Date: Thu, 11 Feb 99 15:14 EST From: "Bill Verity" <WHV@PSU.EDU> Subject: Search design-l To: jya@pipeline.com Here is an article written by another owner on this subject. I changed the list name to DESIGN-L and referenced our server. --- Date: Mon, 6 Feb 1995 23:09:16 -0500 From: Bill Lutholtz <lutholtz@GUTENBERG.IUPUI.EDU> Subject: How to search lists I've received several requests for information lately on how to search the DESIGN-L list for information that appeared in previous messages. As a result, I've written the following brief introduction to list searching. How to use the "Database Search" feature of a Listserv list: a primer for searching online lists by Bill Lutholtz lutholtz@gutenberg.iupui.edu If you've subscribed to any list for a period of time, you've probably seen plenty of repetitious questions, such as "Someone wrote a note last month about how to write a news release for a corporate ground breaking. Could you please re-post that note?" Hopefully, someone saved a copy of the original message and will resend it. But perhaps no one bothered to keep it. Or more likely, they're too busy to go searching through their files to find it for you. Even if someone did save it, you might have to wait days or even weeks for them to repost it. Fortunately, there's a better way to do it. The reason for these "re-post" requests is that very few list subscribers understand how to use the powerful -- yet somewhat complicated -- "Database Search" function that's built into the Listserv software. Most people don't realize that most Listserv lists are set to automatically archive every message that's ever been sent to the list. These files of messages can be quite large. The files usually store an entire month's worth of messages in a single file, one file for every month since the list was created. With Database Search, you can quickly search through all of the messages that have been sent to the list, either recently, or since the list was created. Database search will scan through all the messages that have been posted and will create an index of all the messages that match your search request. You can then retrieve any or all of these messages by e-mail. To explain how it's done, I'll use our own list, the DESIGN-L, as an example. Let's say that we want to search for all the messages that have been written about speeches or speech writing. First, we'll send a message to the LISTSERV address (NOT to the list itself!), asking for a listing of all messages that deal with this topic. We address the message to LISTSERV@LISTS.PSU.EDU and the message reads exactly as follows, including the slash marks: // Job Echo=No Database Search DD=Rules //Rules DD * search speech in DESIGN-L since dec 93 index /* This message will instruct the Listserv software to search through all the DESIGN-L messages since December 1993 (when the list was created) for the word "speech". That should be enough to find all instances of speech, speeches, speech writing, and speech writers. (It will NOT find "public speaking," but it should find more than enough for what we need.) The line that read "index" instructs the Listserv software to send us an index of all the messages it finds that match our search criteria. If you forget and leave this line off, you'll only get a message back that tells you how many "hits," or number of messages that met the search criteria. You MUST include the index command to get a listing of all the messages! Depending on how fast the e-mail gateways are working, you should get a reply in a few seconds or a few hours, with a listing of all the messages that meet this search criteria. The listing looks something like this: ===================================== > search speech in DESIGN-L since dec 93 --> Database DESIGN-L, 54 hits. > index Item # Date Time Recs Subject ------ ---- ---- ---- ------- 000001 93/12/14 14:07 169 Books on speechwriting 000002 93/12/16 09:16 268 Monthly memo (DRAFT!) 000003 94/01/07 13:37 159 PR gopherspace (fwd) 000163 94/03/03 09:36 253 Monthly DESIGN-L Memo 000164 94/03/03 12:31 56 We now have files! 000188 94/03/09 11:25 199 The Net as a Medium (fwd) 000231 94/04/03 17:07 452 Government, privacy, and the information highway 000262 94/05/10 11:15 256 Monthly DESIGN-L memo 000287 94/05/23 09:34 100 AD VS. PR IN NEW MEDIA 000290 94/05/24 12:27 910 AEJMC ATLANTA PR DIVISION-RELATED EVENTS 000391 94/07/20 12:14 105 Fwd: Bell Atlantic News List (fwd) 000480 94/08/12 23:57 51 Teaching a PR course? 000548 94/08/24 13:35 794 Touring Bell-Atlantic's Gopher 000711 94/10/08 14:22 26 PR position at SIU 000727 94/10/11 11:45 46 Re: List access at work? 000740 94/10/12 17:09 31 Public Relations Faculty Position 000778 94/10/25 14:11 283 Monthly memo 000822 94/11/01 11:35 47 Re: Online PR 000827 94/11/02 14:43 81 Fwd: Advertising Law: New List (fwd) 000867 94/11/09 09:55 61 Re: Online PR 000882 94/11/10 14:36 62 Re: Online pr 000885 94/11/10 23:11 75 Re: Online pr 000934 94/11/30 11:09 72 What Information Should Bell Atlantic Put on Inter+ [stuff deleted] ==================================================== The top part of the message tells you that there are 54 hits -- that is, 54 messages that contain the word "speech" in them. (I've edited the list of messages to save space, but there WERE 54 of them.) But all you have is the listing of messages. How do you get the messages themselves? Now you must send another e-mail message to LISTSERV@LISTS.PSU.EDU. The first part of the message looks just like the last message, but at the end, we'll include the instructions that are necessary to retrieve the messages we want. The second message might look like this: // Job Echo=No Database Search DD=Rules //Rules DD * search speech in DESIGN-L since dec 93 index print all of 1 print all of 867 print all of 882 print all of 934 /* Note that the numbers correspond to some of the items on our first "index" listing. You don't need to include all the leading 000's. Instead of 000867, you can get by with just 867. If you wanted every item on the list, you'd need to write "print" commands for each item. (At least if there's a global "print everything" command, I haven't found it yet...) By the way, the "print" command is a holdover from the old days of computing, when "print" was used to display the contents of a file on screen. It won't actually print the messages to a printer. Instead, it will print them to an e-mail message that will be sent back to you. Again, depending on how the gateways are running, in a few seconds or a few hours, an e-mail message from the list will appear in your mailbox containing all of the messages that matched your search criteria. The Database Search feature is quite powerful. You can also use a number of sophisticated Boolean search terms (if, else, not, etc.) to limit or expand the range of your search. To get more instructions on how to use Database Search, you can send a message to almost any Listserver with the one-line message INFO DATABASE and you'll get back a lengthy explanation of Database search functions. With a little practice, you can become an expert at searching through the back volumes of Listserv lists. You will be much better at finding the information you need in the least amount of time. WHAT IF YOUR SEARCH TURNS UP NOTHING...? ...And you just *know* that there was something about your topic on the list sometime back in December. There is another way to seach lists, though it's a bit more crude. You can request the list to send you the entire contents of a month's messages. These are all stored in files with names like LOG9501, LOG9502, LOG9503, etc. (corresponding with the log files for January, February, and March of 1995, respectively). Let's say that you know there was a message you want to find that ran in December 1994. You've tried Database Search and couldn't turn it up. The next step might be to retrieve all the messages from that month and simply read through them. Crude but effective. You would send the following e-mail message to LISTSERV@LISTS.PSU.EDU GET DESIGN-L LOG9412 Be warned that you will get back a VERY LARGE file when you send this request! If you are working through a service that charges by the connect- time minute, this will be a fairly costly way of searching. You would be better off trying to use the Database Search function first.