3.6. The LIST command

3.6.1. LIST

   LIST

Returns a list of valid newsgroups and associated information. Each newsgroup is sent as a line of text in the following format:

      group last first p

where <group> is the name of the newsgroup, <last> is the number of the last known article currently in that newsgroup, <first> is the number of the first article currently in the newsgroup, and <p> is either 'y' or 'n' indicating whether posting to this newsgroup is allowed ('y') or prohibited ('n').

The <first> and <last> fields will always be numeric. They may have leading zeros. If the <last> field evaluates to less than the <first> field, there are no articles currently on file in the newsgroup.

Note that posting may still be prohibited to a client even though the LIST command indicates that posting is permitted to a particular newsgroup. See the POST command for an explanation of client prohibitions. The posting flag exists for each newsgroup because some newsgroups are moderated or are digests, and therefore cannot be posted to; that is, articles posted to them must be mailed to a moderator who will post them for the submitter. This is independent of the posting permission granted to a client by the NNTP server.

Please note that an empty list (i.e., the text body returned by this command consists only of the terminating period) is a possible valid response, and indicates that there are currently no valid newsgroups.

3.6.2. Responses

   215 list of newsgroups follows