


Net::NNTP(3p)    Perl Programmers Reference Guide   Net::NNTP(3p)


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 then it may be
           passed as the "Host" option described below. If no
           host is passed then two environment variables are
           checked, first "NNTPSERVER" then "NEWSHOST", 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:

           Host - NNTP host to connect to. It may be a single
           scalar, as defined for the "PeerAddr" option in
           IO::Socket::INET, or a reference to an array with
           hosts to try in turn. The "host" method will return
           the value which was used to connect to the host.

           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.



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       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
           success a true value will be returned. If "FH" is not
           specified then the return value, on success, will be a
           reference to an array containing 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 message-
           id 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
           article.

       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
           selecting 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".




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           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
           containing, the number of articles in the group, the
           number of the first article, the number of the last
           article 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
           reference 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 )
           Authenticates to the server (using AUTHINFO USER /
           AUTHINFO PASS) using the supplied username and
           password.  Please note that the password is sent in
           clear text to the server.  This command should not be
           used with valuable passwords unless the connection to
           the server is somehow protected.

       list ()
           Obtain information about all the active newsgroups.



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           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
           article 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
           message-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
           reference to an array.

           The message, either sent via "datasend" or as the
           "MESSAGE" parameter, must be in the format as
           described by RFC822 and must contain From:,
           Newsgroups: and Subject: headers.

       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
           contents of the article to be posted.  You must



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           explicitly 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
           connection.

   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
           contains 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
           subscribe 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.





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Net::NNTP(3p)    Perl Programmers Reference Guide   Net::NNTP(3p)


       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
           contains the text of the requested header for that
           message.

       xover ( MESSAGE-SPEC )
           The return value will be a reference to a hash where
           the keys are the message numbers and each value
           contains 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
           messages 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
           issuing it and ignoring the response is harmless.




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Net::NNTP(3p)    Perl Programmers Reference Guide   Net::NNTP(3p)


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
           message numbers.

           If "MESSAGE-SPEC" is a reference to a list of two
           message 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 number.

           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
           reference to the list should now be passed

       PATTERN
           The "NNTP" protocol uses the "WILDMAT" format for
           patterns.  The WILDMAT format was first developed by
           Rich Salz based on the format used in the UNIX "find"
           command 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
           characters.

           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



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           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.

SEE ALSO
       Net::Cmd

AUTHOR
       Graham Barr <gbarr@pobox.com>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (c) 1995-1997 Graham Barr. All rights reserved.
       This program is free software; you can redistribute it
       and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.













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