---
name: "news"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "cnews"
version: "cr.g7-40.4"
release: "Debian 5.0 (Lenny)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/news/5"
---

# news(5)

USENET network news articles and batches

## NAME

news - USENET network news articles and batches

## DESCRIPTION

There are two formats of news articles: **A** and **B.** **A** format is obsolete, but looks like this:

```
Aarticle-ID
newsgroups
path
date
title
Body of article
```

A **B** format *article* consists of a series of header lines (collectively referred to as the message *header*), followed by an empty line, followed by the body. A header line must begin with a word (consisting of alphanumerics and dashes), a colon, and at least one space, in that order. This is a specialisation of RFC 822 format. Continued headers are as per RFC 822. Unrecognized headers are ignored. News is stored in the same format transmitted, see \`\`Standard for the Interchange of USENET Messages'' (RFC 1036 nee 850) and \`\`Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages'' (RFC 822, but note amendments in RFC 1123) for a full description. The following headers are among those recognized:

**From:** *user***@***host.domain\[.domain ...\]* **(** *Full Name***)**\
 **Newsgroups:** *news groups*\
 **Message-ID:** **\<***Unique RFC822 message-id***\>**\
 **Subject:** *descriptive title*\
 **Date:** *date posted*\
 **Expires:** *expiration date*\
 **Reply-To:** *address for mail replies*\
 **References:** *Message-ID of article this is a follow-up to*.\
 **Control:** *text of a control message*

A *news batch* consists of zero or more articles, each preceded by a line of the form

```
#! rnews byte-count
```

where *byte-count* is the number of bytes in the following article, where each newline is counted as a single byte, even if it is stored as a CR-LF or some other representation. Spaces are significant: one before and one after **rnews**. News batches are usually transmitted *compress*ed.

Various peculiar optional encapsulations of news batches exist which consist of doing something to the (probably compressed) batch, then prepending a **#!** *goo* line to the output, where *goo* reflects the form of encapsulation; known values of *goo* include **cunbatch** (the null encapsulation), and **c7unbatch** (encode the batch using only seven bits per character).

## EXAMPLES

An article.

```
Path: att!eagle!jerry
From: jerry@eagle.uucp (Jerry Schwarz)
Newsgroups: news.announce
Subject: Usenet Etiquette -- Please Read
Message-ID: <642@eagle.UUCP>
Date: Friday, 19 Nov 82 16:14:55 EST
Followup-To: news.misc
Expires: Saturday, 1 Jan 83 00:00:00 EST
Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill

The body of the article comes here, after an empty line.
```

## SEE ALSO

checknews(1CN), [compress(1)](/compress/1.md), inews(1CN), [nn(1)](/nn/1.md), postnews(1CN), readnews(1CN), rn(1), vnews(1), getabsdate(3), [newsctl(5)](/newsctl/5.md), [newssys(5)](/newssys/5.md), expire(8CN), newsbatch(8CN), newsmail(8CN), relaynews(8CN), rnews(8CN), newsinvaders(9.1)\
 DARPA RFCs 1036, 850, 822, 1123

## HISTORY

Convoluted.

## BUGS

B format articles must not start with **A**, to distinguish them from **A** format; this is only a problem if moderators put **Approved:** first.

Processing would be easier and potentially faster if **Control:** (if present) and **Newsgroups:** were required to be the first headers.

People insist on making their whacko local encapsulation schemes (**cunbatch**, etc.) *rnews*'s problem.

One could argue that RFC 822 is less than an ideal base for article format. (On the other hand, at least it's textual, unlike ISO messages.)