usefor-article-10 April 2003
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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 /
extension-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 extension-parameter (see below), is not provided
in all headers, and even the extension-parameter is omitted in some
cases (see 4.2.2). Observe that "USENET" is (and MUST be) of the
syntactic form of a header-name.
extension-parameter= <a parameter not defined by this standard>
x-attribute = "x-" attribute
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.
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#Diff to first older
--- ../usefor-article-09/Syntax_of_News_Articles.out February 2003
+++ ../usefor-article-10/Syntax_of_News_Articles.out April 2003
@@ -28,19 +28,11 @@
where the USENET-parameter, which MUST always be of the same
syntactic form as an extension-parameter (see below), is not provided
in all headers, and even the extension-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.
+ cases (see 4.2.2). Observe that "USENET" is (and MUST be) of the
+ syntactic form of a header-name.
extension-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
+ x-attribute = "x-" attribute
An article consists of some headers followed by a body. An empty line
separates the two. The headers contain structured information about