Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rice!uw-beaver!milton!khan
From: khan@milton.acs.washington.edu (I Wish)
Newsgroups: news.newusers.questions
Subject: Re: Searching
Summary: regexp searching for messages -- how to
Message-ID: <2218@milton.acs.washington.edu>
Date: 2 Mar 90 01:21:22 GMT
References: <4663@vanuata.cs.glasgow.ac.uk>
Reply-To: khan@milton.acs.washington.edu (I Wish)
Distribution: news.newusers.questions
Organization: Barbarian Driving School, University of Washington, Seattle
Lines: 33

In article <4663@vanuata.cs.glasgow.ac.uk> tommyk@cs.glasgow.ac.uk
(Tommy Kelly) writes:

> When I use /pat/ to search for my name in a newsgroup, I normally get a
> list of a few letter IDs.  But invariably these do NOT contain my name,
> and have no connection with me or my previous postings?  What am I
> doing wrong?  tk

I'll assume the rn newsreader....  It depends on where you are.  If you
want to go back and look for an old message of yours, use something like

        ?tommyk@cs.glas?hr

which says look back through articles (?...?), even ones I've already
read (r), for the string "tommyk@cs.glas" anywhere in the message header
(h) (namely, on the From: or Reply-To: lines), and show me the first
(most recent, going backwards) message you find.  Typing just ? will
then repeat the search, for an older message.  /.../ looks ahead; by
default, /pat/ searches ahead for the regular expression "pat" on the
Subject: line of any message you haven't read yet.  /pat/h looks for the
expression anywhere in the header, /pat/a looks through all of every
article for the expression, /pat/r looks through articles you've already
read as well, ?pat? looks backwards (usually failing due to no unread
articles behind you unless you've been reading by subject, or using
?pat?r).

Sorry for the length of this post, but I'm trying to cover any questions
most new users might have.
-- 
"indecipherable strangers handing out inexplicable humiliation and an
 unidentified army of horsemen laughing at him in his head ..."
                                                           -- Douglas Adams
Erik Seaberg (khan@milton.u.washington.edu)