245 lines
9.5 KiB
TeX
245 lines
9.5 KiB
TeX
\section{Standard Module \sectcode{nntplib}}
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\label{module-nntplib}
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\stmodindex{nntplib}
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\indexii{NNTP}{protocol}
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\setindexsubitem{(in module nntplib)}
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This module defines the class \code{NNTP} which implements the client
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side of the NNTP protocol. It can be used to implement a news reader
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or poster, or automated news processors. For more information on NNTP
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(Network News Transfer Protocol), see Internet \rfc{977}.
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Here are two small examples of how it can be used. To list some
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statistics about a newsgroup and print the subjects of the last 10
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articles:
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\begin{verbatim}
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>>> s = NNTP('news.cwi.nl')
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>>> resp, count, first, last, name = s.group('comp.lang.python')
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>>> print 'Group', name, 'has', count, 'articles, range', first, 'to', last
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Group comp.lang.python has 59 articles, range 3742 to 3803
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>>> resp, subs = s.xhdr('subject', first + '-' + last)
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>>> for id, sub in subs[-10:]: print id, sub
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...
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3792 Re: Removing elements from a list while iterating...
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3793 Re: Who likes Info files?
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3794 Emacs and doc strings
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3795 a few questions about the Mac implementation
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3796 Re: executable python scripts
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3797 Re: executable python scripts
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3798 Re: a few questions about the Mac implementation
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3799 Re: PROPOSAL: A Generic Python Object Interface for Python C Modules
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3802 Re: executable python scripts
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3803 Re: \POSIX{} wait and SIGCHLD
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>>> s.quit()
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'205 news.cwi.nl closing connection. Goodbye.'
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>>>
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\end{verbatim}
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To post an article from a file (this assumes that the article has
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valid headers):
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\begin{verbatim}
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>>> s = NNTP('news.cwi.nl')
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>>> f = open('/tmp/article')
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>>> s.post(f)
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'240 Article posted successfully.'
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>>> s.quit()
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'205 news.cwi.nl closing connection. Goodbye.'
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>>>
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\end{verbatim}
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%
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The module itself defines the following items:
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\begin{funcdesc}{NNTP}{host\optional{, port}}
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Return a new instance of the \code{NNTP} class, representing a
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connection to the NNTP server running on host \var{host}, listening at
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port \var{port}. The default \var{port} is 119.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{excdesc}{error_reply}
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Exception raised when an unexpected reply is received from the server.
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\end{excdesc}
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\begin{excdesc}{error_temp}
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Exception raised when an error code in the range 400--499 is received.
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\end{excdesc}
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\begin{excdesc}{error_perm}
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Exception raised when an error code in the range 500--599 is received.
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\end{excdesc}
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\begin{excdesc}{error_proto}
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Exception raised when a reply is received from the server that does
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not begin with a digit in the range 1--5.
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\end{excdesc}
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\subsection{NNTP Objects}
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NNTP instances have the following methods. The \var{response} that is
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returned as the first item in the return tuple of almost all methods
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is the server's response: a string beginning with a three-digit code.
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If the server's response indicates an error, the method raises one of
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the above exceptions.
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\setindexsubitem{(NNTP object method)}
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\begin{funcdesc}{getwelcome}{}
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Return the welcome message sent by the server in reply to the initial
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connection. (This message sometimes contains disclaimers or help
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information that may be relevant to the user.)
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{set_debuglevel}{level}
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Set the instance's debugging level. This controls the amount of
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debugging output printed. The default, 0, produces no debugging
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output. A value of 1 produces a moderate amount of debugging output,
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generally a single line per request or response. A value of 2 or
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higher produces the maximum amount of debugging output, logging each
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line sent and received on the connection (including message text).
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{newgroups}{date, time}
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Send a \samp{NEWGROUPS} command. The \var{date} argument should be a
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string of the form \code{"\var{yy}\var{mm}\var{dd}"} indicating the
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date, and \var{time} should be a string of the form
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\code{"\var{hh}\var{mm}\var{ss}"} indicating the time. Return a pair
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\code{(\var{response}, \var{groups})} where \var{groups} is a list of
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group names that are new since the given date and time.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{newnews}{group, date, time}
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Send a \samp{NEWNEWS} command. Here, \var{group} is a group name or
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\code{"*"}, and \var{date} and \var{time} have the same meaning as for
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\code{newgroups()}. Return a pair \code{(\var{response},
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\var{articles})} where \var{articles} is a list of article ids.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{list}{}
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Send a \samp{LIST} command. Return a pair \code{(\var{response},
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\var{list})} where \var{list} is a list of tuples. Each tuple has the
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form \code{(\var{group}, \var{last}, \var{first}, \var{flag})}, where
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\var{group} is a group name, \var{last} and \var{first} are the last
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and first article numbers (as strings), and \var{flag} is \code{'y'}
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if posting is allowed, \code{'n'} if not, and \code{'m'} if the
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newsgroup is moderated. (Note the ordering: \var{last}, \var{first}.)
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{group}{name}
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Send a \samp{GROUP} command, where \var{name} is the group name.
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Return a tuple \code{(\var{response}, \var{count}, \var{first},
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\var{last}, \var{name})} where \var{count} is the (estimated) number
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of articles in the group, \var{first} is the first article number in
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the group, \var{last} is the last article number in the group, and
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\var{name} is the group name. The numbers are returned as strings.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{help}{}
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Send a \samp{HELP} command. Return a pair \code{(\var{response},
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\var{list})} where \var{list} is a list of help strings.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{stat}{id}
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Send a \samp{STAT} command, where \var{id} is the message id (enclosed
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in \samp{<} and \samp{>}) or an article number (as a string).
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Return a triple \code{(\var{response}, \var{number}, \var{id})} where
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\var{number} is the article number (as a string) and \var{id} is the
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article id (enclosed in \samp{<} and \samp{>}).
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{next}{}
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Send a \samp{NEXT} command. Return as for \code{stat()}.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{last}{}
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Send a \samp{LAST} command. Return as for \code{stat()}.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{head}{id}
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Send a \samp{HEAD} command, where \var{id} has the same meaning as for
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\code{stat()}. Return a pair \code{(\var{response}, \var{list})}
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where \var{list} is a list of the article's headers (an uninterpreted
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list of lines, without trailing newlines).
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{body}{id}
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Send a \samp{BODY} command, where \var{id} has the same meaning as for
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\code{stat()}. Return a pair \code{(\var{response}, \var{list})}
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where \var{list} is a list of the article's body text (an
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uninterpreted list of lines, without trailing newlines).
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{article}{id}
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Send a \samp{ARTICLE} command, where \var{id} has the same meaning as
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for \code{stat()}. Return a pair \code{(\var{response}, \var{list})}
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where \var{list} is a list of the article's header and body text (an
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uninterpreted list of lines, without trailing newlines).
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{slave}{}
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Send a \samp{SLAVE} command. Return the server's \var{response}.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{xhdr}{header, string}
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Send an \samp{XHDR} command. This command is not defined in the RFC
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but is a common extension. The \var{header} argument is a header
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keyword, e.g. \code{"subject"}. The \var{string} argument should have
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the form \code{"\var{first}-\var{last}"} where \var{first} and
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\var{last} are the first and last article numbers to search. Return a
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pair \code{(\var{response}, \var{list})}, where \var{list} is a list of
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pairs \code{(\var{id}, \var{text})}, where \var{id} is an article id
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(as a string) and \var{text} is the text of the requested header for
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that article.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{post}{file}
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Post an article using the \samp{POST} command. The \var{file}
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argument is an open file object which is read until EOF using its
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\code{readline()} method. It should be a well-formed news article,
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including the required headers. The \code{post()} method
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automatically escapes lines beginning with \samp{.}.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{ihave}{id, file}
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Send an \samp{IHAVE} command. If the response is not an error, treat
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\var{file} exactly as for the \code{post()} method.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{date}{}
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Return a triple \code{(\var{response}, \var{date}, \var{time})},
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containing the current date and time in a form suitable for the
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\code{newnews} and \code{newgroups} methods.
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This is an optional NNTP extension, and may not be supported by all
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servers.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{xgtitle}{name}
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Process an XGTITLE command, returning a pair \code{(\var{response},
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\var{list}}, where \var{list} is a list of tuples containing
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\code{(\var{name}, \var{title})}.
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% XXX huh? Should that be name, description?
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This is an optional NNTP extension, and may not be supported by all
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servers.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{xover}{start, end}
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Return a pair \code{(\var{resp}, \var{list})}. \var{list} is a list
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of tuples, one for each article in the range delimited by the \var{start}
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and \var{end} article numbers. Each tuple is of the form
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\code{(}\var{article number}, \var{subject}, \var{poster}, \var{date}, \var{id}, \var{references}, \var{size}, \var{lines}\code{)}.
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This is an optional NNTP extension, and may not be supported by all
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servers.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{xpath}{id}
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Return a pair \code{(\var{resp}, \var{path})}, where \var{path} is the
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directory path to the article with message ID \var{id}. This is an
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optional NNTP extension, and may not be supported by all servers.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{quit}{}
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Send a \samp{QUIT} command and close the connection. Once this method
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has been called, no other methods of the NNTP object should be called.
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\end{funcdesc}
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