NAME

checknews − check to see if user has news

SYNOPSIS

checknews [ -ynqevvN ]  [ newsgroup list ]  [ readnews options ]

DESCRIPTION

Checknews reports whether or not the user has news. 

−y reports “There is news” if the user has news to read.  If the −N flag is given, then the newsgroups requested are also printed. 

−n reports ”No news” if there isn’t any news to read. 

−q causes checknews to be quiet.  Instead of printing a message, the exit status indicates news.  A status of 0 means no news, 1 means there is news. 

−v alters the −y message to show the name of the first newsgroup containing unread news.  Doubling v (e.g.  −vv) will cause an explanation of any claim of new news, and is useful if checknews and readnews(1) disagree on whether there is news.

−e executes readnews if there is news. 

−N causes the next argument to be read and interpreted as a comma-separated list of newsgroups to be checked. 

If there are no options, −y is the default. 

FILES

~/.newsrc Active newsgroups

/usr/lib/news/active Options and list of previously read articles

SEE ALSO

inews(8), postnews(1), readnews(1), vnews(1), news(5), newsrc(5), expire(8), recnews(8), sendnews(8), uurec(8)

BUGS

The −N flag should really be named −n to be consistent with other news programs, but −n was already used.  If the −v flag is used with the −N flag, the first newsgroup in the list where there is news should be printed instead of the entire list.  If the −N flag is used and readnews is invoked (with −e) it does not restrict news reading to those groups checked, but reads all newsgroups where there is new news. 

Version B 2.11  —  Last change: October 19, 1986