ARCHIVE RETRIEVAL FOR SURNAME LISTS AT ROOTSWEB The surname for any surname mailing list may be substituted for those shown in the examples following. Be sure to retain the -L or -D, as appropriate. These searches will only work if you are a member of the list. Optional commands which may used in body of message, included in examples below: ======================================================================= To set limit on file received at on time: maxfiles 0 [It is not a bad idea to put this command at the beginning of each session, showing whatever you choose for a maximum, with 0 being unlimited.] To be sure nothing later is message is considered a command: quit [It is good to put this at the end of your commands if you have trouble remembering to turn your signature files off.] To retrieve a listing of all available digest messages, sizes, and numbers ======================================================================= Address email to: ROBERTSON-D-request@rootsweb.com Subject: archive Body: ls volume98 [Note: currently (3-29-98), the only volume accessible is volume98. It does contain some 1997 messages, at least for ROBERTSON-L.] To request a specific digest message ==================================== Address email to: ROBERTSON-D-request@rootsweb.com. Subject: archive Body: maxfiles 1 get volume98/2 quit To request multiple digest messages ==================================== Address email to: ROBERTSON-D-request@rootsweb.com. Subject: archive Body: maxfiles 3 get volume98/2 volume98/3 volume98/4 quit [Note: I found that any digests over 6 in one command were ignored and caused an error message. It is possible to have more than one line beginning with "get".] To request digest messages 1-9 ============================== Address email to: ROBERTSON-D-request@rootsweb.com. Subject: archive Body: maxfiles 10 get volume98/? quit To request digest messages 10-19 ================================ Address email to: ROBERTSON-D-request@rootsweb.com. Subject: archive Body: maxfiles 10 get volume98/1? quit To request digest messages 20-29 ================================ Address email to: ROBERTSON-D-request@rootsweb.com. Subject: archive Body: maxfiles 10 get volume98/2? quit To request digest messages 110-119 ================================== Address email to: ROBERTSON-D-request@rootsweb.com. Subject: archive Body: maxfiles 10 get volume98/11? quit [See how you change the number(s) following the slash? The ? is a "wildcard" standing for "any character", in this case, 0 through 9. The maxfiles and quit commands are optional but recommended.] To search for word in individual messages ========================================= Address email to: ROBERTSON-L-request@rootsweb.com. Subject: archive Body: egrep tuscaloosa latest/* quit [Note that this is sent to the L version of the list and not the D. It is requesting a listing of all messages containing tuscaloosa. In the listing returned, the first number you see in each line, immediately after the slash, is the message number containing the word searched-for. Ignore the number following the colon. Note that a single message can be listed multiple times if the searched word occurs in them more than once.] To request individual messages found in search (above) ====================================================== Address email to: ROBERTSON-L-request@rootsweb.com. Subject: archive Body: maxfiles 12 get latest/136 latest/138 latest/157 latest/181 latest/198 latest/201 get latest/202 latest/267 latest/294 latest/3 latest/304 latest/58 quit [Note that the email is addressed to L version of the list, not the D version. Note that the optional maxfile command matches the number of emails requested. Note that multiple emails can be requested in a single get command, but are limited to 6 per command. Note that there can be more than one get command in a message. The final quit command is optional but prudent.] To find out which are the most recent message numbers ===================================================== Address email to: ROBERTSON-L-request@rootsweb.com. Subject: archive Body: Address email to: ROBERTSON-L-request@rootsweb.com. Subject: archive Body: list latest/?00 quit [Note: e.g., if 700 is the highest number returned, you can send a followup message of ls latest/7?? and you will will get a directory of all messages starting with 700, which will inform you of the very latest message numbers. This odd procedure is necessary because the response to the command ls latest will cut off at 512, and if the latest number is higher, you still will not know what it is.] FWIW (not much really!): What the archive server says that it will obey: ======================================================================= This archive server knows the following commands: get filename ... ls directory ... egrep case_insensitive_regular_expression filename ... maxfiles nnn version quit Aliases for 'get': send, sendme, getme, gimme, retrieve, mail Aliases for 'ls': dir, directory, list, show Aliases for 'egrep': search, grep, fgrep, find Aliases for 'quit': exit Lines starting with a '#' are ignored. Multiple commands per mail are allowed. Setting maxfiles to zero will remove the limit (to protect you against yourself no more than maxfiles files will be returned per request). Egrep supports most common flags. If you append a non-standard signature, you should use the quit command to prevent the archive server from interpreting the signature. Examples: ls latest get latest/12 egrep some.word latest/* Related links ============= http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/user/user.html LISTSERV online docs http://east.camel.math.ca/help/regex.html Regular expressions