usefor-article-08 August 2002

4.1.  Syntax of News Articles

   The overall syntax of a news article is:

      article           = 1*( header CRLF ) separator body
      header            = other-header
      other-header      = header-name ":" 1*SP other-content
      header-name       = 1*name-character *( "-" 1*name-character )
      name-character    = ALPHA / DIGIT
      other-content     = <the content of a header defined by some
                 other standard>
      separator         = CRLF
      body              = *( *998text CRLF )

   However, the rule given above for header is incomplete. Further
   alternatives will be added incrementally as the various Netnews
   headers are introduced in this standard (or in future extensions),
   using the "=/" notation defined in [RFC 2234].  For example, a
   typical USENET-header would be defined as follows:

      header            =/ USENET-header
      USENET-header     = "USENET" ":" SP USENET-content
                   *( ";" ( USENET-parameter /
                            other-parameter ) )
      USENET-content    = <syntax specific to that USENET-header>
      USENET-parameter  = <a parameter specific to that USENET-header>

   where the USENET-parameter, which MUST always be of the same
   syntactic form as an other-parameter (see below), is not provided in
   all headers, and even the other-parameter is omitted in some cases
   cases (see 4.2.2).  Observe that "USENET" is (and MUST be) of the
   syntactic form of a header-name.

      other-parameter   = <a parameter not defined by this standard>
      parameter         = attribute "=" value
      attribute         = [CFWS] token [CFWS]
      x-token           = "x-" token
      token             = 1*<any (US-ASCII) CHAR except SP, CTLs,
                   or tspecials>
      tspecials         = "(" / ")" / "<" / ">" / "@" /
                "," / ";" / ":" / "\" / DQUOTE /
                "/" / "[" / "]" / "?" / "="
      value             = [CFWS] token [CFWS] / quoted-string

   An article consists of some headers followed by a body. An empty line
   separates the two. The headers contain structured information about
   the article and its transmission. A header begins with a header-name
   identifying it, and can be continued onto subsequent lines as
   described in section 4.2.3.  The body is largely unstructured text
   significant only to the poster and the readers.

        NOTE: Terminology here follows the current custom in the news
        community, rather than the [RFC 2822] convention of referring to
        what is here called a "header" as a "header-field" or "field".

   Note that the separator line MUST be truly empty, not just a line
   containing white space. Further empty lines following it are part of
   the body, as are empty lines at the end of the article.

        NOTE: The syntax above defines the canonical form of a news
        article as a sequence of lines each terminated by CRLF. This
        does not prevent serving agents or transport agents from storing
        or handling the article in other formats (e.g. using a single LF
        in place of CRLF) so long as the overall effects achieved are as
        defined by this standard when operating on the canonical form.

--- ../usefor-article-07/Syntax_of_News_Articles.out          May 2002
+++ ../usefor-article-08/Syntax_of_News_Articles.out          August 2002