thegeezer3 wrote:Hi to help automate some of my regular searches Id like to be able to write a few scripts that will search certain groups post listings. To do so requires the listings to be in text format or in a format in which i can convert to .txt. I dont want to to have to do any copy pasting manually.
Ive already checke grabbits download folder for listings but its in its own format whihc i cant read nor convert. Does anyone have any knowledge of this? is it possible to connect directly to my providers servers and simply request this via a command line etc?
A number of newsreaders allow you to search downloaded headers intelligently from within the app, that would be your best bet methinks - Newsleecher, for example, which also has SuperSearch of course with which you can bookmark searches. Otherwise why not just script searches of an index site like Binsearch? It's quite easy to do, is very quick and means you don't have to keep a crapload of useless header data on your local drive.
As for direct server-side search: use Xpat (if your NSP supports it, Giganews doesn't for example). This is usually VERY slow though, and isn't server-friendly so I can't really recommend it.