1 \section{\module{nntplib
} ---
4 \declaremodule{standard
}{nntplib
}
5 \modulesynopsis{NNTP protocol client (requires sockets).
}
7 \indexii{NNTP
}{protocol
}
8 \index{Network News Transfer Protocol
}
10 This module defines the class
\class{NNTP
} which implements the client
11 side of the NNTP protocol. It can be used to implement a news reader
12 or poster, or automated news processors. For more information on NNTP
13 (Network News Transfer Protocol), see Internet
\rfc{977}.
15 Here are two small examples of how it can be used. To list some
16 statistics about a newsgroup and print the subjects of the last
10
20 >>> s = NNTP('news.cwi.nl')
21 >>> resp, count, first, last, name = s.group('comp.lang.python')
22 >>> print 'Group', name, 'has', count, 'articles, range', first, 'to', last
23 Group comp.lang.python has
59 articles, range
3742 to
3803
24 >>> resp, subs = s.xhdr('subject', first + '-' + last)
25 >>> for id, sub in subs
[-
10:
]: print id, sub
27 3792 Re: Removing elements from a list while iterating...
28 3793 Re: Who likes Info files?
29 3794 Emacs and doc strings
30 3795 a few questions about the Mac implementation
31 3796 Re: executable python scripts
32 3797 Re: executable python scripts
33 3798 Re: a few questions about the Mac implementation
34 3799 Re: PROPOSAL: A Generic Python Object Interface for Python C Modules
35 3802 Re: executable python scripts
36 3803 Re:
\POSIX{} wait and SIGCHLD
38 '
205 news.cwi.nl closing connection. Goodbye.'
41 To post an article from a file (this assumes that the article has
45 >>> s = NNTP('news.cwi.nl')
46 >>> f = open('/tmp/article')
48 '
240 Article posted successfully.'
50 '
205 news.cwi.nl closing connection. Goodbye.'
53 The module itself defines the following items:
55 \begin{classdesc
}{NNTP
}{host
\optional{, port
56 \optional{, user
\optional{, password
57 \optional{, readermode
}
58 \optional{, usenetrc
}}}}}
59 Return a new instance of the
\class{NNTP
} class, representing a
60 connection to the NNTP server running on host
\var{host
}, listening at
61 port
\var{port
}. The default
\var{port
} is
119. If the optional
62 \var{user
} and
\var{password
} are provided,
63 or if suitable credentials are present in
\file{~/.netrc
} and the
64 optional flag
\var{usenetrc
} is true (the default),
65 the
\samp{AUTHINFO USER
} and
\samp{AUTHINFO PASS
} commands are used to
66 identify and authenticate the user to the server. If the optional
67 flag
\var{readermode
} is true, then a
\samp{mode reader
} command is
68 sent before authentication is performed. Reader mode is sometimes
69 necessary if you are connecting to an NNTP server on the local machine
70 and intend to call reader-specific commands, such as
\samp{group
}. If
71 you get unexpected
\code{NNTPPermanentError
}s, you might need to set
72 \var{readermode
}.
\var{readermode
} defaults to
\code{None
}.
73 \var{usenetrc
} defaults to
\code{True
}.
75 \versionchanged[\var{usenetrc
} argument added
]{2.4}
78 \begin{classdesc
}{NNTPError
}{}
79 Derived from the standard exception
\code{Exception
}, this is the base
80 class for all exceptions raised by the
\code{nntplib
} module.
83 \begin{classdesc
}{NNTPReplyError
}{}
84 Exception raised when an unexpected reply is received from the
85 server. For backwards compatibility, the exception
\code{error_reply
}
86 is equivalent to this class.
89 \begin{classdesc
}{NNTPTemporaryError
}{}
90 Exception raised when an error code in the range
400--
499 is
91 received. For backwards compatibility, the exception
92 \code{error_temp
} is equivalent to this class.
95 \begin{classdesc
}{NNTPPermanentError
}{}
96 Exception raised when an error code in the range
500--
599 is
97 received. For backwards compatibility, the exception
98 \code{error_perm
} is equivalent to this class.
101 \begin{classdesc
}{NNTPProtocolError
}{}
102 Exception raised when a reply is received from the server that does
103 not begin with a digit in the range
1--
5. For backwards
104 compatibility, the exception
\code{error_proto
} is equivalent to this
108 \begin{classdesc
}{NNTPDataError
}{}
109 Exception raised when there is some error in the response data. For
110 backwards compatibility, the exception
\code{error_data
} is
111 equivalent to this class.
115 \subsection{NNTP Objects
\label{nntp-objects
}}
117 NNTP instances have the following methods. The
\var{response
} that is
118 returned as the first item in the return tuple of almost all methods
119 is the server's response: a string beginning with a three-digit code.
120 If the server's response indicates an error, the method raises one of
121 the above exceptions.
124 \begin{methoddesc
}{getwelcome
}{}
125 Return the welcome message sent by the server in reply to the initial
126 connection. (This message sometimes contains disclaimers or help
127 information that may be relevant to the user.)
130 \begin{methoddesc
}{set_debuglevel
}{level
}
131 Set the instance's debugging level. This controls the amount of
132 debugging output printed. The default,
\code{0}, produces no debugging
133 output. A value of
\code{1} produces a moderate amount of debugging
134 output, generally a single line per request or response. A value of
135 \code{2} or higher produces the maximum amount of debugging output,
136 logging each line sent and received on the connection (including
140 \begin{methoddesc
}{newgroups
}{date, time,
\optional{file
}}
141 Send a
\samp{NEWGROUPS
} command. The
\var{date
} argument should be a
142 string of the form
\code{'
\var{yy
}\var{mm
}\var{dd
}'
} indicating the
143 date, and
\var{time
} should be a string of the form
144 \code{'
\var{hh
}\var{mm
}\var{ss
}'
} indicating the time. Return a pair
145 \code{(
\var{response
},
\var{groups
})
} where
\var{groups
} is a list of
146 group names that are new since the given date and time.
147 If the
\var{file
} parameter is supplied, then the output of the
148 \samp{NEWGROUPS
} command is stored in a file. If
\var{file
} is a string,
149 then the method will open a file object with that name, write to it
150 then close it. If
\var{file
} is a file object, then it will start
151 calling
\method{write()
} on it to store the lines of the command output.
152 If
\var{file
} is supplied, then the returned
\var{list
} is an empty list.
155 \begin{methoddesc
}{newnews
}{group, date, time,
\optional{file
}}
156 Send a
\samp{NEWNEWS
} command. Here,
\var{group
} is a group name or
157 \code{'*'
}, and
\var{date
} and
\var{time
} have the same meaning as for
158 \method{newgroups()
}. Return a pair
\code{(
\var{response
},
159 \var{articles
})
} where
\var{articles
} is a list of message ids.
160 If the
\var{file
} parameter is supplied, then the output of the
161 \samp{NEWNEWS
} command is stored in a file. If
\var{file
} is a string,
162 then the method will open a file object with that name, write to it
163 then close it. If
\var{file
} is a file object, then it will start
164 calling
\method{write()
} on it to store the lines of the command output.
165 If
\var{file
} is supplied, then the returned
\var{list
} is an empty list.
168 \begin{methoddesc
}{list
}{\optional{file
}}
169 Send a
\samp{LIST
} command. Return a pair
\code{(
\var{response
},
170 \var{list
})
} where
\var{list
} is a list of tuples. Each tuple has the
171 form
\code{(
\var{group
},
\var{last
},
\var{first
},
\var{flag
})
}, where
172 \var{group
} is a group name,
\var{last
} and
\var{first
} are the last
173 and first article numbers (as strings), and
\var{flag
} is
174 \code{'y'
} if posting is allowed,
\code{'n'
} if not, and
\code{'m'
} if
175 the newsgroup is moderated. (Note the ordering:
\var{last
},
177 If the
\var{file
} parameter is supplied, then the output of the
178 \samp{LIST
} command is stored in a file. If
\var{file
} is a string,
179 then the method will open a file object with that name, write to it
180 then close it. If
\var{file
} is a file object, then it will start
181 calling
\method{write()
} on it to store the lines of the command output.
182 If
\var{file
} is supplied, then the returned
\var{list
} is an empty list.
185 \begin{methoddesc
}{descriptions
}{grouppattern
}
186 Send a
\samp{LIST NEWSGROUPS
} command, where
\var{grouppattern
} is a wildmat
187 string as specified in RFC2980 (it's essentially the same as DOS or UNIX
188 shell wildcard strings). Return a pair
\code{(
\var{response
},
189 \var{list
})
}, where
\var{list
} is a list of tuples containing
190 \code{(
\var{name
},
\var{title
})
}.
195 \begin{methoddesc
}{description
}{group
}
196 Get a description for a single group
\var{group
}. If more than one group
197 matches (if 'group' is a real wildmat string), return the first match.
198 If no group matches, return an empty string.
200 This elides the response code from the server. If the response code is
201 needed, use
\method{descriptions()
}.
206 \begin{methoddesc
}{group
}{name
}
207 Send a
\samp{GROUP
} command, where
\var{name
} is the group name.
208 Return a tuple
\code{(
\var{response
},
\var{count
},
\var{first
},
209 \var{last
},
\var{name
})
} where
\var{count
} is the (estimated) number
210 of articles in the group,
\var{first
} is the first article number in
211 the group,
\var{last
} is the last article number in the group, and
212 \var{name
} is the group name. The numbers are returned as strings.
215 \begin{methoddesc
}{help
}{\optional{file
}}
216 Send a
\samp{HELP
} command. Return a pair
\code{(
\var{response
},
217 \var{list
})
} where
\var{list
} is a list of help strings.
218 If the
\var{file
} parameter is supplied, then the output of the
219 \samp{HELP
} command is stored in a file. If
\var{file
} is a string,
220 then the method will open a file object with that name, write to it
221 then close it. If
\var{file
} is a file object, then it will start
222 calling
\method{write()
} on it to store the lines of the command output.
223 If
\var{file
} is supplied, then the returned
\var{list
} is an empty list.
226 \begin{methoddesc
}{stat
}{id
}
227 Send a
\samp{STAT
} command, where
\var{id
} is the message id (enclosed
228 in
\character{<
} and
\character{>
}) or an article number (as a string).
229 Return a triple
\code{(
\var{response
},
\var{number
},
\var{id
})
} where
230 \var{number
} is the article number (as a string) and
\var{id
} is the
231 message id (enclosed in
\character{<
} and
\character{>
}).
234 \begin{methoddesc
}{next
}{}
235 Send a
\samp{NEXT
} command. Return as for
\method{stat()
}.
238 \begin{methoddesc
}{last
}{}
239 Send a
\samp{LAST
} command. Return as for
\method{stat()
}.
242 \begin{methoddesc
}{head
}{id
}
243 Send a
\samp{HEAD
} command, where
\var{id
} has the same meaning as for
244 \method{stat()
}. Return a tuple
245 \code{(
\var{response
},
\var{number
},
\var{id
},
\var{list
})
}
246 where the first three are the same as for
\method{stat()
},
247 and
\var{list
} is a list of the article's headers (an uninterpreted
248 list of lines, without trailing newlines).
251 \begin{methoddesc
}{body
}{id,
\optional{file
}}
252 Send a
\samp{BODY
} command, where
\var{id
} has the same meaning as for
253 \method{stat()
}. If the
\var{file
} parameter is supplied, then
254 the body is stored in a file. If
\var{file
} is a string, then
255 the method will open a file object with that name, write to it then close it.
256 If
\var{file
} is a file object, then it will start calling
257 \method{write()
} on it to store the lines of the body.
258 Return as for
\method{head()
}. If
\var{file
} is supplied, then
259 the returned
\var{list
} is an empty list.
262 \begin{methoddesc
}{article
}{id
}
263 Send an
\samp{ARTICLE
} command, where
\var{id
} has the same meaning as
264 for
\method{stat()
}. Return as for
\method{head()
}.
267 \begin{methoddesc
}{slave
}{}
268 Send a
\samp{SLAVE
} command. Return the server's
\var{response
}.
271 \begin{methoddesc
}{xhdr
}{header, string,
\optional{file
}}
272 Send an
\samp{XHDR
} command. This command is not defined in the RFC
273 but is a common extension. The
\var{header
} argument is a header
274 keyword, e.g.
\code{'subject'
}. The
\var{string
} argument should have
275 the form
\code{'
\var{first
}-
\var{last
}'
} where
\var{first
} and
276 \var{last
} are the first and last article numbers to search. Return a
277 pair
\code{(
\var{response
},
\var{list
})
}, where
\var{list
} is a list of
278 pairs
\code{(
\var{id
},
\var{text
})
}, where
\var{id
} is an article number
279 (as a string) and
\var{text
} is the text of the requested header for
281 If the
\var{file
} parameter is supplied, then the output of the
282 \samp{XHDR
} command is stored in a file. If
\var{file
} is a string,
283 then the method will open a file object with that name, write to it
284 then close it. If
\var{file
} is a file object, then it will start
285 calling
\method{write()
} on it to store the lines of the command output.
286 If
\var{file
} is supplied, then the returned
\var{list
} is an empty list.
289 \begin{methoddesc
}{post
}{file
}
290 Post an article using the
\samp{POST
} command. The
\var{file
}
291 argument is an open file object which is read until EOF using its
292 \method{readline()
} method. It should be a well-formed news article,
293 including the required headers. The
\method{post()
} method
294 automatically escapes lines beginning with
\samp{.
}.
297 \begin{methoddesc
}{ihave
}{id, file
}
298 Send an
\samp{IHAVE
} command.
\var{id
} is a message id (enclosed in
299 \character{<
} and
\character{>
}).
300 If the response is not an error, treat
301 \var{file
} exactly as for the
\method{post()
} method.
304 \begin{methoddesc
}{date
}{}
305 Return a triple
\code{(
\var{response
},
\var{date
},
\var{time
})
},
306 containing the current date and time in a form suitable for the
307 \method{newnews()
} and
\method{newgroups()
} methods.
308 This is an optional NNTP extension, and may not be supported by all
312 \begin{methoddesc
}{xgtitle
}{name,
\optional{file
}}
313 Process an
\samp{XGTITLE
} command, returning a pair
\code{(
\var{response
},
314 \var{list
})
}, where
\var{list
} is a list of tuples containing
315 \code{(
\var{name
},
\var{title
})
}.
316 % XXX huh? Should that be name, description?
317 If the
\var{file
} parameter is supplied, then the output of the
318 \samp{XGTITLE
} command is stored in a file. If
\var{file
} is a string,
319 then the method will open a file object with that name, write to it
320 then close it. If
\var{file
} is a file object, then it will start
321 calling
\method{write()
} on it to store the lines of the command output.
322 If
\var{file
} is supplied, then the returned
\var{list
} is an empty list.
323 This is an optional NNTP extension, and may not be supported by all
326 RFC2980 says ``It is suggested that this extension be deprecated''. Use
327 \method{descriptions()
} or
\method{description()
} instead.
330 \begin{methoddesc
}{xover
}{start, end,
\optional{file
}}
331 Return a pair
\code{(
\var{resp
},
\var{list
})
}.
\var{list
} is a list
332 of tuples, one for each article in the range delimited by the
\var{start
}
333 and
\var{end
} article numbers. Each tuple is of the form
334 \code{(
\var{article number
},
\var{subject
},
\var{poster
},
\var{date
},
335 \var{id
},
\var{references
},
\var{size
},
\var{lines
})
}.
336 If the
\var{file
} parameter is supplied, then the output of the
337 \samp{XOVER
} command is stored in a file. If
\var{file
} is a string,
338 then the method will open a file object with that name, write to it
339 then close it. If
\var{file
} is a file object, then it will start
340 calling
\method{write()
} on it to store the lines of the command output.
341 If
\var{file
} is supplied, then the returned
\var{list
} is an empty list.
342 This is an optional NNTP extension, and may not be supported by all
346 \begin{methoddesc
}{xpath
}{id
}
347 Return a pair
\code{(
\var{resp
},
\var{path
})
}, where
\var{path
} is the
348 directory path to the article with message ID
\var{id
}. This is an
349 optional NNTP extension, and may not be supported by all servers.
352 \begin{methoddesc
}{quit
}{}
353 Send a
\samp{QUIT
} command and close the connection. Once this method
354 has been called, no other methods of the NNTP object should be called.
