Searching the Archives of Dairy-L Messages Warren Gilson Univ. of Georgia wgilson@arches.uga.edu Teresa VanWagner Mark Varner VanWagner Holsteins, FL Univ. of Maryland vwdairy@atlantic.net varner@umd5.umd.edu ================================================================= Introduction ++++++++++++ Dairy-L has been active for a long time, and many topics have been discussed in the past. To avoid duplication, it's recommended that people search the archives before posting a new question. There are two ways to search the archives: e-mail and the World Wide Web. The WWW archives were started in October of 1994, and the e-mail archives go back until January of 1997. Thus, a WWW search is more complete. Also, it can take as long as overnight to get the results of an e-mail search. The results of WWW searches are immediate, which can also be very important in some circumstances. Instructions for both methods are below. WWW Search Information +++++++++++++++++++++++ The URL for searching the Dairy-L archives by WWW is below. Please note that you have to establish a password to search the database. Please read the instructions on the search page. http://www.listserv.umd.edu/archives/dairy-l.html Searching by E-mail +++++++++++++++++++ Searching the Dairy-L archives by e-mail is a two step process. In the first step, you send a message to the listserv software to find out which messages contain your word(s) of interest. When you send this message, you get a response that not only provides you with the total number of messages that contain your word(s) of interest, but it gives you a unique identification number (Item #) and a few sentences from each message. Using the few sentences, you can often decide if you want to read the full message. The Item #'s are then used in the second step to get the full text of the specific messages you want. Both steps are described below. ========== First Step ========== In the first step, you send an e-mail message to listserv@listserv.umd.edu and put a line like the following line in the body of the message: Search mastitis in DAIRY-L You modify this line according to the needs of your search. This example search picks up any message with the word mastitis in it. This will result in a large number of messages that match, or hits. You can restrict the search further by adding words to this line or replacing the word mastitis with other word(s). For more information about the details of modifying this line for use of "boolean" terms like and, or, but, send a message to the listserv address above, and put the following line in the body of the message: info database ===================================================== First Step to Search Archives for more than one word: ===================================================== Send a message to the appropriate listserv address with the following line in the body of the message: Search heifer and synchronization in DAIRY-L The "and" is the default between words. If you want to use "or", you must specify the or. ============================ Response from the First Step ============================ After sending the one-line message to the listserv address, you get back an e-mail message that tells you the number of messages that contain the word(s) you indicated and the specific Item # for each message. With the example just above, I got the following response: ------------------------------------------------------ > search heifer synchronization in Dairy-L -> 4 matches. Item # Date Time Recs Subject ------ ---- ---- ---- ------- 008921 96/09/05 10:25 52 Ovsynch Program on Heifers 009129 96/09/18 09:05 33 Re: Precocious Lactation 009289 96/10/02 09:12 63 Out of sequence heats in OVSYNC protocol? 012514 97/04/03 11:17 53 GnRH and estrus ------------------------------------------------------ Then for each Item #, you get a small section of the message with the word(s) emphasized. In my example above, I got the following from Item #12514. ------------------------------------------------------ >>> Item #12514 (3 Apr 1997 11:17) - GnRH and estrus ^^^^^^ likely to have a follicle that does not have capacity to ovulate after GnRH. For this and other reasons related to follicle growth there is not good synchronization of heifers with this protocol (70% synchronization of ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ------------------------------------------------------ In the response from the First Step, the listserv software provides you with the command to get all of the messages with that contain the word(s) of interest. In my example above, you get the following: ------------------------------------------------------ To order a copy of these postings, send the following command: GETPOST DAIRY-L 8921 9129 9289 12514 ------------------------------------------------------ You use this command to obtain full copies of the messages as described in the Second Step below. You can "copy" this line from one message and "paste" it into the message in the Second Step below. You don't have to get all Item #'s, but you can if you want to. ============== Second Step ============== The listserv software responds to the First Step with an e-mail message listing all Item #'s that contain the word(s) of interest. Once you've decided which Item #'s you want, then you send a message to listserv@listserv.umd.edu and put a line like the following into the message: GETPOST DAIRY-L 8921 9129 9289 12514 You modify this line according to the needs of your search. In my example above, these were the Item #'s that were of interest to me. The listserv software's response to the First Step contains an example "GETPOST" line that will allow you obtain all Item #'s. It's common to want only some of the Item #'s. You can just delete the Item #('s) you don't want from the provided example. It's common for the response from the First Step to contain a "GETPOST" example that has Item #'s that are on more than one line in the response. In the Second Step, each line _MUST_ start with a "GETPOST DAIRY-L" before the Item #'s. You can have more than one line starting with GETPOST DAIRY-L in a message to the listserv software. The listserv software will respond to this Second Step with two e-mail messages if you made no errors. One message will indicate that: "File "DAIRY-L POSTINGS" has been mailed to you under separate cover." The other message will contain the various Item #'s. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Options for the First Step +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ To Search Archives before, after or between dates: -------------------------------------------------- Send a message to the listserv address above with a line like the following in the body of the message: Search warts in DAIRY-L since feb 94 The syntax for searching archives for messages before, after or between dates is as follows: since date from date to date until date The syntax for dates varies, and some examples are below. TODAY TODAY-7 yy dd mm
<->monthname<-> mm/yy mm-yy yy/mm/dd yy-mm-dd By using the from Today-7 option, you can search for messages during the last 7 days. You can change the number after the dash to whatever is appropriate for your situation. Month names can be abbreviated to any length. If there is an ambi- guity, the first month in chronological order is retained. For example, "J" would mean "January", "JU" would be "June" and "JUL" would unambiguously select "July". To Search Archives for Messages from an Address: -------------------------------------------------- Send a message to the listserv address with a line like the following example in the body of the message: Search warts in Dairy-L where sender contains varner@umd5.umd.edu Put the e-mail address of the person of interest at the end of the line. If you want all messages by someone, and you don't want to search for specific words, then you'd replace the word wart in the example above with a *, which is a global match command. To Search Archives for Messages that Contain Specific Words in the Subject -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send a message to the listserv address with a line like the following example in the body of the message: Search pgf in Dairy-L where subject contains gnrh This search finds any message that contains the word pgf in the body of the message and gnrh in the subject line. If you want to find all messages that contain gnrh in the subject line, then you'd just replace the pgf with a *, which is a global match command. To Search Archives for Phrases: -------------------------------------------------- Send a message to the listserv address above with a line like the following example line in the body of the message: Search 'growth hormone' in Dairy-L The single quotes are used to denote a phrase. The phrase is case insensitive. To Search Archives for Case-Sensitive Phrases: -------------------------------------------------- Search " E. coli" in Dairy-L The double quotes are used to denote a phrase that is case sensitive. 1/11/02