un-)Collapses the current thread, depending on its current status. When used with a prefix argument, all threads are (un-)collapsed. 7.2.68. toggle_header_formats Default: "ESC a" Toggles between different ``header display formats''. You can pick a particular format by specifying a prefix argument (e.g. the function selects the second display format when called with two as the prefix argument). 7.2.69. toggle_header_tag Default: "*" Marks the current article unread, flags it as important (or removes the flag, if the article already had one) and moves the cursor to the next line. This flag prevents articles from being marked as read (both explicitly and by ``catchup'' functions). Using this function with a prefix argument removes the flags from all headers. Note: By default, these flags are not "persistent" - as soon as you leave the group, they are gone. However, the macro set stickytags.sl can be used to change this and even preserve them between sessions. 7.2.70. toggle_headers Default: "t" Toggles between the display of all or just the article headers selected in ``visible_headers''. 7.2.71. toggle_pgpsignature Default: "]" Toggles the variable ``hide_pgpsignature'' that controls the display of PGP signatures. 7.2.72. toggle_quotes Default: "T" Toggles the display of quoted text as recognized using ``ignore_quotes''. When n is set as a prefix arguments, the first n quote levels remain untouched. This function also sets the value of ``hide_quotes'' to match the new state. This means that if the quotes get shown again, it is set to 0; if a prefix argument is given, it is set to prefix argument + 1; otherwise, it is restored to the value it got when you last used a prefix argument (or, if you never did this, to 1). 7.2.73. toggle_rot13 Default: "ESC R" ROT13-decode article. Calling this function a second time undoes the effect. 7.2.74. toggle_signature Default: "\" Toggles the variable ``hide_signature'' which controls the display of signatures. 7.2.75. toggle_sort Default: "ESC S" Displays a menu that allows you to change the value of ``sorting_method'' which controls the threading / sorting method. 7.2.76. toggle_verbatim_marks Default: "[" Toggles the variable ``hide_verbatim_marks'', which controls the display of "verbatim marks". 7.2.77. toggle_verbatim_text Default: "{" Toggles the variable ``hide_verbatim_text'', which controls the display of text marked as "verbatim". 7.2.78. uncatchup Default: "ESC U" Marks all articles from the top of the header window up to the current article as unread. 7.2.79. uncatchup_all Default: "ESC u" Marks all headers in the current buffer as unread. If you want a command that affects all available articles (i.e. not only the ones you downloaded when entering the group), use ``uncatchup'' in group mode. 7.2.80. undelete Default: "u" Marks the current article (or all articles in a collapsed thread) as unread and moves the cursor to the next line. 7.2.81. untag_headers Default: "ESC #" Removes all numerical tags that were previously set using ``tag_headers''. 7.2.82. view_scores Default: "v" Brings up a selection box that lists all scorefile entries that match on the current article. The available information is: Scoring value of the entry, name of the entry (this field is optional; please see score.txt on how to assign names), name of the scorefile and line number. If you select an entry, your editor will be started on the scorefile. If the editor supports it and you have a "%d" escape in your ``score_editor_command'', the cursor is moved to the selected entry, which makes this function especially useful for finding and fixing "broken" scorefile entries. See also: ``create_score'' 7.2.83. wrap_article Default: "W" Toggles the wrapping of long lines. See also: ``wrap_method'' 7.2.84. zoom_article_window Default: "z" Maximizes the article pager (or unmaximizes it, if it already takes up the whole screen). 7.3. readline functions These functions can be used while entering data in slrn's readline interface, i.e. at a prompt at the bottom of the screen. 7.3.1. bdel Default: "BACKSPACE" Deletes the character before the cursor. 7.3.2. bol Default: "HOME" "CTRL-A" Moves the cursor to the beginning of the line. 7.3.3. complete Default: "TAB" When prompting for a filename, this function tries to complete the content of the line (up to the current position of the cursor) to the name of a file or directory. If multiple completions are possible, it will only insert the portion of the name that is common to all of them. In that case, calling the function again will give you a list of possible completions to chose from. On all other prompts, it works like ``self_insert''. 7.3.4. cycle Default: "SPACE" This function works like ``complete'', except that it cycles between all possible completions rather than inserting the largest common portion. When no completions are found, this command works like ``self_insert''; if you need a literal space character although a completion exists, use ``quoted_insert''. 7.3.5. del Default: "DELETE" "CTRL-D" "CTRL-V" Deletes the character under the cursor. 7.3.6. delbol Default: "CTRL-U" Deletes everything from the beginning of the line to the cursor position. 7.3.7. delbow Default: "CTRL-W" Deletes everything from the beginning of the word to the cursor position. 7.3.8. deleol Default: "CTRL-K" "CTRL-L" Deletes everything from the cursor position to the end of the line. 7.3.9. down Default: "DOWN" "CTRL-N" Jumps to the next (later) command line history entry. 7.3.10. enter Default: "RETURN" Finishes the editing, returning the current content of the line to the program. 7.3.11. eol Default: "END" "CTRL-E" Moves the cursor to the end of the line. 7.3.12. left Default: "LEFT" "CTRL-B" Moves the cursor to the left. 7.3.13. quoted_insert Default: "BACKTICK" Inserts the next key into the buffer, even if it is usually bound to a function. 7.3.14. right Default: "RIGHT" "CTRL-F" Moves the cursor to the right. 7.3.15. self_insert Default: any key not bound to another function Inserts the key it was called by into the buffer. This is useful if you want to "unbind" a key in readline mode. 7.3.16. trim Default: "ESC \" Strips trailing whitespace from the buffer. 7.3.17. up Default: "UP" "CTRL-P" Jumps to the previous (older) command line history entry.