# newsfeeds file format site:pattern:flags:param site2:pattern2\ :flags2:param2 Each (Web hosting top)
# newsfeeds file format site:pattern:flags:param site2:pattern2\ :flags2:param2 Each news feed to a site is described by a single line, or may be spread across multiple lines using the \ continuation character. The : characters delimit the fields in each line. The # character at the start of a line marks that line as a comment. The site field names the site to which this feed description relates. The sitename can be coded any way you like and doesn’t have to be the domain name of the site. The site name will be used later and will refer to an entry in a table that supplies the hostname to the innxmit program that transmits the news articles by NNTP to the remote server. You may have multiple entries for each site; each entry will be treated individually. The pattern field specifies which news groups are to be sent to this site. The default is to send all groups, so if that is what you want, just make this field empty. This field is usually a comma-delimited list of pattern- matching expressions. The * character matches zero or more of any character, the . character has no special significance, the ! character (if used at the start of an expression) performs a logical NOT, and the @ character at the start of a newsgroup name means “Do not forward any articles that are posted or crossposted to this group.” The list is read and parsed from left to right, so you should ensure that you place the more specific rules first. The pattern: rec.crafts.brewing*,!rec.crafts.brewing.poison,@rec.crafts.brewing.private would send all of the rec.crafts.brewing news heirarchy except the rec.crafts.brewing.poison. It would not feed any articles that were either posted or crossposted to the rec.crafts.brewing.private newsgroup; these articles will be trapped and available only to those people who use this server. If you reversed the first two patterns, the first pattern would be overridden by the second and you would end up feeding articles for the rec.crafts.brewing.poison newsgroup. The same is true of the first and last patterns; you must always place the more specific patterns before any less specific patterns for them to take effect. flags controls and places constraints on the feed of news articles to this site. The flags field is a comma delimited list can contain any of the items from the following list, delimited by commands: