NAME
news — print news items
SYNOPSIS
news
[-a]
[-n]
[-s]
[items]
DESCRIPTION
news
is used to keep the user informed of current events.
By convention, these events are described by files in the directory
/var/news.
When invoked without arguments,
news
prints the contents of all current files in
/var/news,
most recent first, with each preceded by an appropriate header.
news
stores the ``currency'' time
as the modification date of a file named
.news_time
in the user's home directory (the identity of this directory
is determined by the environment variable
$HOME);
only files more recent than this currency time
are considered ``current.''
Options
news
recognizes the following options:
- -a
Print all items, regardless of currency.
The stored time is not changed.
- -n
Report the names of the current items without printing their contents,
and without changing the stored time.
- -s
Report how many current items exist without printing
their names or contents, and without changing the stored time.
It is useful to include such an invocation of
news
in one's
.profile
file, or in the system's
/etc/profile.
All other arguments are assumed to be specific news items
that are to be printed.
If an interrupt is typed during the printing of a news item,
printing stops and the next item is started.
Another interrupt within one second of the first
causes the program to terminate.
EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
International Code Set Support
Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported.
FILES
/var/news/*
$HOME/.news_time
/etc/profile
STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
news: SVID2, SVID3, XPG2
Printable version
