Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site lsuc.UUCP
Path: utzoo!lsuc!msb
From: msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader)
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Re: wanted enhancement to vnews programs
Message-ID: <895@lsuc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 4-Nov-85 13:22:38 EST
Article-I.D.: lsuc.895
Posted: Mon Nov  4 13:22:38 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 4-Nov-85 18:57:42 EST
References: <2431@sunybcs.UUCP> <882@lsuc.UUCP> <2675@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Reply-To: msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader)
Distribution: net
Organization: Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto
Lines: 51
Summary: How to use SUBJLINE with = in rn

David Sherman (lsuc!dave) wrote:
> >You can use the '=' key in rn to get this. It can be customized
> >to show as many as you like (normally a screen-ful) and to show
> >what information you want (normally the Subject: line). One person
> >here (lsuc!msb) has set it up to show author, part of the Subject
> >line, and number of lines of each unread article.

And a couple of people have asked by news or mail how this is done.

Well, actually, dave wasn't quite right; you can only do part of this.
You use the environment variable SUBJLINE.  The manual says:

     SUBJLINE (%)
	     Controls the format of the	lines displayed	by the
	     '=' command at the	article	selection level.

	     Default: %s

Actually, I think the default is %[Subject], not %s.  The latter strips
the Re: field.

So if you want the number of lines and the subject, you define SUBJLINE
as "%[Lines] %s".  As usual, if you have an rninit file (see the manual)
and you don't want to put SUBJLINE in your environment, you could put
-ESUBJLINE="%[Lines] %s" in your rninit file.  Or if you want the unmodified
subject, use %[Subject] instead of %s.

Now, what you *can't* do is get *part* of the subject line.  *You* can't,
but *I* can, and that's what fooled dave.  I made some local modifications
to rn so that I could get field width limits into a %-format, and so that
I could get %f with the real name first and net address second (I called
this %w).  My SUBJLINE actually is: "%>-15<15w (%>3[Lines]) %<52[Subject]".
The closest you can come is "%f %[Lines] %[Subject]".

I'm not releasing the modifications.  I mailed them to Larry Wall,
but due to a mail glitch I didn't get his mail requesting a different
syntax until after I'd written it that way.  My modification is for my
use only, in the interests of keeping rn maintenance coordinated.
I only mentioned it because dave posted that item.

Oh: %[ takes some time to execute, because the file has to be reread.
I consider it worthwhile, because the lines still come up faster than I
can read them, unless the system is dragging.  On a busy machine you may
want to stay with the default.  Anyway, once you have one %[ in your
SUBJLINE, a second one is cheap.

If you don't have SUBJLINE, you have an old version of rn.
Mark Brader - lsuc!msb

"I'm a little worried about the bug-eater," she said.  "We're embedded
in bugs, have you noticed?"		-- Niven, "The Integral Trees"