net::nntp(3)

NAME

Net::NNTP - NNTP Client class

SYNOPSIS

use Net::NNTP;
$nntp = Net::NNTP->new("some.host.name");
$nntp->quit;

DESCRIPTION

"Net::NNTP" is a class implementing a simple NNTP client
in Perl as described in RFC977. "Net::NNTP" inherits its
communication methods from "Net::Cmd"

CONSTRUCTOR

new ( [ HOST ] [, OPTIONS ]): This is the constructor for a new Net::NNTP object.
"HOST" is the name of the remote host to which a NNTP
connection is required. If not given two environment
variables are checked, first "NNTPSERVER" then "NEW
SHOST", then "Net::Config" is checked, and if a host
is not found then "news" is used.; "OPTIONS" are passed in a hash like fashion, using key
and value pairs. Possible options are:; Timeout - Maximum time, in seconds, to wait for a
response from the NNTP server, a value of zero will
cause all IO operations to block. (default: 120); Debug - Enable the printing of debugging information
to STDERR; Reader - If the remote server is INN then initially
the connection will be to nnrpd, by default
"Net::NNTP" will issue a "MODE READER" command so that
the remote server becomes innd. If the "Reader" option
is given with a value of zero, then this command will
not be sent and the connection will be left talking to
nnrpd.

METHODS

Unless otherwise stated all methods return either a true
or false value, with true meaning that the operation was a success. When a method states that it returns a value,
failure will be returned as undef or an empty list.

article ( [ MSGID|MSGNUM ], [FH] ): Retrieve the header, a blank line, then the body
(text) of the specified article.; If "FH" is specified then it is expected to be a valid
filehandle and the result will be printed to it, on
sucess a true value will be returned. If "FH" is not
specified then the return value, on sucess, will be a
reference to an array containg the article requested,
each entry in the array will contain one line of the
article.; If no arguments are passed then the current article in
the currently selected newsgroup is fetched.; "MSGNUM" is a numeric id of an article in the current
newsgroup, and will change the current article
pointer. "MSGID" is the message id of an article as
shown in that article's header. It is anticipated
that the client will obtain the "MSGID" from a list
provided by the "newnews" command, from references
contained within another article, or from the messageid provided in the response to some other commands.; If there is an error then "undef" will be returned.
body ( [ MSGID|MSGNUM ], [FH] ): Like "article" but only fetches the body of the arti
cle.
head ( [ MSGID|MSGNUM ], [FH] ): Like "article" but only fetches the headers for the
article.
articlefh ( [ MSGID|MSGNUM ] ) bodyfh ( [ MSGID|MSGNUM ] ) headfh ( [ MSGID|MSGNUM ] ): These are similar to article(), body() and head(), but rather than returning the requested data directly,
they return a tied filehandle from which to read the
article.
nntpstat ( [ MSGID|MSGNUM ] ): The "nntpstat" command is similar to the "article"
command except that no text is returned. When select
ing by message number within a group, the "nntpstat"
command serves to set the "current article pointer"
without sending text.; Using the "nntpstat" command to select by message-id
is valid but of questionable value, since a selection
by message-id does not alter the "current article
pointer".; Returns the message-id of the "current article".
group ( [ GROUP ] ): Set and/or get the current group. If "GROUP" is not
given then information is returned on the current
group.; In a scalar context it returns the group name.; In an array context the return value is a list con
taining, the number of articles in the group, the num
ber of the first article, the number of the last arti
cle and the group name.
ihave ( MSGID [, MESSAGE ]): The "ihave" command informs the server that the client
has an article whose id is "MSGID". If the server
desires a copy of that article, and "MESSAGE" has been
given the it will be sent.; Returns true if the server desires the article and
"MESSAGE" was successfully sent,if specified.; If "MESSAGE" is not specified then the message must be
sent using the "datasend" and "dataend" methods from
Net::Cmd; "MESSAGE" can be either an array of lines or a refer
ence to an array.
last (): Set the "current article pointer" to the previous
article in the current newsgroup.; Returns the message-id of the article.
date (): Returns the date on the remote server. This date will
be in a UNIX time format (seconds since 1970)
postok (): "postok" will return true if the servers initial
response indicated that it will allow posting.
authinfo ( USER, PASS ) list (): Obtain information about all the active newsgroups.
The results is a reference to a hash where the key is
a group name and each value is a reference to an
array. The elements in this array are:- the last arti
cle number in the group, the first article number in
the group and any information flags about the group.
newgroups ( SINCE [, DISTRIBUTIONS ]): "SINCE" is a time value and "DISTRIBUTIONS" is either
a distribution pattern or a reference to a list of
distribution patterns. The result is the same as
"list", but the groups return will be limited to those
created after "SINCE" and, if specified, in one of the
distribution areas in "DISTRIBUTIONS".
newnews ( SINCE [, GROUPS [, DISTRIBUTIONS ]]): "SINCE" is a time value. "GROUPS" is either a group
pattern or a reference to a list of group patterns.
"DISTRIBUTIONS" is either a distribution pattern or a
reference to a list of distribution patterns.; Returns a reference to a list which contains the mes
sage-ids of all news posted after "SINCE", that are in
a groups which matched "GROUPS" and a distribution
which matches "DISTRIBUTIONS".
next (): Set the "current article pointer" to the next article
in the current newsgroup.; Returns the message-id of the article.
post ( [ MESSAGE ] ): Post a new article to the news server. If "MESSAGE" is
specified and posting is allowed then the message will
be sent.; If "MESSAGE" is not specified then the message must be
sent using the "datasend" and "dataend" methods from
Net::Cmd; "MESSAGE" can be either an array of lines or a refer
ence to an array.
postfh (): Post a new article to the news server using a tied
filehandle. If posting is allowed, this method will
return a tied filehandle that you can print() the con tents of the article to be posted. You must explic
itly close() the filehandle when you are finished
posting the article, and the return value from the
close() call will indicate whether the message was
successfully posted.
slave (): Tell the remote server that I am not a user client,
but probably another news server.
quit (): Quit the remote server and close the socket connec
tion.
Extension methods
These methods use commands that are not part of the RFC977 documentation. Some servers may not support all of them.
newsgroups ( [ PATTERN ] ): Returns a reference to a hash where the keys are all
the group names which match "PATTERN", or all of the
groups if no pattern is specified, and each value con
tains the description text for the group.
distributions (): Returns a reference to a hash where the keys are all
the possible distribution names and the values are the
distribution descriptions.
subscriptions (): Returns a reference to a list which contains a list of
groups which are recommended for a new user to sub
scribe to.
overview_fmt (): Returns a reference to an array which contain the
names of the fields returned by "xover".
active_times (): Returns a reference to a hash where the keys are the
group names and each value is a reference to an array
containing the time the groups was created and an
identifier, possibly an Email address, of the creator.
active ( [ PATTERN ] ): Similar to "list" but only active groups that match
the pattern are returned. "PATTERN" can be a group
pattern.
xgtitle ( PATTERN ): Returns a reference to a hash where the keys are all
the group names which match "PATTERN" and each value
is the description text for the group.
xhdr ( HEADER, MESSAGE-SPEC ): Obtain the header field "HEADER" for all the messages
specified.; The return value will be a reference to a hash where
the keys are the message numbers and each value con
tains the text of the requested header for that mes
sage.
xover ( MESSAGE-SPEC ): The return value will be a reference to a hash where
the keys are the message numbers and each value con
tains a reference to an array which contains the
overview fields for that message.; The names of the fields can be obtained by calling
"overview_fmt".
xpath ( MESSAGE-ID ): Returns the path name to the file on the server which
contains the specified message.
xpat ( HEADER, PATTERN, MESSAGE-SPEC): The result is the same as "xhdr" except the is will be
restricted to headers where the text of the header
matches "PATTERN"
xrover: The XROVER command returns reference information for
the article(s) specified.; Returns a reference to a HASH where the keys are the
message numbers and the values are the References:
lines from the articles
listgroup ( [ GROUP ] ): Returns a reference to a list of all the active mes
sages in "GROUP", or the current group if "GROUP" is
not specified.
reader: Tell the server that you are a reader and not another
server.; This is required by some servers. For example if you
are connecting to an INN server and you have transfer
permission your connection will be connected to the
transfer daemon, not the NNTP daemon. Issuing this
command will cause the transfer daemon to hand over
control to the NNTP daemon.; Some servers do not understand this command, but issu
ing it and ignoring the response is harmless.

UNSUPPORTED

The following NNTP command are unsupported by the package, and there are no plans to do so.: AUTHINFO GENERIC
XTHREAD
XSEARCH
XINDEX

DEFINITIONS

MESSAGE-SPEC: "MESSAGE-SPEC" is either a single message-id, a single
message number, or a reference to a list of two mes
sage numbers.; If "MESSAGE-SPEC" is a reference to a list of two mes
sage numbers and the second number in a range is less
than or equal to the first then the range represents
all messages in the group after the first message num
ber.; NOTE For compatibility reasons only with earlier
versions of Net::NNTP a message spec can be passed as
a list of two numbers, this is deprecated and a refer
ence to the list should now be passed
PATTERN: The "NNTP" protocol uses the "WILDMAT" format for pat
terns. The WILDMAT format was first developed by Rich
Salz based on the format used in the UNIX "find" com
mand to articulate file names. It was developed to
provide a uniform mechanism for matching patterns in
the same manner that the UNIX shell matches filenames.; Patterns are implicitly anchored at the beginning and
end of each string when testing for a match.; There are five pattern matching operations other than
a strict one-to-one match between the pattern and the
source to be checked for a match.; The first is an asterisk "*" to match any sequence of
zero or more characters.; The second is a question mark "?" to match any single
character. The third specifies a specific set of char
acters.; The set is specified as a list of characters, or as a
range of characters where the beginning and end of the
range are separated by a minus (or dash) character, or
as any combination of lists and ranges. The dash can
also be included in the set as a character it if is
the beginning or end of the set. This set is enclosed
in square brackets. The close square bracket "]" may
be used in a set if it is the first character in the
set.; The fourth operation is the same as the logical not of
the third operation and is specified the same way as
the third with the addition of a caret character "^"
at the beginning of the test string just inside the
open square bracket.; The final operation uses the backslash character to
invalidate the special meaning of an open square
bracket "[", the asterisk, backslash or the question
mark. Two backslashes in sequence will result in the
evaluation of the backslash as a character with no
special meaning.; Examples
"[^]-]"
matches any single character other than a close
square bracket or a minus sign/dash.; *bdc
matches any string that ends with the string "bdc"
including the string "bdc" (without quotes).; "[0-9a-zA-Z]"
matches any single printable alphanumeric ASCII
character.; "a??d"
matches any four character string which begins
with a and ends with d.

AUTHOR

Graham Barr <gbarr@pobox.com>

COPYRIGHT

$Id: //depot/libnet/Net/NNTP.pm#15 $

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