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Date: Tue, 29 Sep 87 14:25:22 EDT
Subject: ns-3 QUERY by Electronic Mail
Reply-To: rutgers!SH.CS.NET!cic
From: CSNET INFO SERVER <rutgers!SH.CS.NET!info>
To: doug@research.att.com

Request: info
Topic: ns-3
========================================================================
CSNET Coordination and Information Center  (CIC)           cic@sh.cs.net
10 Moulton St, Cambridge MA 02238   617/497-2777     (cic@csnet-sh.arpa)
========================================================================
                                                      Updated: 27 Jul 84

                        QUERY BY ELECTRONIC MAIL

If your local CSNET site has no Local Agent software and no TELNET
access you can send and receive queries by electronic mail.  You can
use this technique on any X25Net or Arpanet site when you want the
results of your queries in message form.


HOW TO PREPARE YOUR NAME SERVER MESSAGES

Address your messages to the registrar at the CSNET Service Host:

        To: registrar@csnet-sh

You will receive an automatic answer to your query by message from
NS_Service@CSNET-SH.

The subject field of the message you send will not be read by the Name
Server, and may contain any text (or no text).

The body of the message should contain only the commands and keywords
for the query, and no other text.  The general form is:

        whois
        exact
            keyword1 keyword2 ...
        end

The words "whois", "exact", and "end" must each begin in column 1 of
a new line.  The keywords may begin anywhere except column one.  Any
number of keywords, possibly extending over more than one line, is
acceptable.

Table ns-3.1 is similar to Table ns-2.1 (in Message ns-2), but shows
both interactive query commands and the equivalent forms that you
should use in your message.


COMPOSING YOUR QUERY

The selection method used in the name Server is that of the "inverted
index".  Each word in each entry is indexed separately, and, in
general, the Name Server selects only on whole words.  A search
specification consists of one or more words, and selection occurs when
all the specified words are present in an entry.  It is not possible
to specify other types of relationships between words.

A word is a string of characters between two delimiters. The delimiters
recognized by the Name Server are:


	<space>  <tab>  <end-of-line>  ;  .  ,  (  )  &  #


A CAUTION ABOUT "%" 

Please note that the "%" character is NOT a delimiter at the present
time.  For this reason, the Name Server treats "name%host" as a single
word but "name.host" as two words.  At the time that the Name Server
was designed, the full Arpanet address for a PhoneNet site was
"name.host@csnet-relay"; at the current time, the Internet is in the
process of preparing for domain-style addresses, and the Internet
address which is recommended by the Arpanet Network Information Center
is "name%host@csnet-relay".  

The reason is that many sites are now including a domain name to the
left of the "@", for example, "name%host.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa".  The
use of "%" clarifies the distinction between hosts and domains.  When
the domain system is fully implemented, this special use of "%" will
probably be discarded.  However, if "%" remains special, the Name
Server will be changed to treat "%" as a delimiter.


REVISING THE DATABASE

The CSNET Staff is in the process of revising the Name Server database
to update the old relay names, "udel-relay" and "rand-relay" and
replace them with "csnet-relay".  At the same time, all entries
"name.host-relay" will be changed to "name%host@csnet-relay".


SEARCHING FOR WORDS IN THE DATABASE

There are a few restrictions on the characters in a word: The words
must be strings of letters and numbers, or of letters only, but not of
numbers only, so that you cannot select on a zip code or a telephone
area code.  You can select on "@", but only if it is in the middle of
a word.  You can use the wildcards, "*" and "?" at the middle or end
of a word, but not at the beginning.  Because the analysis of the
words is done before the query is made, there is no method for
"quoting" numbers, the "@", wildcards or delimiters to allow
selection.


     TABLE ns-3.1.  EXAMPLES OF INTERACTIVE AND MESSAGE QUERIES
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|    You may abbreviate "-account", "-ident", "-short" or            |
|    "-threshold" as "-a", "-i", "-s" or "-t". 		             |
+----------------------------------------------+---------------------+
|INTERACTIVE COMMANDS			       |MESSAGE COMMANDS     |
+----------------------------------------------+---------------------+
|site                                          |whois                |
|                                              |exact                |
|    Selects the site entry for your site.     |    site             |
|                                              |end                  |
+----------------------------------------------+---------------------+
|site oregon-grad                              |whois                |
|                                              |exact                |
|    Selects the site entry for the Oregon     |    site oregon-grad |
|    Graduate Center, Beaverton, OR            |end                  |
+----------------------------------------------+---------------------+
|site list                        	       |whois		     |
|					       |exact		     |
|    Either command selects the long "sites"   |    sites list	     |
|    entry, which contains the list of all     |end		     |
|    CSNET sites (PhoneNet, X25Net, ARPANET).  |		     |
|					       |		     |
|    To avoid selecting the "sites" entry,     |		     |
|    try to frame your query to include more   |		     |
|    than the site name in the specification.  |		     |
+----------------------------------------------+---------------------+
|whois oregon-grad@*relay       	       |whois		     |
|					       |exact    	     |
|    Returns all selections at oregon-grad,    |  oregon-grad@*relay |
|    which is a PhoneNet site. Does not return |end                  |
|    the long "sites" entry.                   |   		     |
|                                              |                     |
|    Returns the "long" form of the entries if |                     |
|    there 9 or fewer selections.  Returns the |                     |
|    one-line "short" form if there are        |	             |
|    between 9 and 200.  Rejects the query as  |                     |
|    too ambiguous if there are more than 200. |                     |
|    "*" is a wild-card.                       |                     |
+----------------------------------------------+---------------------+
|whois rice -threshold 100		       |whois		     |
|					       |exact	             |
|    Returns all users at Rice University,     |    rice 	     |
|    if there are 100 or fewer.  Also 	       |threshold    	     |
|    returns the long "sites" entry, the       |    100  	     |
|    site entry for Rice and the entries for   |end		     |
|    people named "Rice".  There is no fool-   |		     |
|    proof way select only entries for the     |		     |
|    Rice site.  			       |		     |
+----------------------------------------------+---------------------+
|whois bob -short			       |whois		     |
|					       |exact    	     |
|    Selects all entries with the word	       |    bob   	     |
|    "bob" anywhere in the entry, if there are |short  		     |
|    200 or fewer, in one-line "short" form.   |end		     |
+----------------------------------------------+---------------------+
|whois bob purdue			       |whois		     |
|					       |exact		     |
|    Selects entries that contain both "bob"   |    bob purdue	     |
|    and "purdue".			       |end		     |
+----------------------------------------------+---------------------+
|whois bob purdue [smith schmidt]	       |whois		     |
|					       |exact		     |
|    Tries to disambiguate by selecting on     |    bob purdue	     |
|    either "smith" or "schmidt", but only     |disambig	     |
|    if "exact" selects multiple entries.      |    smith schmidt    |
|					       |end		     |
+----------------------------------------------+---------------------+
|whois ric? purdue [s*m*t*]		       |whois		     |
|					       |exact		     |
|    Selects entries with "rich", "rick" or    |    ric? purdue      |
|    "rice", etc., and "purdue", then disam-   |disambig             |
|    biguates with "smith" or "schmidt".       |    s*m*t*           |
|    The "*" is a wildcard that matches any    |end           	     |
|    number of characters, including zero,     |          	     |
|    and a "?" matches any one character.  A   |          	     |
|    wildcard can be used only in the middle   |   		     |
|    or at the end of a word. 		       |                     |
+----------------------------------------------+---------------------+
|whois jones -short -threshold 10 [purdue]     |whois		     |
|					       |exact		     |
|    Tries to select entries for Jones	       |   jones    	     |
|    that include "purdue", if any.	       |short    	     |
|    Otherwise returns all, if there are       |threshold	     |
|    10 or fewer.  (Note that the field        | 10       	     |
|    contents may begin at any column	       |disambig	     |
|    except column 1.)			       |       purdue	     |
|					       |end		     |
+----------------------------------------------+---------------------+
|whois -account bjones			       |whois		     |
|					       |account 	     |
|    Selects the owner of the account	       |    bjones	     |
|    "bjones,host,site" with your host and     |end		     |
|    site. On a CSNET site such as Purdue,     |		     |
|    the account is "bjones,purdue,purdue".    |		     |
|    You may type in a complete account,       |		     |
|    such as "bjones,purdue-ee,purdue".        |		     |
|    There are no spaces in the string.        |		     |
+----------------------------------------------+---------------------+
|whois -account purdue,csnet,csnet	       |whois		     |
|					       |account 	     |
|    Returns the site entry for Purdue.        |  purdue,csnet,csnet |
|    The account string for a site is	       |end		     |
|    "site,csnet,csnet".		       |		     |
+----------------------------------------------+---------------------+
|whois -ident 2573			       |whois		     |
|					       |ident		     |
|    Selects the owner of the account with     |   2573 	     |
|    the csnet-id number "2573".  This	       |end		     |
|    feature is included for the benefit of    |		     |
|    programs that query the name server.      |		     |
+----------------------------------------------+---------------------+

