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archie> manpage

ARCHIE(1L) MISC. REFERENCE MANUAL PAGES ARCHIE(1L)

NAME

   archie - Internet archive server listing service

SYNOPSIS

   archie

DESCRIPTION

   This manual page describes Version 3 of the  archie  system.
   This Internet information service allows the user to query a
   database containing a list of files which are  available  on
   hosts  connected  to  the Internet. Software located through
   this service can be obtained by means of ftp(1);  for  hosts
   with  access  to BITNET/NetNorth/EARN, it can be obtained by
   electronic mail through the Princeton bitftp  (1L)  service.
   Send mail to
                       bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu
   Other Internet users who are not directly connected may  use
   the services of various ftp-by-mail servers including
                       ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
   Some archie systems track  archive  sites  globally,  others
   only  track  the  archive  sites in their country, region or
   continent in order  to  reduce  the  load  on  trans-oceanic
   links.  There are a number of archie hosts serving different
   continental user communities. The servers command will  list
   the most up-to-date information on archie servers worldwide.
   archie.au*                  Australia
   archie.edvz.uni-linz.ac.at* Austria
   archie.univie.ac.at*        Austria
   archie.uqam.ca*             Canada
   archie.funet.fi             Finland
   archie.th-darmstadt.de*     Germany
   archie.ac.il*               Israel
   archie.unipi.it*            Italy
   archie.wide.ad.jp           Japan
   archie.kr*                  Korea
   archie.sogang.ac.kr*        Korea
   archie.rediris.es*          Spain
   archie.luth.se*             Sweden
   archie.switch.ch*           Switzerland
   archie.ncu.edu.tw*          Taiwan
   archie.doc.ic.ac.uk*        United Kingdom
   archie.unl.edu              USA (NE)
   archie.internic.net*        USA (NJ)
   archie.rutgers.edu*         USA (NJ)
   archie.ans.net*             USA (NY)
   archie.sura.net*            USA (MD)
   Sites marked with an asterisk '*' run archie version 3.0

Sun Release 4.1 Last change: 12 Apr 1993 1

ARCHIE(1L) MISC. REFERENCE MANUAL PAGES ARCHIE(1L)

   archie can be accessed interactively, via electronic mail or
   through archie client programs.
Using the Interactive (telnet) Interface
   In order to use the interactive system you  should  use  the
   following procedure:
   1)   telnet to the archie system closest to you. Do not  use
        ftp for this, it will not work.
   2)   Login as user  archie  (no  capitals,  no  password  is
        required). The system should print a banner message and
        status report before presenting you  with  the  command
        prompt.
   3)   Type help for complete information on the system.
   For full details, refer to the section entitled ARCHIE  COM-
   MANDS which appears below.
Using the Electronic Mail Interface
   In order to use the email interface, send requests to:
        archie@<archie server>
   where <archie server> is one of the hosts listed  above,  or
   one  returned by the servers command.  Send the word help in
   a message  to  obtain  a  list  of  available  commands  and
   features.   This is a completely automated interface, acting
   without human intervention.
   For full details, refer to the section entitled ARCHIE  COM-
   MANDS which appears below.
Using the archie clients
   The source code for a variety of archie client programs  can
   be  obtained  via  anonymous  ftp(1)  from any of the archie
   server  hosts  listed  above.  They  are   stored   in   the
   archie/clients   or  pub/archie/clients  directories.  These
   clients communicate via the Prospero distributed file system
   protocol  with  archie  servers, which perform the specified
   queries and return the results to the user. Currently  there
   are  command  line and X(1) clients available. These clients
   should run on most Unix platforms as well as  other  systems
   with  compatibility libraries. For more information on Pros-
   pero send your queries to info-prospero-request@isi.edu
Communicating with the Database Administrators
   Mail to archie administrators at a particular archie  server
   should be sent to the address
        archie-admin@<archie server>
   where <archie server> is one of the hosts listed above.
   To send mail to  the  implementors  of  the  archie  system,
   please send mail to
        archie-group@bunyip.com
   The archie server system is a product of Bunyip  Information
   Systems.
   Requests for additions to the set of hosts surveyed for  the
   database,  modifications  to  the Software Description Data-
   base, or other administrative matters, should be sent to:
        archie-admin@bunyip.com

ARCHIE COMMANDS

   In the archie system version 3 the telnet and email  clients
   accept  a  common  set  of commands. Additionally, there are
   specialized commands specfic to the  particular  interfaces.
   See  THE  INTERACTIVE INTERFACE and THE EMAIL INTERFACE sec-
   tions below for a list of these commands.
   Note that some archie server sites may disable some  of  the
   commands for reasons particular to their site.  As well some
   sites limit the number of  concurrent  interactive  (telnet)
   sessions to better utilize limited resources.
Commands
   Arguments to commands shown  in  square  brackets  '[]'  are
   optional; all others are mandatory.
   find <pattern>
   prog <pattern>
        This command produces a list of files matching the pat-
        tern  <pattern>.  The <pattern> may be interpreted as a
        simple substring, a case sensitive substring, an  exact
        string  or a regular expression, depending on the value
        of the search variable.  The output  normally  contains
        such information as the file name that was matched, the
        directory path leading to it, the  site  containing  it
        and  the time at which that site was last updated.  The
        format of  the  output  can  be  selected  through  the
        output format variable.  The results are sorted accord-
        ing to the value of the sortby variable, and  are  lim-
        ited in number by the maxhits variable.
        prog is identical to find.  It is included for backward
        compatibility with older versions of the system.
   help [<topic> [<subtopic>] ...]
        Invokes the help system and presents help on the speci-
        fied  topic.   A  list of words is considered to be one
        topic, not a list of individual topics. Thus,
             help set maxhits
        requests help on the subtopic maxhits of topic set, not
        on  two  separate  topics.  After help is presented the
        user is placed in the help system at the deepest  level
        containing subtopics.
        For example, after typing
             help set maxhits
        and being shown the information for that topic the user
        is placed at the level set in the help hierarchy.
   list [<pattern>]
        Produce a list of sites whose contents are contained in
        the archie database. With no argument all the sites are
        listed. If given, the <pattern> argument is interpreted
        as  a  regular  expression  (See  "REGULAR EXPRESSIONS"
        below) against which to match site  names:  only  those
        names  matching  are  printed. The format of the output
        can be selected through the output format variable.
        Note that the numerical (IP) address associated with  a
        site  name  was  valid  at  the  last time the site was
        updated in  the  archie  database  but  may  have  been
        changed   subsequently.   Furthermore,  the  listed  IP
        address is the primary address as listed in the  Domain
        Name System (secondary addresses are not stored).
        Example:
             list
        lists all sites in the database, while
             list .de$
        lists all German sites.
   mail <address>
        Mail the result of the last command that produced  out-
        put (eg. find, whatis, list) to <address>. This must be
        a vaid email address.
   manpage  [ roff | ascii ]
        Display  the  archie  manual  page  (this  file).   The
        optional  arguments  specify the format of the returned
        document. roff specifies  UNIX  troff(1)  format  while
        ascii  specifies plain, preformatted ASCII output. With
        no arguments it defaults to ascii.
   domains
        Asks the current server for  the  list  of  the  archie
        psuedo-domains  that it supports. See the entry for the
        match domain variable  below.  This  command  takes  no
        arguments.
        Example:
             domains
        requests the list of pseudo-domains  from  the  server.
        The result looks (in part) something like this:
        africa               Africa               za
        anzac                OZ & New Zealand     au:nz
        asia                 Asia                 kr:hk:sg:jp:cn:my:tw:in
        centralamerica       Central America      sv:gt:hn
        easteurope           Eastern Europe       bg:hu:pl:cs:ro:si:hr
        mideast              Middle East          eg:.il:kw:sa
        northamerica         North America        usa:ca:mx
        scandinavia          Scandinavia          no:dk:se:fi:ee:is
        southamerica         South American       ar:bo:br:cl:co:cr:cu:ec:pe
        usa                  United States        edu:com:mil:gov:us
        westeurope           Western Europe       westeurope1:westeurope2
        world                The World            world1:world2
        The first column gives the names of pseduo-domains sup-
        ported  by  the  server.  The second gives the "natural
        language" description  of  the  pseudo-domain  and  the
        third   column  is  the  actual  definitions  of  those
        domains. Thus here the "asia" domain  is  comprised  of
        the  Domain Name System country codes for Korea ("kr"),
        Hong Kong ("hk"), Singapore ("sg") etc.  Pseudo-domains
        may also be constructed from other pseudo-domains: thus
        one component  of  the  the  "northamerica"  domain  is
        itself constructed from the "usa" pseudo-domain.
   motd Re-display the "message of the day", which is  normally
        printed  when  the user initially logs on to the client
        (in the case of the interactive interface)  or  at  the
        start of the returned message (in the email interface).
   servers
        Display  a  list  of  all  publicly  accessible  archie
        servers  worldwide.  The  names  of the hosts, their IP
        addresses and geographical locations are listed.
   set <variable-name> [<value>]
        Set the specified variable.  Variables are used to con-
        trol  various  aspects  of the way archie operates; the
        interpretation of <pattern> arguments,  the  format  of
        output  from  various  commands,  etc.  See the section
        below on variables for a description  of  each  one  as
        well as the entries for unset and show.
   show [<variable-name> ...]
        Without any argument, display the  status  of  all  the
        user-settable  variables, including such information as
        its type (boolean, numeric, string), whether or not  it
        is  set  and  its current value (if its type requires a
        value).  Otherwise show  the  status  of  each  of  the
        specified arguments.
        Example:
             show maxhits
   site <sitename>
        This command is currently unimplemented under version 3
        of the archie system.
   unset variable
        Remove any value associated with  the  specified  vari-
        able.   This  may  cause  counter-intuitive behavior in
        some cases; for example, if maxhits is not  defined  by
        the  user,  the  find  command  will print the internal
        default number of  matches  rather  than  an  unlimited
        number of matches.
   version
        Print the current version of the client.
   whatis <substring>
        Search the Software Description Database for the  given
        substring,  ignoring  case.   This database consists of
        names and short descriptions of many software packages,
        documents  (like  RFCs  and  educational material), and
        data files stored on the Internet.
        Example:
             whatis uucp
        in part gives as a result:
             findpath.sh             UUCP Pathfinder
             logfile-stats           UUCP LOGFILE analyzer
             mapstats                UUCP map  statistics  pro-
             gram
Variable Types
   The behavior of archie can be modified by certain variables,
   the values of which may be changed using the set command, or
   removed entirely by the  unset  command.   There  are  three
   variable types:
   boolean        (Set or unset)
   numeric        (Integer within a defined range)
   string         (String of characters which may or may not be
                  restricted).
                  If the value of a string variable should con-
                  tain  leading  or  trailing  spaces  then  it
                  should be quoted.  Two ways of  quoting  text
                  are  to  surround  it  with  a pair of double
                  quotes (`"'), or to precede individual  char-
                  acters  with  a  backslash  (`\').  (A double
                  quote, or a backslash may itself be quoted by
                  preceding  it by a backslash.)  The resulting
                  value is that of the string with  the  quotes
                  stripped off.
Numeric Variables
   maxhits
        Allow the find command to generate at most  the  speci-
        fied  number  of  matches  (permissible  range: 0-1000;
        default: 100).
        Example:
             set maxhits 100
        halts prog after 100 matches have been found in total.
   maxhitspm
        Across all the anonymous FTP archives on  the  Internet
        (and  even  on  one  single anonymous FTP archive) many
        files will have the same  name.  For  example,  if  you
        search for a very common filename like "README" you can
        get hundreds even thousands of matches. You  can  limit
        the  number  of  files  with the same name through this
        variable. For example,
             set maxhitspm 100
        tells the system only 100 files  with  the  same  name.
        Note  that the overall maximum number of files returned
        is still controlled with the 'maxhits' variable.
   maxmatch
        This variable will limit the number filenames returned.
        For  example, if maxmatch is set to 2 and you perform a
        substring search for the string "etc", and the database
        contains  filenames  "etca", "betc" and "detc" only the
        filenames "etca" and "betc" will be returned.  However,
        depending  on  the  values of maxhitspm and maxhits you
        will get back a  number  of  actual  files  with  those
        names. Example:
             set maxmatch 20
   max split size
        Approximate maximum size, in bytes, of  a  file  to  be
        mailed  to  the user.  Any output larger than this will
        be split in pieces of about this size.  This can be set
        by the user in the range 1024 to ~2Gb with a default of
        51200 bytes.
String Variables
   compress
        The kind of data compression the user can specify  when
        mailing back output.  Currently allowed values are none
        and compress (standard UNIX compress(1),withadefaultof
   encode
        The type of  post-compression  encoding  the  user  can
        specify  when  mailing  back output.  Currently allowed
        values are none and uuencode, with a default  of  none.
        Note  that  this variable is ignored unless compression
        is enabled (via the compress) variable.
   language
        Allows the user to specify the language  in  which  the
        help,  etc.  is presented.  Currently the default value
        is english.
   mailto
        If the mail command is issued with no  arguments,  mail
        the output of the last command to the address specified
        by this string variable.  Initially  this  variable  is
        unset.
        Example:
             set mailto user@frobozz.com
        Conventional Internet addressing styles are understood.
        BITNET sites should use the convention:
             user@sitename.bitnet
        UUCP addresses can be specified as
             user@sitename.uucp
   match domain
        This variable allows users to  restrict  the  scope  of
        their  search  based  upon  the  Fully Qualified Domain
        Names (FQDN) of the anonymous FTP sites being searched.
        In  this  way,  the  user can specify a colon-separated
        list of domain names to which all returned  sites  must
        match.  Each  component  in  the  list  is taken as the
        rightmost part of the FQDN. For example,
             set match domain ca:internic.net:harvard.edu
        means that the names of all returned sites must end  in
        "ca"  (Canada),  "internic.net"  (sites in the Internet
        NIC) or "harvard.edu" (sites at Harvard University).
        While these are all real domain names, listing all pos-
        sible  combinations  for  say,  the  USA, would quickly
        become tedious (and if you think that is bad, try list-
        ing  all  the  countries on the Internet in Europe). To
        aid in this problem, the archie system has the  concept
        of  pseudo-domains  to  allow  users to use a shorthand
        notation when using this facility. These pseudo-domains
        are defined on a server-by-server basis and you can use
        the domains command to query your  current  server  for
        its list of predefined pseudo-domains.
        A pseudo-domain is a list  of  real  DNS  domain  names
        and/or a list of other pseudo-domains. For example, the
        archie administrator on the  server  could  define  the
        pseudo-domain
             "usa"
             to be
             "edu:mil:com:gov:us"
        If this definition existed  on  the  server,  then  you
        could
             set match domain usa
        which would be the same as saying
             set match domain edu:mil:com:gov:us
        In addition, the server administrator may define
             "northamerica"
             to be
             "usa:ca:mx"
        meaning that "northamerica" is composed of the  psuedo-
        domain  "usa"  and  the  real domains "ca" (Canada) and
        "mx" (Mexico). This process can be repeated for 20 lev-
        els  (more  than  sufficient for any naming scheme). By
        using  the  domains  command  you  can  determine  what
        pseudo-domains your current server supports.
   match path
        Sometimes you only would like your  search  (using  the
        find)  command  to look for files or directories with a
        certain set of names in their full path.
        For example, many  anonymous  FTP  site  administrators
        will  put software packages for the MacIntosh in a path
        containing the name "mac" or "macintosh". Another exam-
        ple  is  when  a document exists in several formats and
        you are only looking for the  PostScript  version.  You
        can guess that the file may end in ".ps" or it maybe in
        a directory called "ps" or "PostScript".
        This is usually guesswork, but is is useful to have the
        archie  system  only look for files or directories with
        particular components in their path name.
        This variable allows you to do this. The arguments  are
        a  colon-separated  list  of  possible  path  name com-
        ponents. In the last example above, saying
             set match path ps:postscript
        will restrict the search only to match those  files  or
        directories which have the strings "ps" or "postscript"
        in their path.
        The comparison is always  case-insensitive  (regardless
        of the value of the match variable) and there is a log-
        ical OR connecting the components  so  that  the  above
        statement  says:  "find  only  files which have 'ps' OR
        'postscript'  in  their  path".  If  either   component
        matches then the condition is satisfied.
   output format
        Affects  the  way  the  output  of  find  and  list  is
        displayed.  User settable, with valid values of machine
        (machine readable format), terse and  verbose,  with  a
        default of verbose.
   search
        The type of search done by the find (or prog)  command.
        User  settable  with a range of exact, regex, sub, sub-
        case, exact regex, exact sub and exact subcase  with  a
        default  of  sub.  (The exact <x> types cause it to try
        exact first, then fall back to type <x> if  no  matches
        are found).  The values have the following meanings:
        exact
             Exact match (the fastest method).  A match  occurs
             if  the  file  (or directory) name in the database
             corresponds exactly to  the  user-given  substring
             (including case).
             For example, this type of search could be used  to
             locate all files called xlock.tar.Z
        regex
             Allow user-specified (search) strings to take  the
             form of ed(1) regular expressions.
             Note: unless specifically anchored to  the  begin-
             ning  (with  ^)  or  end (with $) of a line, ed(1)
             regular  expressions  (effectively)  have   ``.*''
             prepended  and  appended to them.  For example, it
             is not necessary to type
                  find .*xnlock.*
             because
                  find xnlock
             suffices.  In this instance, the  regex  match  is
             equivalent a simple substring match.  Those unfam-
             iliar with regular expressions should refer to the
             section entitled REGULAR EXPRESSIONS which appears
             below.
        sub  Substring (case insensitive).  A match  occurs  if
             the  file (or directory) name in the database con-
             tains the user-given substring, without regard  to
             case.
             Example:
             The pattern:
                  is
             matches any of the following:
                  islington
                  this
                  poison
        subcase
             Substring (case sensitive).  As above, but  taking
             case as significant.
             Example:
             The pattern:
                  TeX
             will match:
                  LaTeX
             but neither of the following:
                  Latex
                  TExTroff
   server
        the Prospero server to which the client  connects  when
        find or list commands are invoked.  User settable, with
        a default value of localhost.
   sortby
        Set the method of sorting to be applied to output  from
        the  find command.  Typing the keyboard interrupt char-
        acter (generally Cntl-C on UNIX hosts) aborts a search.
        Unlike  previous versions of the archie system, version
        3 does not allow partial results.  The output phase may
        be aborted by typing the abort character a second time.
        The  five  permitted  methods  (and  their   associated
        reverse orders) are:
        none Unsorted (default; no reverse order, though  rnone
             is accepted)
        filename
             Sort  files/directories  by  name,  using  lexical
             order (reverse order: rfilename)
        hostname
             Sort on the archive  hostname,  in  lexical  order
             (reverse order: rhostname)
        size Sort  by  size,  largest  files/directories  first
             (reverse order: rsize)
        time Sort by modification time, with  the  most  recent
             file/directory names first (reverse order: rtime)

THE INTERACTIVE (TELNET) INTERFACE

   The interactive interface accepts the following commands and
   variables in addtion to those listed above.
Commands
   stty [[<option> <character>] ...]
        This command allows the user to change the  interpreta-
        tion  of  specified characters, in order to match their
        particular terminal type.  At the moment only erase  is
        recognized  as an <option>.  (Typically, <character> is
        a control character and may be specified as a  pair  of
        characters  (e.g. control-h as the pair '^' followed by
        'h'), the character itself (literal), or  as  a  quoted
        pair or literal.
        Without any arguments the command displays the  current
        values of the recognized options.
   mail [<address>]
        The output of the previous successful command (i.e.  an
        invocation  of  find, list or whatis that produced out-
        put)  is  mailed  to  the  specified  electronic   mail
        address.  If  no <address> is given the contents of the
        mailto variable are used. If this variable is  not  set
        then  an  error occurs, and nothing is mailed, although
        the output is still available to be mailed.
        Example:
             mail user1@hello.edu
        Conventional Internet addressing styles are understood.
        BITNET sites should use the convention:
             user@sitename.bitnet
        UUCP addresses can be specified as
             user@sitename.uucp
   pager
        This command is included only for backward  compatibil-
        ity.   It has the same effect as set pager.  Its use is
        discouraged and it will be removed in a future release.
   nopager
        This command is included only for backward  compatibil-
        ity.   It  has the same effect as unset pager.  Its use
        is discouraged and it  will  be  removed  in  a  future
        release.
Variables
   autologout
        Set the length of idle time (in minutes) allowed before
        automatic  logout  (permissible  range: 1-300; default:
        60).
        Example:
             set autologout 45
        logs the user out after 45 minutes of idle time.
   pager
        Filter all output through the default  pager  (default:
        unset).   When using the pager you may also want to set
        the term variable to your terminal type (see term vari-
        able).
        Example:
             set pager
   status
        When set this variable will cause the system to  report
        the  position  in  the  queue  of  your  request on the
        server. In addition, it will display the estimated time
        to  completion  of your request. This estimate is based
        in an average of the amount of  times  similar  queries
        have  taken  in  the past several minutes. The variable
        also controls the display of  a  "spinner"  during  the
        database  search,  which indicates that we are awaiting
        results from the Prospero server. Set by default.
   term Specify the type of terminal in  use  (and  optionally,
        its  size  in  rows  and columns).  This information is
        used by the pager.
        The usage is:
             set term <terminal-type> [<#rows> [<#columns>]]
        The terminal type is mandatory, but the number of  rows
        and  columns  is optional; specify either rows only, or
        both rows and columns (default: 24 rows,  80  columns).
        The default value for this variable is dumb. However it
        may be set automatically through  the  telnet  protocol
        negotiation.
        Examples:
             set term vt100
             set term xterm 60
             set term xterm 24 100

THE EMAIL INTERFACE

   The archie email interface currently accepts  the  following
   commands in addition to those listed in the COMMANDS section
   above.
   path <address> is an alias for
        set mailto <address>
   quit Ignore any further lines past this point in  the  mail.
        This  is  generally  not  needed,  but  can  be used to
        prevent the system from interpreting signatures etc. as
        archie commands.
   The Subject: line in incoming mail is  processed  as  if  it
   were part of the main message body.
   A message not containing a valid request will be treated  as
   a help request.

REGULAR EXPRESSIONS

   Regular expressions follow the conventions of the ed(1) com-
   mand,  allowing sophisticated pattern matching.  In the fol-
   lowing discussion, the string containing a  regular  expres-
   sion  will be called the ``pattern'', and the string against
   which  it  is  to  be  matched  is  called  the  ``reference
   string''.  Regular expressions imbue certain characters with
   special meaning, providing a  quoting  mechanism  to  remove
   this special meaning when required.
   The rules governing regular expression are:
   c    A  character  c  matches  itself  unless  it  has  been
        assigned  a special meaning as listed below.  A special
        character loses its special meaning  when  preceded  by
        the  character  '\'.  This does not apply to '{', which
        is non-special until it is so treated.  Thus,  although
        '*'  normally  has  special  meaning,  the  string '\*'
        matches itself.
        Example:
        The pattern
             acdef
        matches any of the following:
             s83acdeffff
             acdefsecs
             acdefsecs
        but neither of the following:
             accdef
             aacde1f
        Example:
        Normally the characters '*'  and '$' are  special,  but
        the pattern
             a\*bse\$
        acts as above.  Any reference string containing:
             a*bse$
        as a substring will be flagged as a match.
   .    A period (known as a wildcard  character)  matches  any
        character except the newline character.
        Example:
        The pattern
             ....
        will match any 4 characters in  the  reference  string,
        except a newline character.
   ^    A caret (^) appearing at the  beginning  of  a  pattern
        requires  that the reference string must start with the
        specified pattern (an escaped caret, or a caret appear-
        ing  elsewhere  in  the  pattern,  is treated as a non-
        special character).
        Example:
        The pattern
             ^efghi
        The pattern will match  only  those  reference  strings
        starting  with efghi; thus, it will match either of the
        following:
             efghi
             efghijlk
        but not:
             abcefghi
   $    A dollar sign ($) appearing at the  end  of  a  pattern
        requires that the pattern appear at the end of a refer-
        ence string (an escaped dollar sign, or a  dollar  sign
        appearing  elsewhere,  is  treated as a regular charac-
        ter).
        Example:
        The pattern
             efghi$
        Will match either of the following:
             efghi abcdefghi
        but not:
             efghijkl
   [string]
        Match any single character within  the  brackets.   The
        caret  (^)  has  a  special  meaning if it is the first
        character in the series: the  pattern  will  match  any
        character other than one in the list.
        Example:
        The pattern
             [^abc]
        Will match any character except one of:
             a
             b
             c
        To match a right bracket (]) in the list, put it first,
        as in:
             []ab01]
        A caret appearing anywhere but the in first position is
        treated as a regular character.
        The minus (-) character is special within square brack-
        ets.   It is used to define a range of ASCII characters
        to be matched.  For example, the pattern:
             [a-z]
        matches any lower case letter.  The minus can  be  made
        non-special  by  placing  it  first  or last within the
        square brackets.  The characters '$', '*' and  '.'  are
        not special within square brackets.
        Example:
        The pattern
             [ab01]
        matches a single occurrence of  a  character  from  the
        set:
             a
             b
             0
             1
        Example:
        The pattern
             [^ab01]
        will match any single character other than one from the
        set:
             a
             b
             0
             1
        Example :
        The pattern
             [a0-9b]
        matches one of the characters:
             a
             b
        or a digit between 0 and 9, inclusive.
        Example :
        The pattern
             [^a0-9b.$]
        matches any single character which is not in the set:
             a
             b
             .
             $
        or a digit between 0 and 9, inclusive.
  • Match zero or more occurrences of an immediately

preceding regular expression.

        Example:
        The pattern
             a*
        matches zero or more occurrences of the character:
             a
        Example:
        The pattern
             [A-Z]*
        matches zero or more  occurrences  of  the  upper  case
        alphabet.
   \{m\}
        Match exactly m  occurrences  of  a  preceding  regular
        expression, where m is a non-negative integer between 0
        and 255 (inclusive).
        Example:
        The pattern
             ab\{3\}
        matches any substring in the reference string  consist-
        ing  of the character `a' followed by exactly three `b'
        characters.
   \{m,\}
        Match at least m occurrences of the  preceding  regular
        expression.
        Example:
        The pattern
             ab\{3,\}
        matches any substring in the reference  string  of  the
        character  `a'  followed  by at least three `b' charac-
        ters.
   \{m,n\}
        Match between m and n occurrences of the preceding reg-
        ular  expression  (where  n  is  a non-negative integer
        between 0 and 255, and n>m).
        Example:
        The pattern
             ab\{3,5\}
        matches any substring in the reference string  consist-
        ing of the character `a' followed by at least three but
        at most five `b' characters.
Tips for Using Regular Expressions
   1)   When matching a substring it is not  necessary  to  use
        the  wildcard character to match the part of the refer-
        ence string preceding and following the substring.
        Example:
        The pattern
             abcd
        will match any reference string  containing  this  pat-
        tern.  It is not necessary to use
             .*abcd.*
        as the pattern.
   2)   In order to constrain a pattern to the entire reference
        pattern, use the construction:
             ^pattern$
   3)   The '[]' operator provides an easy mechanism to  obtain
        case insensitivity.  For example, to match the word:
             hello
        regardless of case, use the pattern:
             [Hh][Ee][Ll][Ll][Oo]

THE ARCHIE DATABASE

   The archie database subsystem maintains a list of about  900
   Internet anonymous ftp(1) archive sites of approximately 2.1
   million   files   containing   170   Gigabytes   (that   is,
   170,000,000,000 bytes) of information.  The current database
   requires about 250 MB of disk storage.

SEE ALSO

   bitftp (1L), ftp(1), telnet(1), archie(1), xarchie(1)

AUTHORS

   Bunyip   Information   Systems   Inc.,    Montreal    Canada
   (info@bunyip.com).
   Original manual page by R. P. C.  Rodgers,  UCSF  School  of
   Pharmacy,      San      Francisco,      California     94143
   (rodgers@maxwell.mmwb.ucsf.edu),   Nelson   H.   F.    Beebe
   (beebe@math.utah.edu), and Alan Emtage (bajan@bunyip.com).

archie>

/data/webs/external/dokuwiki/data/pages/archive/internet/archie.man.txt · Last modified: 2002/06/22 04:02 by 127.0.0.1

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