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Subscriber Reference Card

Using CREN ListProc

With E-mail Discussions Lists and Files

May 24 1995, ListProc 7.1, WWW version

Table of Contents

• Note:How to send commands to ListProc

• About this reference: purpose and conventions

• Additional documentation about ListProc

• Learning about ListProc with the Help commands

• Discovering lists with the Lists command

• Learn the purpose of a list with the Review and Information commands

• Joining and leaving lists with Subscribe and Unsubscribe

• Setting and querying your list options

• Finding the lists to which you're subscribed

• Leaving all the lists on a specified host

• About archives: List archives and other archived files

• Using Index to discover files and archives

• Searching files for keywords and more complex patterns

• Getting a file from ListProc

• Automatic file delivery or notification when changes are made

• Your Feedback Desired

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Introduction

Note: how to send commands to ListProc

All ListProc commands must be sent to a ListProc server, listproc@host.domain, for processing -- for example, to listproc@listproc.net. They must not be sent to a mailing list, since mail to a mailing list goes to all the subscribers to that list. Commands are sent as the body of an e-mail message to a ListProc server. ListProc ignores the subject line, so you may use whatever subject is useful for your purposes.

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About this reference: purpose and conventions

Using ListProc highlights the most common commands for the CREN ListProc discussion-list and file-management software, also known as ListProc. Many ListProc commands have aliases for your convenience. (see "Additional documentation", below); a few of these aliases are noted herein.

In this reference, ListProc commands are shown in this typeface, with italics used for any command options and arguments which are to be replaced by the user. The minimum command abbreviations are in UPPERCASE. The actual commands are case-insensitive. For example, the command SUB is the same as sub or subscribe. Optional arguments and keywords are enclosed in brackets ([...]) and alternatives separated by a vertical bar ( | ), both of which must be omitted when the actual command is used. The list explore@listproc.net has been created for experimenting with ListProc. The term "local lists" refers to lists hosted by the ListProc with which you are communicating; "remote" lists are those hosted by other ListProcs. Commands which relate to remote lists are forwarded to the appropriate ListProc when there is adequate information.

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Additional documentation about ListProc

The information in Using ListProc may be supplemented through ListProc's HELP command. Printer-formatted versions of the ListProc User Manual and the ListProc User Reference Card are available in plain text, PostScript, and RTF versions via anonymous ftp and Gopher from ftp.cren.net, along with other ListProc reference materials. The ListProc User Reference Card is also available as plain text, PostScript, and RTF. The ftp files for the User Manual are /listproc/userman for the plain-text version, and /listproc/userman.ps and ...rtf for PostScript and RTF versions, respectively; for the Card, replace "userman" by "usercard" in these file names. Set the card's orientation to landscape before printing the RTF version. Send a GET listproc userman or ...usercard command to listproc@listproc.net (see Archive Commands) to get a copy of the plain-text version of the manual or card via e-mail. Additional documentation is described in ListProc Description..

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ListProc- and List-Related Commands

Learning about ListProc with the Help commands

HELp topic
returns information about the topic selected, if available.

HELp
returns a brief description of every ListProc command (when no topic is specified).

HELp TOPICS
returns a list of all the topics for which help is available.

HELp LISTProc
returns information about ListProc and other list-management systems.

HELp LIVe
returns information about accessing ListProc interactively.

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Discovering lists with the Lists command

LISts [local]

Lists all "visible" local lists, with a one-line description of each list.

LISts global

Lists all "visible" local lists and all remote lists known to the server, with a one line description of each list. Warning: This is a large file!

LISts local|global [keywords]

Adding keywords to the LISts command causes ListProc to return only those lists containing the keywords in its list-name, address, and one-line description. Multiple keywords separated by spaces are treated as a logically ANDed, i.e. only lists identified by ALL the keywords will be returned. Regular expressions (see SEArch command) may also be used to combine keywords. You must specify local or global in a LISts command if you use keywords.

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Learn the purpose of a list with the Review and Information commands

REView list-name [SHOrt|DEScription|SUBscribers]

REView list-name

returns a full description of the intended purpose of the list list-name (if provided by the list owner), the attributes which determine how the list operates, and (if you're a subscriber or they're available to non-subscribers) the list of non-concealed subscribers to the list.

REView list-name SHOrt|DEScription

returns only the description of the intended purpose of the list (if available) and the attributes of the list (no subscriber information)

REView list-name SUBscribers

returns only the non-concealed subscribers to the list, if they're available to you. For "peered" lists, your command will be forwarded to the other participating server(s) (except when using ilp).

INFormation list-name

returns general information about the list. The text of this message is created by one of the list owners. Hence, information will be available for a list only if the owner has submitted a description for that list.

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Joining and leaving lists with Subscribe and Unsubscribe

SUBscribe list-name your-name Alias: JOIn

adds you to the list that you specify by replacing list-name with the list-name (that part of the e-mail address of the list to the left of the @-sign). Replace your-namewith your real name (up to 4 words show on a REView). ListProc gets your e-mail address from the From: header of your message. For example, if your name is Joan S. Doe, you would subscribe to the list circuses@barnum.com by sending mail with the single line sub circuses Joan S. Doe as the body of an e-mail message to listproc@barnum.com or your local ListProc. If your local ListProc does not know about the list circuses, it will send you a message to that effect, and you will have to send your subscription message directly to listproc@barnum.com.

UNSubscribe list-name Alias: SIGNOFF

removes you from the list whose list-name you specify

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Setting and Querying your list options

SET list-name [option arg [args]] Alias: QUEry

With no option or arguments specified, SET list-name or QUEry list-name returns a list of all of your current subscription options for the specified list, if you are subscribed.

SET list-name MAIL ACK|NOACK|DIGEST|POSTPONE

The MAIL option requires one of the arguments ACK, NOACK, DIGEST, or POSTPONE. The argument ACK causes ListProc to include you in the distribution of each message you send to a list; NOACK causes ListProc not to include you when you send the message. Thus, Set dummy mail ack causes you to receive a copy of each message you send to the list dummy. The DIGEST option causes you to receive your mail from the specified list in the "digest" collection of messages (including messages you sent to the list) whenever that digest is distributed. SET list-name MAIL POSTPONE causes listproc to exclude you from all list distributions until you send another set list-name mail command with one of the other arguments.

SET list-name PASsword old-password new-password

changes your list password. Your initial password, if needed, is supplied in the message you receive confirming your subscription. Subscriber passwords are case-sensitive and may contain only upper- and lower-case alphabetic characters, numbers, and the special characters hyphen, at -sign, pound-sign, colon, semicolon ( - @ # : ;).

SET list-name ADDress password new-address

change your registered e-mail address.

SET list-name CONceal YES|NO

If yes, REView list-name will NOT include your name.

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Finding out the lists to which you're subscribed

WHIch

returns a list all the local mailing lists to which you have subscribed.

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Leaving all the lists on a specified host

PURge password

removes you from all local lists. This command requires a password valid for any one of the local lists to which you are subscribed.

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Archive and File Commands

About archives: List archives and other archived files

A ListProc archive may contain the archives of a list discussion, in which case it will usually be replaced, in archive commands, by the list-name (though a few sites organize their list archives differently), or it may contain other files which have been stored for search and retrieval using ListProc. The optional password parameter shown in archive commands is omitted except when the specified archives have been password protected for privacy, in which case the password associated with the archive must be supplied in the commands, preceeded by a slash.

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Using Index to discover files and archives

INDex archive [/password] [-ALL]

This command generates a list of the files in the selected archive, or in the master archive if no archive is specified in the command.

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Searching files for keywords and more complex patterns

SEArch [archive] [/password] [-ALL] [pattern]

Search all files of the specified archive (and, if -all is specified, all of its subarchives) for lines that match pattern. Pattern may be a single word or string, or a regular expression (see the ListProc User Manual) in which ^ (carat) negates whatever follows, | (vertical bar) and & (ampersand), respectively, provide logical OR and AND, < and > (lesser and greater) are used to group parts of regular expressions, and. (period) matches any character except the new-line character.

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Getting a file from ListProc

GET [archive] file [/password] Alias: SENdme

gets you the specified file from the specified archive by e-mail

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Automatic file delivery or notification when changes are made

AFD action {[archive] [/password] [file]}

in which action is add|delete|review|query. This adds or deletes your subscription for Automatic File Delivery, by e-mail, of the specified file (from the specified archive) each time it is changed, sends you (review) the AFD subscribers to file, or sends you a list of files for which you are AFD'ed (action=query, no file).

FUI action {[archive] [/password] [file]}

behaves like AFD, but only File Update Information (notification) is sent each time the specified file is changed, not the whole file.

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Your Feedback Desired

Your suggestions for improving this document are eagerly solicited by CREN. Please send your comments to suggestion@listproc.net

CREN is a registered Service Mark of the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking (CREN). ListProc and ListProcessor registration pending.

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