HOW TO COMPOSE VERONICA QUERIES - version 0.5 June 24, 1993
New in veronica 0.5 * server is faster. * no changes to user interface.
New features in veronica 0.4 * Support for keyword "NOT". * Support for infix queries (i.e. parenthesis). * Limited word stemming ( trailing wildcard ). * -l option returns link info as a file.
NOTE that the link option may not work on all veronica servers.
* -mX option sets maximum number number of returned items to X.
IMPORTANT NOTE! Number of returned items is now LIMITED to 200 UNLESS you specify this option. "-m" option without a numeric parameter sets unlimited number of return items.
New features in veronica 0.3 * Support for "-t" flag: specify gopher item-types.
New features in veronica 0.2 * Support for keywords "AND" and "OR"
* * QUERY KEYWORD LOGIC The search understands the logical operators AND, NOT, OR, (, and ). Adjacent keywords without an intervening logical operator are treated as though conjoined by an AND.
Interpretation of the query starts from the right-hand, interpreting operators as encountered. If in doubt about order of interpretation, USE PARENTHESES!
Search keywords are NOT case-sensitive.
* RESTRICTING THE SEARCH TO CERTAIN GOPHER TYPES You can limit the data returned by veronica to certain gopher item types. This restriction is done by adding a -t type specifier to your query. The -t flag may appear anywhere in the search specification. For instance: "women -t1" returns links to gopher DIRECTORIES whose name contains "women". "-t1 women" does exactly the same thing. NOTE that there must NOT be any spaces between the -t and the type specifier. You may specify MORE THAN ONE type in the query. DO NOT use separate -t specifications to do this; simply put all the types together (with no spaces) after the -t. For example: "-ts1 mac" returns links to gopher DIRECTORIES or SOUNDS with the word "mac" in the name. "women -t18" returns links to gopher DIRECTORIES or TELNET links, whose name contains the word "women". Official gopher types, from the Gopher Protocol Document, are: 0 item is a file 1 item is a directory 2. item is a CSO (qi) phonebook server 3 ERROR 4 item is a BinHexed Mac file (discouraged) 5 item is a DOS binary archive of some kind (discouraged) 6 item is a Unix uuencoded file (discouraged) 7 item is an Index-Search server 8 item is a pointer to a telnet session 9 item is a binary file of some sort + redundant server ( same a previous server ) * USING THE OPTIONS
Just include the options in the search query. They will work with any gopher client. You can put options before the query words, after the query words, or even between query words.
DO NOT cluster more than one option behind a single hyphen; instead, use a separate hyphen for each separate option. For example:
gopher -t1s -l -m400
This example requests 400 items containing the word "gopher", and specifies that we want only items whose type is "directory" or "sound", and that we want a link-file containing the results.
*** EXAMPLES:
Simple examples:
Search on the keyword "internet". This will return a menu list of (at most) 200 records that have the word internet in the title field. Just type- internet
Search on the keyword "internet", but specify 1000 items instead of
the default 200.
type-
internet -m1000
or
-m1000 internet
Search on the keywords "chicken" and "wine". This returns a menu list of (at most) 200 records that have _BOTH_ "chicken" and "wine". Type- chicken and wine
Search for the keywords "chicken" or "wine", specifying directories only. This returns a menu list of records that have _EITHER_ chicken or wine, and which are GOPHER DIRECTORY entries. Type-
chicken or wine -t1 or -t1 chicken or wine
Examples for the operator "NOT":
To use the operator "NOT" in a query:
chicken not wine (will search for all titles with the
word chicken _BUT NOT_ the word
wine)
chinese food not msg (will search for our health nuts
all the titles with the words
chinese _AND_ food _BUT NOT_
msg. Remember there is an
implied _AND_ between two words)
Examples for infix queries:
The parentheses allow more complicated searches that were not available in previous versions of the perl veronica server.
examples:
chicken (wine or curry) -m (will list ALL titles with the
words chicken _AND_ either
wine _OR_ curry. -m asks
for ALL records.)
(chicken or wine) not (msg or growing)
(will search for titles with the
words chicken _OR_ wine _BUT NOT_
msg _OR_ growing)
Examples for word stemming
The metacharacter "*" matches anything at the TRAILING END of a search word.
chicken* (will search for all titles with the
word chicken, chickens, ...)
chicken* or wine* (will search for all titles with the
word chicken, chickens, ... _OR_
wine, wines, wineries, ...)
(chicke* or wine*) not (msg* or growing* and good*)
(this query results are left to the
curious)
Fred Barrie and Steve Foster