.*

Comment: anything on this line is simply ignored. This is useful for recording changes to template files when there are multiple owners.

It is recommended to add a comment line with the date and your initials every time you make a change, for the benefit of the other owners.

[edit] .CC

this context "cc:" is a "RFC822" term that stands for "courtesy copy". RFC822 messages may have "cc:" recipients in addition to their "primary" recipients. There is no real technical difference between the two; the "cc:" indicator just denotes a message that is being sent for your information.

Some administrative messages sent to list owners are copied to the user for their information, and vice-versa; this behavior can be disabled by adding a .CC OFF statement to the template.

.CC emails: adds message recipients by specifying a series of e-mail addresses after the .CC statement, as in .CC JOE@XYZ.EDU.

[edit] .CE text

Centers the text you specify (just the text you typed on the same line as the .CE command). This can be useful to highlight the syntax of a command.

[edit] .FO

.FO OFF: Turns off formatting: one template line = one line in the final message. You can resume formatting with .FO ON or .FO RAGGed.

[edit] .FO RAGGed

Changes left-and-right-justified text formatting (?block? formatting) to left justified text formatting. You can resume left-and-right-justified formatting with .FO ON. (.FO RAGGed requires LISTSERV 14.1 [1.8e-2002a] or later, that is, build date of 31 October 2002 or later)

[edit] .QQ

Cancels the message. LISTSERV stops reading the template form and does not send anything.

This is useful if you want to completely remove a particular message; note this can be confusing with certain commands, as LISTSERV may say "Notification is being sent to the list owners" when in fact nothing will be sent because of the .QQ command in the template form.

For use of the command see How do I set a disgruntled subscriber on REAL quiet review.

Note: A .QQ command in an included template will cancel a message just the same as one in the main message template.

[edit] .QU

(Starting with 14.0 [1.8e]) Ends processing of the current template as if you had reached the end, but without cancelling the message. The main purpose is to avoid multi-level nested .BB/.EB conditional blocks (see below) that are hard to keep track of.

[edit] .RE

OWNERS

.RE OWNERS: Adds a 'Reply-To:' field pointing to the list owners in the header of the generated message. Use this command when you think users are likely to want to reply with a question.

You can also use .RE POSTMASTER XE "Site Configuration Keywords:POSTMASTER" to direct replies to the LISTSERV administrator, if this is more appropriate.

[edit] .TO

Replaces the default recipients of a message with the value specified. For instance, if you use the ADDREQ1 template form to send new subscribers a questionnaire, application form or similar material, you will need to add a '.TO &WHOM' instruction to your modified template form, as by default the user will not receive a copy.

[edit] .ASIS

text

Tells LISTSERV to leave the text immediately following the .ASIS directive alone, that is, don't convert "<" and ">" characters into HTML &lt; and &gt; when creating pages. This is specifically for use in HTML templates where it is important not to convert parts of a URL reference. For instance,

.ASIS Click <a href="http://some.host.com/some-doc.html&quot;>here</a>.

As with the .CE directive, the text you intend to affect with the .ASIS directive must not wrap. The .ASIS directive will only work on text it finds on the same physical line into which it is coded.

[edit] .BB

cond

Begin conditional block.

Related commands are .EB, .ELSE, and .QU . See the section below entitled "Conditional processing" for usage.

See also .QUIF .

Define a (non standard) character set for the template in question, i.e.,

.CS ISO-8559-7

This setting is ignored if the template does not actually contain special characters (for instance, if the template is written in 7-bit ASCII). Otherwise the appropriate headers are created for the message in question when it is sent out.

Copies the contents of the specified DD into the message. This is meaningful only if a DD has been set up by LISTSERV for this purpose. As a rule of thumb, you should either leave these statements unchanged or remove them.

End conditional block (see .BB).

Conditional ELSE directive (see .BB).

Imbeds (inserts) another template form at this point in the message. This is used to avoid duplicating large pieces of text which are mostly identical, such as the templates for "you have been added to list X by Y" and "your subscription to list X has been accepted".

As noted below, LISTSERV will not pick up an "imbedded" template form from $SITE$.MAILTPL. If you wish to include an "imbedded" template form (e.g., $SIGNUP) in $SITE$.MAILTPL, you must also include the template form that calls it with the .IM command.

Stop (in other words, QUit) processing of the current template as if you had reached the end, but without cancelling the message. The main purpose is to avoid multi-level nested .BB/.EB conditional blocks that are hard to keep track of. Available in 14.0 (1.8e) and following.

(QUit IF) Similar to .QU, stop processing the current template without cancelling the message, based on the result of an inline conditional comparison. The full syntax is

.QUIF var operator value

For instance,

.QUIF &RC = 0

This single statement is strictly equivalent to the block

.BB &RC = 0

.QU

.EB

Defines or redefines a substitution variable. This is convenient for storing temporary (text) expression results that need to be used several times. Even standard variables such as &LISTNAME can be redefined - at your own risk. You must enclose the text expression in single quotes if you want leading or trailing blanks.

Set the subject line for the message. .SJ works differently depending on

• For mail templates, it overrides the Subject text originally set for the template, which by default defines the "Subject:" header of the e-mail.
• For a message template,

  LISTSERV uses it only where it makes sense to do so. In message templates,

  it is generally used in conjunction with .SM.
• .SJ is not available for

  message fragments. The subject line should be set in the template that

  creates the actual message.
• .SJ is not available for static Web page templates.

Send a copy of the message via email, if echoed to the web interface.

.SM is not available in message fragments or static Web page templates, and is only available in message templates which do not contain a comment to the effect that .SM is not supported for that particular message template.

Types one line of text on the LISTSERV console log. This can be useful to the LISTSERV maintainer XE "LISTSERV maintainer" for debugging, and also to record information in the console log.

&DATE

Long-style date (04 Jan 1998)

&HARDWARE

The type of machine LISTSERV is running on, e.g., "Pentium (512M)".

&LITE

Has the value 1 when running the LISTSERV Lite product, and 0 otherwise. This variable can be used to write generic templates that account for the differences between the two products.

&LITEFE

Has the value 1 when running the Free Edition of LISTSERV Lite. Similar to but distinct from &LITE.

&MBX(addr)

Looks up the specified address in LISTSERV's signup file and displays "name <addr>" if a name is available, or just the original address otherwise. This is typically used to give the name of the command originator or target, along with his e-mail address: &MBX(&WHOM) or &MBX(&INVOKER). Please note however that &WHOM and &INVOKER are not always available in every template.

The "addr" parameter is always required; &MBX by itself is syntactically invalid.

&MYHOST

LISTSERV's Internet hostname or, if none is available, its NJE address (with '.BITNET' XE "BITNET" ).

&MYNAMES

The substitution you will use most of the time when you need to refer to LISTSERV. For Internet-only or BITNET- XE "BITNET" only servers, this will display LISTSERV's only e-mail address. For servers with both Internet and BITNET connectivity, it will say "LISTSERV@hostname (or LISTSERV@nodeid.BITNET)".

&MYNODE

LISTSERV's BITNET XE "BITNET"

nodeid, without the

'.BITNET', or its Internet hostname if no NJE address is available.

&MYSELF

LISTSERV's address, in the form LISTSERV@XYZ.EDU or, if no Internet hostname is available, LISTSERV@XYZVM1.BITNET. XE "BITNET"

&OSNAME

The full operating system name including the version number, e.g., "VM/ESA 1.2.3", "Windows NT 4.0", "Linux 2.0.27", "SunOS 5.4", etc.

&OSTYPE

The operating system under which LISTSERV is running.

&RELEASE XE "Commands:RELEASE"

LISTSERV?s release number (e.g., "1.8e", "14.3").

&TIME

hh:mm:ss

&WEEKDAY

Three-letter day of the week, in English

&DAYSEQ(n)

Used to create FAQ templates with rotating topics. May also be used to create bottom banners with rotating text (e.g., for lists with multiple commercial sponsors who get "ad space" in the banner on a rotating basis).

&ISODATE

Returns today?s date in ISO format, i.e., yyyy-mm-dd.

&KWD(kwd)

Value of the specified keyword for the list. You do not need to specify the name of the list - it is implicit. You need not put quotes around the keyword names either, although quotes will be accepted if present. Optionally, you can specify a second numeric argument to extract just one of the terms of a list header keyword; for instance, if the list header contains "Notebook= XE "List header keywords:List Maintenance and Moderation Keywords:Notebook="

Yes,L1,Monthly,Private", &KWD(NOTEBOOK,4) has the value "Private". A third argument, also optional, specifies the default value for the keyword in case it was not initialized. It is meant to be used for conditional formatting in the default templates and list owners should not worry about it.

&LISTNAME

Either the short or long name of the list based on the value of "List-Address=" XE "List header keywords:List Maintenance and Moderation Keywords=List-Address="

and/or its system default.

By default the long ("List-ID=" XE "List header keywords:List Maintenance and Moderation Keywords:List-ID=" ) name is used if present.

&TITLE

Title of the list, or empty string.