= The Newsboat RSS Feedreader
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== Introduction

Newsboat is an RSS/Atom feedreader. RSS and Atom are a number of widely-used
XML formats to transmit, publish and syndicate articles, for example news or
blog articles.  Newsboat is designed to be used on text terminals on Unix or
Unix-like systems such as GNU/Linux, FreeBSD or macOS.

=== Platforms

Newsboat has been tested on Linux (with glibc and musl-libc), FreeBSD and macOS.

NetBSD is currently not supported, due to technical limitations in the `iconv()`
implementation.

=== Why "Newsboat"?

"Newsboat" is a play on the name of its ancestor, "Newsbeuter". They're spelled
quite differently, but sound similar. ("Newsbeuter" is a pun on German word
"wildbeuter"; "newsboat" is an English word.)

Newsboats were the vessels that collected and delivered news shuffling between
boats in the port. Newsboat the program will collect the news for you, just
like its namesakes did back in the day.

== Installation

=== Pre-built binaries

Newsboat binaries are available in a number of repositories:

// UPDATE README.md IF YOU CHANGE THIS LIST

- various Linux and BSD distributions, Homebrew etc.;
  https://repology.org/project/newsboat[here's a non-exclusive list];

- distribution-independent https://snapcraft.io/docs/installing-snapd[Snap]
  store:

        $ sudo snap install newsboat

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=== From source

==== Download the source code

The most up-to-date source code can always be downloaded from the Git
repository:

	$ git clone git://github.com/newsboat/newsboat.git

There are also signed release tarballs available from https://newsboat.org/[our
website].

==== Install dependencies

Newsboat depends on a number of libraries, which need to be installed before
Newsboat can be compiled. Make sure to install the header files as well (on
Debian and derivatives, headers are in `-dev` packages, e.g. `libsqlite3-dev`.)

// UPDATE README.md IF YOU CHANGE THIS LIST
- GCC 5.0 or newer, or Clang 3.6 or newer
- Stable https://www.rust-lang.org/en-US/[Rust] and Cargo (Rust's package
  manager) (1.48.0 or newer; might work with older versions, but we don't check
  that)
- http://www.clifford.at/stfl/[STFL (version 0.21 or newer)]
- https://www.sqlite.org/download.html[SQLite3 (version 3.5 or newer)]
- https://curl.haxx.se/download.html[libcurl (version 7.21.6 or newer)]
- Header files for the SSL library that libcurl uses. You can find out which
    library that is from the output of `curl --version`; most often that's
    OpenSSL, sometimes GnuTLS, or maybe something else.
- GNU gettext (on systems that don't provide gettext in the libc):
  ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gettext/
- https://pkg-config.freedesktop.org/wiki/[pkg-config]
- http://xmlsoft.org/downloads.html[libxml2]
- https://github.com/json-c/json-c/wiki[json-c (version 0.11 or newer)]
- https://asciidoctor.org/[Asciidoctor] (1.5.3 or newer)
- Some implementation of AWK like https://www.gnu.org/software/gawk[GNU AWK] or https://github.com/onetrueawk/awk[NAWK].

Developers will also need:

- https://github.com/woboq/tr[`xtr` (version 0.1.4 or newer)] (can be installed
  with `cargo install xtr`)
- http://www.ssw.uni-linz.ac.at/coco/[Coco/R for C++], needed to re-generate
  filter language parser using `regenerate-parser` target.
// UPDATE README.md IF YOU CHANGE THIS LIST

==== Compile and install

// UPDATE README.md IF YOU CHANGE THIS LIST

There are a few different ways:

- build inside Docker. For that, check out _doc/docker.md_ in the source tree.
  Note that the resulting binary might not run outside of that same Docker
  container if your system doesn't have all the necessary libraries, or if
  their versions are too old;

- build in a chroot: to avoid polluting your system with developer packages, or
  to avoid upgrading, you might use a tool like
  https://wiki.debian.org/Debootstrap[`debootstrap`] to create an isolated
  environment. Once that's done, just build from source as outlined in the next
  item;

- build from source:

  $ make                   #  pass -jN to use N CPU cores, e.g. -j8
  $ sudo make install      #  install everything under /usr/local
+
To install to a different directory, pass `prefix` like so: `sudo make
prefix=/opt/newsboat install`. If you're cross-compiling, set
`CARGO_BUILD_TARGET`; see
https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html#environment-variables[cargo
documentation] for details.
+
To uninstall, run `sudo make uninstall`.

// UPDATE README.md IF YOU CHANGE THIS LIST

== First Steps

include::chapter-firststeps.asciidoc[]


=== Example Configuration

----
# a comment
max-items        100 # such comments are possible, too
browser          links
show-read-feeds  no

unbind-key       R
bind-key         ^R    reload-all
----

=== Using Double Quotes

_**TL;DR**: use double quotes for strings that contain spaces or double quotes.
Escape double quotes (use `\"`) and backslashes (use `\\`). Don't escape stuff
outside of double quotes, and don't use single quotes for quoting — Newsboat
doesn't support that._

Many of Newsboat's options expect strings as arguments, be it commands,
passwords, dialog titles, URLs etc. Some options even take _multiple_ strings
at once. These strings can contain spaces, which might confuse Newsboat since
it already uses spaces to separate option names from option arguments.

To help Newsboat understand your intent, put such strings into double quotes:

    browser "firefox --new-tab %u"

What if you need a double quote inside a string? Escape it with a backslash:

    ocnews-password "UnbalancedQuotes\"AreSoFun!"

And what about the backslash itself? Escape it, too! Suppose you have a program
called `my favourite pager`, and you want to view articles with it. Newsboat
ultimately passes commands to the shell, and shell expects spaces to be escaped
if you want them preserved. But since Newsboat interprets backslashes, you have
to add _another_ layer of escaping. Thus, you end up with a command like this:

    pager "/usr/bin/my\\ favourite\\ pager"

=== Configuring Colors

It is possible to configure custom color settings in Newsboat. The basic configuration
syntax is:

	color <element> <foreground color> <background color> [<attribute> ...]

This means that if you configure colors for a certain element, you need to provide
a foreground color and a background color as a minimum. The following colors are
supported:

- `black`
- `red`
- `green`
- `yellow`
- `blue`
- `magenta`
- `cyan`
- `white`
- `default`
- `color<n>`, e.g. `color123`

The `default` color means that the terminal's default color will be used. The
`color<n>` color name (where `<n>` is a decimal number *not* starting with zero)
can be used if your terminal support 256 colors (e.g. `gnome-terminal`, `xterm`
with `$TERM` set to `xterm-256color`). Newsboat contains support for 256 color
terminals since version 2.1. For a complete chart of colors and their
corresponding numbers, please see
https://www.calmar.ws/vim/256-xterm-24bit-rgb-color-chart.html[].

Optionally, you can also add one or more attributes. The following attributes are
supported:

- `standout`
- `underline`
- `reverse`
- `blink`
- `dim`
- `bold`
- `protect`
- `invis`

Currently, the following elements are supported:

- `listnormal`: a normal list item
- `listfocus`: the currently selected list item
- `listnormal_unread`: an unread list item
- `listfocus_unread`: the currently selected and unread list item
- `info`: the info bars on top and bottom
- `background`: the application background
- `article`: the article text
- `end-of-text-marker`: filler lines (~) below blocks of text

The default color configuration of Newsboat looks like this:

	color background          white   black
	color listnormal          white   black
	color listfocus           yellow  blue   bold
	color listnormal_unread   magenta black
	color listfocus_unread    magenta blue   bold
	color info                yellow  blue   bold
	color article             white   black


=== Files

include::chapter-files.asciidoc[]


=== Migrating from other RSS Feed Readers

It is very likely that you have used other RSS feed readers before. In this
case, it is practical to migrate the previous configuration to Newsboat.

==== Newsbeuter (automatic migration)

Newsboat is a fork of Newsbeuter, so the migration from the latter is partially
automated. Simple enough configurations will be transferred without any user
intervention, while more complicated ones might require a little tweaking
afterwards.

To prevent data loss, please check the results before deleting your old
configuration. Pay extra attention to files that you <<include,`include`>> in your
configuration--you'd probably want to manually copy them over to Newsboat
directories, and possibly update the include paths.

Migration from Newsbeuter is attempted on startup if the following conditions
are met:

* none of `-u`, `-c`, `-C` options were specified; and

* the urls file doesn't exist (neither _~/.newsboat/urls_ nor
  _$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/newsboat/urls_).

Newsboat first tries to migrate an XDG configuration, and if that fails, it
tries the dotdir one. If that fails as well, Newsboat proceeds with the startup
as usual.

XDG migration checks that:

* _$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/newsbeuter/_ is readable and executable; and

* neither _$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/newsboat/_ nor _$XDG_DATA_HOME/newsboat/_ exist.

If both conditions are met, Newsboat tries to create its XDG dirs (aborting the
migration if that fails), then copies the following files: _urls_ and _config_ from
config dir; _cache.db_, _queue_, _history.search_, _history.cmdline_ from data dir.

Dotdir migration checks that _~/.newsbeuter/_ is readable and executable, and
_~/.newsboat/_ doesn't exist. If those conditions are met, it tries to create
_~/.newsboat/_ (aborting the migration if that fails), then copies the following
files: _urls_, _cache.db_, _config_, _queue_, _history.search_, _history.cmdline_.

There's one scenario where the process breaks: if you have an XDG configuration
for Newsbeuter, _~/.newsboat/_ exists and _~/.newsboat/urls_ doesn't exist, then
Newsboat will migrate XDG files and proceed, ignoring the dotdir. Please don't
confuse the poor program like that!

==== Other readers (via OPML)

The vast amount of RSS feed readers allows the export of subscriptions via OPML
files. OPML is an XML file format that was designed to save outlines, and has
found its primary use in the import and export of feed subscriptions between
different RSS feed readers.

The best thing to start with is to export your subscriptions from the old
reader.  Usually, RSS feed readers have appropriate menu items available to do
so.

Snownews provides a script to convert your current subscription file into an
OPML file:

	snow2opml > ~/blogroll.opml

This command creates from your Snownews configuration a file _blogroll.opml_ in
your home directory. To export the subscription list from raggle, the
following command is necessary:

	raggle --export-opml ~/blogroll.opml

When you have exported the subscriptions from your old RSS feed reader, you can
import them into Newsboat:

	newsboat -i ~/blogroll.opml

Don't worry, Newsboat won't destroy your existing configuration, or add
subscriptions more than once: every URL that is added to the subscription list
is checked before whether it is already in the list, and is only added if not.
This makes it possible to merge several OPML files into your subscription list.

If your old RSS feed reader was able to structure your subscriptions in
hierarchies, and reflected this structure in the exported OPML file, Newsboat
doesn't throw away this information (although it doesn't support hierarchies), but
generates tags from it. Tags are Newsboat's way of organizing subscriptions
in a non-hierarchical way. More information on the use of tags can be found below.

Imagine the following folder hierarchy:

	|- News
	| |- Europe
	| `- International
	|- IT
	| |- Linux
	| |- Windows
	| `- Programming
	|   |- C++
	|   |- Ruby
	|   `- Erlang
	`- Private

Subscriptions found in the folder "Private" will be tagged with "Private",
subscriptions in the folder "International" will be tagged with "News" and
"News/International", subscriptions in the folder "Erlang" will be tagged ith
"IT", "IT/Programming" and "IT/Programming/Erlang", and so on. This means that
when you select the tag "Programming" in Newsboat, you will see all
subscriptions that were in the "Programming" folder or one of its subfolders
before. This means that you will lose virtually nothing of your previously
configured structure.

== Newsboat as a Client for Newsreading Services

Newsboat is a perfectly capable feedreader in its own right, but it can’t cover
_all_ the use-cases. For example, you might want to synchronize your news
between devices, or you don’t have a computer that’s running 24/7 to fetch your
feeds. In such cases, you might register with some online feedreader, and use
Newsboat as a client. The next few sections provide configuration instructions
for each supported service.

=== The Old Reader

https://theoldreader.com/[The Old Reader] is a successor to Google Reader. In
order to use it, you first need to configure the proper URL source:

	urls-source "oldreader"

In addition, Newsboat needs to know your The Old Reader username and password so
that it can authenticate with the service:

	oldreader-login "your-oldreader-account"
	oldreader-password "your-password"

Note that double quotes and backslashes in your password
<<_using_double_quotes,should be escaped>>.

See also <<oldreader-passwordfile,`oldreader-passwordfile`>>,
<<oldreader-passwordeval,`oldreader-passwordeval`>>, and
<<_passwords_for_external_apis>>.

After setting these configuration values, you can start Newsboat. It will
authenticate with The Old Reader and download your subscription list.

When you mark single items or complete feeds as read, Newsboat will
synchronize this information directly to The Old Reader. This, of course,
includes opening articles. Toggling read articles back to "unread" is also
communicated to The Old Reader.

In addition, The Old Reader provides the ability to "star" and to "share"
articles. Starred articles are basically bookmarks, while shared articles are
shown to people that follow your The Old Reader account. Newsboat allows the
use of this feature by mapping its powerful "flags" to the "star"/"unstar"
resp. "share"/"unshare" operations.

In order to use this mapping, all you need to do is to configure the flags
that shall be used:

	oldreader-flag-share "a"
	oldreader-flag-star "b"

After that, use these flags when you edit flags for an article, and these
articles will be starred resp. shared.

By default, Newsboat also shows The Old Reader "special feeds":

- People you follow: articles shared by people that you follow.
- Starred items: articles that you starred.
- Shared items: articles that you shared.

You can disable these feeds by setting the following configuration variable:

	oldreader-show-special-feeds no

The Old Reader's folders are converted into Newsboat tags. You can select and
filter feeds by tags; see <<_tagging>> and <<_filter_language>> for details.

=== NewsBlur

https://newsblur.com/[NewsBlur] is a successor to Google Reader. To use it, set
your <<urls-source,`urls-source`>>:

	urls-source "newsblur"

Then, configure your NewsBlur credentials:

	newsblur-login "your-newsblur-account"
	newsblur-password "your-password"

Note that double quotes and backslashes in your password
<<_using_double_quotes,should be escaped>>.

See also <<newsblur-passwordfile,`newsblur-passwordfile`>>,
<<newsblur-passwordeval,`newsblur-passwordeval`>>, and
<<_passwords_for_external_apis>>.

Finally, set a path to the file where Newsboat can store the HTTP cookies:

    cookie-cache "~/.newsboat/cookies.txt"

When you start Newsboat, it will download the feeds that you configured
in NewsBlur. Please take a closer look at the
<<newsblur-login,configuration commands>> for what
you can configure in Newsboat regarding NewsBlur.

NewsBlur's folders are converted into Newsboat tags. You can select and
filter feeds by tags; see <<_tagging>> and <<_filter_language>> for details.

=== FeedHQ

https://feedhq.org/[FeedHQ] is a successor to Google Reader. Configuration
basically works the same as with <<_the_old_reader,The Old Reader>>.

First, set your <<urls-source,`urls-source`>>:

	urls-source "feedhq"

Then, configure your FeedHQ credentials:

	feedhq-login "your-feedhq-account"
	feedhq-password "your-password"

Note that double quotes and backslashes in your password
<<_using_double_quotes,should be escaped>>.

See also <<feedhq-passwordfile,`feedhq-passwordfile`>>,
<<feedhq-passwordeval,`feedhq-passwordeval`>>, and
<<_passwords_for_external_apis>>.

If you're using a standalone instance, you should add one more setting:

    feedhq-url "https://the.url.of/your/feedhq/instance"

When you start Newsboat, it will download the feeds that you configured
in FeedHQ. Please take a closer look at the
<<feedhq-flag-share,configuration commands>> for what
you can configure in Newsboat regarding FeedHQ.

FeedHQ's folders are converted into Newsboat tags. You can select and filter
feeds by tags; see <<_tagging>> and <<_filter_language>> for details.

=== Bazqux

https://bazqux.com/[Bazqux] uses "Google Reader API", which is also used by
other readers like FeedHQ. Thus, one can leverage Newsboat's support for FeedHQ
(described above) to synchronize with Bazqux:

    urls-source "feedhq"
    feedhq-url "https://bazqux.com/"
    feedhq-login "username"
    feedhq-password "password"

See <<_passwords_for_external_apis>> for other, more secure ways to store your
password.

=== FreshRSS

https://freshrss.org[FreshRSS] is a self-hosted feed reader that also uses a
"Google Reader API", but is incompatable with the <<_feedhq,FeedHQ>> API. To
use FreshRSS support, ensure that
https://freshrss.github.io/FreshRSS/en/users/06_Mobile_access.html#enable-the-api-in-freshrss[API
access is enabled] in the Authentication settings for your server, and that you
have set an API password for your user Profile. Then point Newsboat to your
server:

	urls-source "freshrss"
	freshrss-url "https://freshrss.example.com/api/greader.php"
	freshrss-login "myusername"
	freshrss-password "mypassword"

See <<_passwords_for_external_apis>> for other, more secure ways to store your
password.

Newsboat will request 20 articles by default. Change this with e.g.

	freshrss-min-items 100

FreshRSS provides the ability to "favourite"/"star" articles. Starred articles
are basically bookmarks. Newsboat allows the use of these features by mapping
its flags to the "star" operation.

In order to use this mapping, you need to configure the flag that should be
used:

	freshrss-flag-star "s"

After that, use this flag when you edit flags for an article, and these
articles will be starred.

By default a "Starred Items" feed is included in the feed list. This can be
removed with:

	freshrss-show-special-feeds "false"

FreshRSS categories are converted into Newsboat tags. You can select and filter
feeds by tags; see <<_tagging>> and <<_filter_language>> for details.

=== Tiny Tiny RSS

Newsboat can be used to synchronize with https://tt-rss.org/[Tiny Tiny RSS]
installations. Tiny Tiny RSS is a web-based and (optionally) multi-user feed
reader.

If you want to use Tiny Tiny RSS support, don't forget to activate the external
API support in your preferences.

To use Tiny Tiny RSS support, you need to configure a few things. First of all,
Newsboat needs to know that you want to use Tiny Tiny RSS and which
installation exactly:

	urls-source "ttrss"
	ttrss-url "https://example.com/ttrss/"

In addition, it requires username and password for authentication:

	ttrss-login "myusername"
	ttrss-password "mypassword"

Note that double quotes and backslashes in your password
<<_using_double_quotes,should be escaped>>.

See also <<ttrss-passwordfile,`ttrss-passwordfile`>>,
<<ttrss-passwordeval,`ttrss-passwordeval`>>, and
<<_passwords_for_external_apis>>.

Tiny Tiny RSS provides two modes of usage: single-user mode and multi-user
mode. Newsboat needs to know about this, too: in single-user mode,
authentication is done via Basic HTTP authentication, while in multi-user mode,
authentication is done against Tiny Tiny RSS itself.

	ttrss-mode "single"		# "multi" is default

If Tiny Tiny RSS is configured in multi-user mode and still deployed behind an
additional HTTP-BasicAuth, the required username and password (which may deviate
from <<ttrss-login,`ttrss-login`>> and <<ttrss-password,`ttrss-password`>>) can
be specified in the user-part of the url like this:

    ttrss-url "https://htuser:htpasswd@example.com/ttrss/"

With these settings, Newsboat should be able to connect to Tiny Tiny RSS and
download your subscribed feeds. Articles or even complete feeds that you marked
as read are synchronized directly to Tiny Tiny RSS.

Tiny Tiny RSS provides the ability to "star" and to "publish" articles. Starred
articles are basically bookmarks, while published articles can be retrieved via
a public RSS feed. Newsboat allows the use of these features by mapping its
flags to the "star" and "publish" operations.

In order to use this mapping, you need to configure the flags that shall be used:

	ttrss-flag-star "s"
	ttrss-flag-publish "p"

After that, use these flags when you edit flags for an article, and these articles
will be starred resp. published.

TT-RSS folders are converted into Newsboat tags. You can select and filter
feeds by tags; see <<_tagging>> and <<_filter_language>> for details.

=== ownCloud News and nextCloud News

https://github.com/owncloudarchive/news[ownCloud News] and
https://github.com/nextcloud/news[nextCloud News] implement the same protocol,
so Newsboat treats them as equivalent. Instructions below apply to both.

First, set your <<urls-source,`urls-source`>> to `ocnews` and tell Newsboat
where to find your ownCloud instance:

	urls-source "ocnews"
	ocnews-url "https://localhost/owncloud"

Username and password are required:

	ocnews-login "user"
	ocnews-password "password"

See also <<ocnews-passwordfile,`ocnews-passwordfile`>>,
<<ocnews-passwordeval,`ocnews-passwordeval`>>, and <<_passwords_for_external_apis>>.

ownCloud News API uses HTTP basic auth, therefore running ownCloud with SSL is
highly recommended. If for any reason you don't want Newsboat to verify the
hostname of your instance against the hostname specified in the SSL certificate
you're using, just say so:

	ocnews-verifyhost "no"

If you see intermittent "Authentication failed" errors, try
https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/stable/admin_manual/configuration_server/caching_configuration.html[configuring
memory caching]. That should improve the responsiveness of the API and fix the
errors.

ownCloud News provides the ability to "star" articles; starred articles are basically
bookmarks. Newsboat allows the use of this feature by mapping user-specified
flag to the "star" operation.

In order to use this mapping, you need to configure the flag that shall be used:

	ocnews-flag-star "s"

OwnCloud News' folders are converted into Newsboat tags. You can select and
filter feeds by tags; see <<_tagging>> and <<_filter_language>> for details.

=== Inoreader

https://inoreader.com/[Inoreader] is a successor to Google Reader.

To use Newsboat with Inoreader, you should first
https://www.inoreader.com/developers/register-app[register your own
application]. Inoreader's API doesn't provide efficient access to all the data
Newsboat needs, so the program has to scrape feeds. That generates a lot of API
requests, which are rate-limited per application. Thus we ask users to register
their own apps, to avoid interfering with others. Please also be mindful of
this when enabling <<auto-reload,`auto-reload`>> or lowering
<<reload-time,`reload-time`>>.

With app ID and key in hand, tell Newsboat you'd like to use Inoreader:

	urls-source "inoreader"
	inoreader-app-id "INSERT_ID_HERE"
	inoreader-app-key "INSERT_KEY_HERE"

In addition, Newsboat needs to know your Inoreader username and password so that
it can authenticate with Inoreader. Note that this is NOT your login with your
Google or Facebook account. If you use one of those to login to Inoreader, you
have to create a username and password in Inoreader _Preferences > Profile_

	inoreader-login "your-inoreader-account"
	inoreader-password "your-password"

Note that double quotes and backslashes in your password
<<_using_double_quotes,should be escaped>>.

See also <<inoreader-passwordfile,`inoreader-passwordfile`>>,
<<inoreader-passwordeval,`inoreader-passwordeval`>>, and <<_passwords_for_external_apis>>.

After setting these configuration values, you can start Newsboat. It will
authenticate with Inoreader and download your subscription list. If you use
"folders" in Inoreader to organize your feeds, Newsboat will make them available
via its "tags" capability: each feed is tagged with the name of the folder in
which it resides. You can select and filter feeds by tags; see <<_tagging>> and
<<_filter_language>> sections for details.

When you mark single items or complete feeds as read, Newsboat will
synchronize this information directly to Inoreader. This, of course,
includes opening articles. Toggling read articles back to "unread" is also
communicated to Inoreader.

In addition, Inoreader provides the ability to "star" and to "share"
articles. Starred articles are basically bookmarks, while shared articles are
shown to people that follow your Inoreader account. Newsboat allows the
use of this feature by mapping its powerful "flags" to the "star"/"unstar"
resp. "share"/"unshare" operations.

In order to use this mapping, all you need to do is to configure the flags
that shall be used:

	inoreader-flag-share "a"
	inoreader-flag-star "b"

After that, use these flags when you edit flags for an article, and these
articles will be starred resp. shared.

By default, Newsboat also shows Inoreader "special feeds":

 - Starred items
 - Shared items
 - Liked items
 - Saved web pages

You can disable these feeds by setting the following configuration variable:

	inoreader-show-special-feeds no

=== Miniflux

https://miniflux.app[Miniflux] is a "minimalist and opinionated feed reader"
that is self-hostable.

Newsboat can synchronize with Miniflux installations as an alternative to the
web front-end.

To configure Miniflux support, set the urls-source option and provide the url to
the Miniflux instance to be used:

	urls-source "miniflux"
	miniflux-url "https://example.com/miniflux/"

In addition, Miniflux requires username and password for authentication:

	miniflux-login "myusername"
	miniflux-password "mypassword"

Note that double quotes and backslashes in your password
<<_using_double_quotes,should be escaped>>.

See also <<miniflux-passwordfile,`miniflux-passwordfile`>>,
<<miniflux-passwordeval,`miniflux-passwordeval`>>, and
<<_passwords_for_external_apis>>.

The Miniflux backend will default to using the `basic` HTTP authentication
method, since Newsboat sends extraneous requests when trying to determine the
appropriate method automatically. If your Miniflux instance uses a special setup
that doesn't function with `basic` authentication, it may be necessary to
explicitly set the `http-auth-method` variable in the configuration.

Unlike with other backends, Miniflux's starring/bookmarking feature is not
currently supported in Newsboat.

Miniflux categories are converted into Newsboat tags. You can select and filter
feeds by tags; see <<_tagging>> and <<_filter_language>> for details.

=== OPML Online Subscription Mode

This mode provides one-way synchronization of subscriptions from the online
service to Newsboat. In other words, Newsboat will know what feeds you've
subscribed to, but the online service won't know what feeds you're reading in
Newsboat.

This mode works with any service that publishes your subscriptions in OPML
format.

To enable this mode, you need to set an appropriate URLs source and then tell
Newsboat where to get the OPML file(s):

	urls-source "opml"
	opml-url "https://example.com/feeds.opml" "https://example.com/more.opml"

=== Passwords for external APIs

include::chapter-password.asciidoc[]


== Advanced Features

=== Tagging

include::chapter-tagging.asciidoc[]


=== Scripts and Filters (Snownews Extensions)

include::chapter-snownews.asciidoc[]

=== Bookmarking

This feature lets you save links from the article list, the article view, and
the URL view. The actual bookmarking is performed by a program that you specify
via the <<bookmark-cmd,`bookmark-cmd`>> setting; Newsboat merely supplies the
data.

To bookmark the currently selected item, press `^B` (invoking the
<<bookmark,`bookmark`>> operation), and Newsboat will ask you for:

1. the URL to bookmark (already preset with the URL of the current selection);
2. the bookmark title (in most cases preset with the title of the current
   selection);
3. the bookmark description (default empty); and
4. (since Newsboat 2.10) the title of the feed you're currently in (preset as
   you'd expect).

(If you find that the above preset values always work for you, enable
<<bookmark-autopilot,`bookmark-autopilot`>> to avoid being asked anything.)

After that, the program configured via `bookmark-cmd` is executed. It is given
four arguments, the same ones and in the same order as described above. The
program then does the actual bookmark saving, e.g. writing the bookmark into an
external file, or storing it to a del.icio.us account.

If everything goes OK, the program simply exits. In case something goes wrong,
the program writes out an error message to stdout as a single line. This error
message is then presented to the user from within Newsboat. At the moment,
Newsboat doesn't care about the exit code of the program; only its output is
used to determine success.

Some bookmarking commands are interactive, e.g. they might want you to select
a category for your bookmark, or a Mastodon account from which to share the
bookmark. Oftentimes you can specify defaults for these, but if you can't,
enable <<bookmark-interactive,`bookmark-interactive`>>: it will make Newsboat
relinquish the terminal to the bookmarking program. You'll be able to make all
the changes there, and will return to Newsboat once the bookmarking program
exits.

Newsboat comes with an example plugin,
_doc/examples/example-bookmark-plugin.sh_, which implements a simple
tab-separated bookmark file. You can use that as a starting point to write your
own bookmarking program.


=== Command Line

include::chapter-cmdline.asciidoc[]

include::cmdline-commands-linked.asciidoc[]


=== Filter Language

Newsboat provides a powerful filter language that enables the user to
filter the content of many dialogs, such as the feed list or the article
list. The basic concept is that every feed and every article has a
number of attributes which can then be compared with user-supplied
values, and these comparisons and be logically AND'ed, OR'ed and
grouped.

Examples for simple filter expressions are:

	unread_count > 0
	rssurl =~ "^https:"
	age between 0:10

Logically connecting and grouping such expressions looks like in the
following examples:

	( unread_count > 0 and unread_count < 10 ) or total_count > 100
	( author =~ "Frank" or author =~ "John" ) and ( title =~ "Linux" or title =~ "FreeBSD" )

The possibilities for combining such queries is endless, sky (actually:
the available memory) is the limit.

To filter your feeds, press "F" in the feed list, enter your filter expression,
and press "Enter".  To clear the filter, press "Ctrl-F". To filter the articles in the article list,
press "F", enter your expression, and press "Enter". Clearing the filter works the same as before.
Be aware that only certain attributes work in both dialogs. The table below lists all available
attributes and their context, i.e. an attribute that belongs to a feed can only be matched
in the feed list, while an attribute that belongs to an article can only be matched in the
article list.

.[[available-comparison-operators]]<<available-comparison-operators,Available Comparison Operators>>
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="30,70"]
|======================================================================
Operator:Meaning
+=+ / +==+:test for equality
+!=+:test for inequality; logical negation of the +=+ operator
+=~+:test whether https\://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799.2008edition/basedefs/V1_chap09.html[POSIX extended regular expression] matches, case-insensitively
+!~+:logical negation of the +=~+ operator
+<+:less than
+>+:greater than
+<=+:less than or equal
+>=+:greater than or equal
+between+:within a range of integer values, where the two integer values are separated by a colon (see above for an example)
+#+:contains; this operator matches if a word is contained in a list of space-separated words (useful for matching tags, see below)
+!#+:contains not; the negation of the +#+ operator
|======================================================================

.Available Attributes
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="30,30,40"]
|=========================================================================
Attribute:Context:Meaning
[[attr-title]]<<attr-title,+title+>>:article:article title
[[attr-link]]<<attr-link,+link+>>:article:article link
[[attr-author]]<<attr-author,+author+>>:article:article author
[[attr-content]]<<attr-content,+content+>>:article:article body
[[attr-date]]<<attr-date,+date+>>:article:publication date of the article
[[attr-guid]]<<attr-guid,+guid+>>:article:a unique identifier of the article
[[attr-unread]]<<attr-unread,+unread+>>:article:indicates whether the article has been read
[[attr-enclosure_url]]<<attr-enclosure_url,+enclosure_url+>>:article:the URL of an enclosure (e.g. podcast file), empty if there is no enclosure
[[attr-enclosure_type]]<<attr-enclosure_type,+enclosure_type+>>:article:the MIME type of the enclosure, empty if there is no enclosure
[[attr-flags]]<<attr-flags,+flags+>>:article:The set of flags of the article
[[attr-age]]<<attr-age,+age+>>:article:Age of an article (in days)
[[attr-articleindex]]<<attr-articleindex,+articleindex+>>:article:Index of an article in an article list
[[attr-feedtitle]]<<attr-feedtitle,+feedtitle+>>:feed, article:title of the feed
[[attr-description]]<<attr-description,+description+>>:feed, article:feed description
[[attr-feedlink]]<<attr-feedlink,+feedlink+>>:feed, article:link to the feed
[[attr-feeddate]]<<attr-feeddate,+feeddate+>>:feed, article:publication date of the feed
[[attr-rssurl]]<<attr-rssurl,+rssurl+>>:feed, article:RSS URL of the feed
[[attr-unread_count]]<<attr-unread_count,+unread_count+>>:feed, article:number of unread articles in the feed
[[attr-total_count]]<<attr-total_count,+total_count+>>:feed, article:total number of articles in the feed
[[attr-tags]]<<attr-tags,+tags+>>:feed, article:all tags that are associated with the feed
[[attr-feedindex]]<<attr-feedindex,+feedindex+>>:feed, article:Index of a feed in the feed list
|=========================================================================

Note that it's also possible to filter for feed attributes when you query for
article attributes. This is because every article is internally linked to the
feed from which it was downloaded.


=== Killfiles

Sometimes, a user is confronted with certain content they don't want to read,
e.g. on topics the user is not interested in or articles written by certain people.
In Usenet, such functionality within software is traditionally called a "killfile",
i.e. based on the content of this "killfile", articles that match certain conditions
do not get displayed and are not presented to the user at all.

In Newsboat, such a "killfile" can be implemented on a per-article basis via
the configuration file. The most important configuration command for this
is <<ignore-article,`ignore-article`>>:

	ignore-article "*" "title =~ \"Gentoo\""
	ignore-article "https://synflood.at/blog/index.php?/feeds/index.rss2" "title =~ \"newsboat\""

It takes two parameters. The first one is either a URL of a feed, or `"*"` to
match any feed (asterisk is _not_ a pattern, glob or regex—we simply reserve it
to mean "all feeds").  The second argument is <<_filter_language,a filter
expression>> for an article, probably <<_using_double_quotes,in double quotes
to preserve spaces inside>>. If Newsboat hits an article in the specified RSS
feed that matches the specified filter expression, then this article is ignored
and never presented to the user. The configuration itself can contain as many
<<ignore-article,`ignore-article`>> commands as desired.

You can also specify the way an article is ignored. There are
two ways available:

 - During download: articles are ignored when a feed is downloaded and parsed,
   and thus won't be written to the local cache.
 - During display: articles are downloaded and written to the local cache, but
   are ignored when a feed is displayed.

Both modes have their advantages and disadvantages: while the download ignore
mode saves some storage, you cannot simply "undo" the ignore by removing it
from the configuration file: if an ignored article has already vanished from a
feed, it won't reappear. On the other hand, the display ignore mode requires
some more space, but has the advantage that an ignore can be "undone" by
removing the ignore-article configuration command from the configuration.

The default ignore mode is `"download"`. You can set the <<ignore-mode,`ignore-mode`>> in the
configuration file:

	ignore-mode "display"


=== Query Feeds

Query feeds are a mechanism of Newsboat to define custom "meta feeds" by using
Newsboat's built-in filter language. A query feed is a feed that is aggregated
from all currently downloaded articles of all feeds. To narrow down the set of
articles, the user has to specify a filter. Only articles that match this filter
are added to the query feed.

A query feed is updated whenever it is entered in the feed list. When you
change the unread flag of an article, this is reflected in the feed where the
article was originally fetched. If you want query feeds to be updated at
startup, set <<prepopulate-query-feeds,`prepopulate-query-feeds`>> to `yes`.

To define a query feed, the user has to add a line to the _urls_ file in the
following format:

	query:<name of feed>:<filter expression> [<tag> ...]

The `query:` in the beginning tells Newsboat that it's a query feed, `<name of
feed>` specifies the name under which the query feed shall be displayed in the
feed list, and `<filter expression>` is the filter expression that shall be
used. Like every other feed, a query feed can be tagged to organize it like
a regular feed.

This feature is often used to create a feed that contains all unread articles:

	"query:Unread Articles:unread = \"yes\""

Note the <<_using_double_quotes,use of double quotes>> to preserve spaces in
the filter expression.

If you want to combine several feeds to one single feed, a good solution is to
tag the feeds that you want to combine with one certain tag, and then create a
query feed that only displays articles from feeds with that certain tag:

	https://domain1.tld/feed.xml fun news tag1
	https://domain2.tld/?feed.rss private jokes tag1
	https://domain3.tld/feeds.rss news
	"query:tag1 Articles:tags # \"tag1\""

In this example, the feeds https://domain1.tld/feed.xml and
https://domain2.tld/?feed.rss are aggregated into the query feed named "tag1
Articles", but the feed https://domain3.tld/feeds.rss is not.

Basically, the possibility of what can be realized with query feeds is only
limited by what can be queried from articles and feeds with the filter language
and by your creativity.

=== Flagging Articles

To support custom categorization of articles by the user, it is possible to
flag an article. A valid flag is any character from _A_ to _Z_ and from _a_ to
_z_. Every article can be flagged with up to 52 different flags, i.e. every
letter from the Roman alphabet in upper and lower case. Flagging is easy: just
select an article in the article list, or enter the article view, and press "Ctrl-E".
This will start the flag editor. By pressing "Enter", the new flags are saved.
You can cancel by pressing the "Esc" key.

The flags of an article can be used in every filter expression. The flags of an
article are always ordered, and when new flags are added, ordering is
immediately restored. This behaviour can also be relied upon when querying
articles via the filter language.

If an article contains one or more flags, it is marked with an "!" in the
article list. In the article view, all flags (if available) are listed.

=== Commandline Commands

Newsboat comes with a `-x` option that indicates that commands added as arguments
to the command line shall be executed. Currently, the following commands are
available:

- `reload`: this option reloads all feeds, and quits Newsboat without printing any output.
  This is useful if a user wants to periodically reload all feeds without always having
  a running Newsboat instance, e.g. from cron.
- `print-unread`: this option prints the number of unread articles and quits Newsboat.
  This is useful for users who want to integrate this number into some kind of monitoring
  system.


=== Format Strings

Newsboat contains a powerful format string system to make it possible for the
user to configure the format of various aspects of the application, such as
the format of entries in the feed list or in the article list.

Format strings are similar to those that are found in the `printf` function in
the C programming language. A format sequence begins with the _%_ character,
followed by optional alignment indication: positive numbers indicate that the
text that is inserted for the sequence shall be padded on the left to a total
width that is specified by the number, while negative number specify padding on
the right. Followed by the padding indication comes the actual sequence
identifier, which is usually a single letter. `%=[width][identifier]` centers
the sequence, where if w=0 the whole width of the window is used.

In addition, Newsboat provides other, more powerful sequences, such as
`%>[char]`, which indicates that the text right to the sequence will be aligned
right on the screen, and characters between the text on the left and the text
on the right will be filled by `[char]`. Another powerful format is the
conditional sequence, `%?[char]?[format 1]&[format 2]?`: if the text of the
sequence identifier `[char]` contains any non-whitespace characters, then
`[format 1]` will be evaluated and inserted, otherwise `[format 2]` will be
evaluated and inserted. The `&` and `[format 2]` are optional, i.e. if the
identifier's text is empty, then an empty string will be inserted.

The following tables show what sequence identifiers are available for which
format:

.Available Identifiers for feedlist-format
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="30,70"]
|======================================================================
Identifier:Meaning
[[feedlist-format-d]]<<feedlist-format-d,+d+>>:Feed description
[[feedlist-format-i]]<<feedlist-format-i,+i+>>:Feed index
[[feedlist-format-l]]<<feedlist-format-l,+l+>>:Feed link
[[feedlist-format-L]]<<feedlist-format-L,+L+>>:Feed RSS URL
[[feedlist-format-n]]<<feedlist-format-n,+n+>>:"unread" flag field
[[feedlist-format-S]]<<feedlist-format-S,+S+>>:download status
[[feedlist-format-t]]<<feedlist-format-t,+t+>>:Feed title
[[feedlist-format-T]]<<feedlist-format-T,+T+>>:First tag of a feed in the URLs file
[[feedlist-format-u]]<<feedlist-format-u,+u+>>:"unread/total" field
[[feedlist-format-U]]<<feedlist-format-U,+U+>>:"unread" field
[[feedlist-format-c]]<<feedlist-format-c,+c+>>:"total" field
|======================================================================

While a <<reload-all,`reload-all`>> operation is running, the download status indicates the
download status of a feed, which can be "to be downloaded" (indicated by "_"),
"currently downloading" (indicated by "."), successfully downloaded (indicated
by " ") and "download error" (indicated by "x").

.Available Identifiers for articlelist-format
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="30,70"]
|======================================================================
Identifier:Meaning
[[articlelist-format-a]]<<articlelist-format-a,+a+>>:Article author
[[articlelist-format-D]]<<articlelist-format-D,+D+>>:Publication date. This can be tweaked further with <<datetime-format,+datetime-format+>>
[[articlelist-format-f]]<<articlelist-format-f,+f+>>:Two characters\: 1) "N" if article is unread, "D" if article is deleted, a space otherwise; 2) "!" if article has flags, a space otherwise.
[[articlelist-format-n]]<<articlelist-format-n,+n+>>:"unread" field
[[articlelist-format-d]]<<articlelist-format-d,+d+>>:"deleted" field
[[articlelist-format-F]]<<articlelist-format-F,+F+>>:Article flags
[[articlelist-format-i]]<<articlelist-format-i,+i+>>:Article index
[[articlelist-format-t]]<<articlelist-format-t,+t+>>:Article title
[[articlelist-format-T]]<<articlelist-format-T,+T+>>:If the article list displays articles from different feeds, then this identifier contains the title of the feed to which the article belongs.
[[articlelist-format-L]]<<articlelist-format-L,+L+>>:Article length
|======================================================================

.Available Identifiers for selecttag-format
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="30,70"]
|======================================================================
Identifier:Meaning
[[selecttag-format-i]]<<selecttag-format-i,+i+>>:Line's index in the list
[[selecttag-format-T]]<<selecttag-format-T,+T+>>:The tag this line corresponds to
[[selecttag-format-f]]<<selecttag-format-f,+f+>>:Number of unread feeds under this tag
[[selecttag-format-n]]<<selecttag-format-n,+n+>>:Number of unread articles in feeds tagged with this tag
[[selecttag-format-u]]<<selecttag-format-u,+u+>>:Number of feeds tagged with this tag
|======================================================================

.Available Identifiers for notify-format
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="30,70"]
|======================================================================
Identifier:Meaning
[[notify-format-n]]<<notify-format-n,+n+>>:Number of unread articles
[[notify-format-f]]<<notify-format-f,+f+>>:Number of unread feeds
[[notify-format-d]]<<notify-format-d,+d+>>:Number of new unread articles (i.e. that were added through the last reload)
[[notify-format-D]]<<notify-format-D,+D+>>:Number of new unread feeds (i.e. that were added through the last reload)
|======================================================================

.Available Identifiers for podlist-format
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="30,70"]
|======================================================================
Identifier:Meaning
[[podlist-format-i]]<<podlist-format-i,+i+>>:Download index
[[podlist-format-d]]<<podlist-format-d,+d+>>:Currently downloaded size in megabytes, displays one digit of precision
[[podlist-format-t]]<<podlist-format-t,+t+>>:Total download size in megabytes, displays one digit of precision
[[podlist-format-p]]<<podlist-format-p,+p+>>:Downloaded precentage, displays one digit of precision
[[podlist-format-k]]<<podlist-format-k,+k+>>:Download speed, displays two digit of precision, always in KB/s (does not include the "KB/s" text)
[[podlist-format-K]]<<podlist-format-K,+K+>>:Download speed, displays two digit of precision, human readable (automatically switches between KB/s, MB/s, and GB/s)
[[podlist-format-S]]<<podlist-format-S,+S+>>:Status of download, displays one of the folowing; "queued", "downloading", "ready", "canceled", "deleted", "incomplete", "played", "finished" or "failed"
[[podlist-format-u]]<<podlist-format-u,+u+>>:Url of the download
[[podlist-format-F]]<<podlist-format-F,+F+>>:Absolute filename of the download from the root directory (e.g. ~/downloads/podcast.mp3 -> /home/name/downloads/podcast.mp3)
[[podlist-format-b]]<<podlist-format-b,+b+>>:Basename of the download (e.g. /home/name/downloads/podcast.mp3 -> podcast.mp3)
|======================================================================

Examples:

	feedlist-format     "%4i %n %11u %t"
	articlelist-format  "%4i %f %D   %?T?|%-17T|  ?%t"
	notify-format       "%d new articles (%n unread articles, %f unread feeds)"
	podlist-format      "%4i [%-5p %%] %-12S %F"

.Available Identifiers for download-path and download-filename-format
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="30,70"]
|======================================================================
Identifier:Meaning
[[download-filename-format-u]]<<download-filename-format-u,+u+>>:Filename part of the download URL. May be empty. May include https\://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Query_string[a query string]
[[download-filename-format-n]]<<download-filename-format-n,+n+>>:Name of the podcast feed
[[download-filename-format-N]]<<download-filename-format-N,+N+>>:Name of the podcast feed. Contains the original feed's name, even when selected through a query feed
[[download-filename-format-h]]<<download-filename-format-h,+h+>>:Name of the podcast feed's hostname
[[download-filename-format-t]]<<download-filename-format-t,+t+>>:Title of the podcast episode
[[download-filename-format-e]]<<download-filename-format-e,+e+>>:Extension of the podcast episode
[[download-filename-format-F]]<<download-filename-format-F,+F+>>:Publication date of the podcast episode formatted as yyyy-mm-dd
[[download-filename-format-m]]<<download-filename-format-m,+m+>>:Month when podcast episode was published
[[download-filename-format-b]]<<download-filename-format-b,+b+>>:Abbreviated month name when podcast episode was published
[[download-filename-format-d]]<<download-filename-format-d,+d+>>:Day when podcast episode was published
[[download-filename-format-H]]<<download-filename-format-H,+H+>>:Hour when podcast episode was published
[[download-filename-format-M]]<<download-filename-format-M,+M+>>:Minute when podcast episode was published
[[download-filename-format-S]]<<download-filename-format-S,+S+>>:Second when podcast episode was published
[[download-filename-format-y]]<<download-filename-format-y,+y+>>:Year when podcast episode was published formatted as yy
[[download-filename-format-Y]]<<download-filename-format-Y,+Y+>>:Year when podcast episode was published formatted as yyyy
|======================================================================

==== Dialog Titles

You can customize
the title format of all available dialogs. Here is a list of dialogs with their
respective title format configuration variables, and a list of available formats
and their meaning. Please note that the title formats are localized, so if you
work on a different locale that is supported by Newsboat, the actually displayed
title text may vary unless you customize it.

.Dialog Title Formats
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="20,30,50l"]
|==========================================================================
Dialog:Configuration Variable:Default Value
Feed List:<<feedlist-title-format,+feedlist-title-format+>>:%N %V - %?F?Feeds&Your feeds? (%u unread, %t total)%?F? matching filter `%F'&?%?T? - tag `%T'&?
Article List:<<articlelist-title-format,+articlelist-title-format+>>:%N %V - Articles in feed '%T' (%u unread, %t total)%?F? matching filter `%F'&? - %U
Search Result:<<searchresult-title-format,+searchresult-title-format+>>:%N %V - Search results (%u unread, %t total)%?F? matching filter `%F'&?
File Browser:<<filebrowser-title-format,+filebrowser-title-format+>>:%N %V - %?O?Open File&Save File? - %f
Directory Browser:<<dirbrowser-title-format,+dirbrowser-title-format+>>:%N %V - %?O?Open Directory&Save File? - %f
Help:<<help-title-format,+help-title-format+>>:%N %V - Help
Select Tag Dialog:<<selecttag-title-format,+selecttag-title-format+>>:%N %V - Select Tag
Select Filter Dialog:<<selectfilter-title-format,+selectfilter-title-format+>>:%N %V - Select Filter
Article View:<<itemview-title-format,+itemview-title-format+>>:%N %V - Article '%T' (%u unread, %t total)
URL View:<<urlview-title-format,+urlview-title-format+>>:%N %V - URLs
Dialog List:<<dialogs-title-format,+dialogs-title-format+>>:%N %V - Dialogs
|==========================================================================

.Common Title Format Identifiers
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="30,70"]
|======================================================================
Identifier:Meaning
[[common-title-format-N]]<<common-title-format-N,+N+>>:Name of the program, i.e. "newsboat"
[[common-title-format-V]]<<common-title-format-V,+V+>>:Program version
|======================================================================

.Feed List Title Format Identifiers
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="30,70"]
|======================================================================
Identifier:Meaning
[[feedlist-title-format-T]]<<feedlist-title-format-T,+T+>>:Currently selected tag (empty if none selected)
[[feedlist-title-format-t]]<<feedlist-title-format-t,+t+>>:Number of total feeds
[[feedlist-title-format-u]]<<feedlist-title-format-u,+u+>>:Number of unread feeds
[[feedlist-title-format-U]]<<feedlist-title-format-U,+U+>>:Number of unread articles
[[feedlist-title-format-F]]<<feedlist-title-format-F,+F+>>:Current filter expression (empty if no filter is active)
|======================================================================

.Article List Title Format Identifiers
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="30,70"]
|======================================================================
Identifier:Meaning
[[articlelist-title-format-T]]<<articlelist-title-format-T,+T+>>:Feed title
[[articlelist-title-format-U]]<<articlelist-title-format-U,+U+>>:Feed URL
[[articlelist-title-format-u]]<<articlelist-title-format-u,+u+>>:Number of unread articles
[[articlelist-title-format-t]]<<articlelist-title-format-t,+t+>>:Number of total articles
[[articlelist-title-format-F]]<<articlelist-title-format-F,+F+>>:Current filter expression (empty if no filter is active)
|======================================================================

.File Browser Title Format Identifiers
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="30,70"]
|======================================================================
Identifier:Meaning
[[filebrowser-title-format-f]]<<filebrowser-title-format-f,+f+>>:Current path
[[filebrowser-title-format-O]]<<filebrowser-title-format-O,+O+>>:Non-empty if file browser is in open mode, empty if in save mode
|======================================================================

.Directory Browser Title Format Identifiers
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="30,70"]
|======================================================================
Identifier:Meaning
[[dirbrowser-title-format-f]]<<dirbrowser-title-format-f,+f+>>:Current path
[[dirbrowser-title-format-O]]<<dirbrowser-title-format-O,+O+>>:Non-empty if directory browser is in open mode, empty if in save mode
|======================================================================

.Article View Title Format Identifiers
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="30,70"]
|======================================================================
Identifier:Meaning
[[articleview-title-format-T]]<<articleview-title-format-T,+T+>>:Article title
[[articleview-title-format-F]]<<articleview-title-format-F,+F+>>:Feed title
[[articleview-title-format-u]]<<articleview-title-format-u,+u+>>:Number of unread articles
[[articleview-title-format-t]]<<articleview-title-format-t,+t+>>:Number of total articles
|======================================================================

=== Highlighting Text

Newsboat supports the highlighting of text in the feed
list, the article list and the article view, using regular expressions to
describe patterns to be highlighted. The command syntax goes like this:

	highlight <target> <regex> <fgcolor> [<bgcolor> [<attribute> ...]]

Valid values for `<target>` are `feedlist`, `articlelist`, `article` and `all`.
When specifying `all`, the matching will be done in all three views. The
`<regex>` must be
a https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799.2008edition/basedefs/V1_chap09.html[POSIX
extended regular expression], which will be matched case-insensitive against
the text. If multiple highlight matches overlap, the style of the later
specified highlight rule will be applied. `<fgcolor>` and `<bgcolor>` specify
the foreground color resp. the background color of the matches. You can also
specify 0 or more attributes. You can find a list of valid colors and
attributes in the <<_configuring_colors>>.

Examples for possible highlighting configurations are:

	highlight all "newsboat" red
	highlight article "^(Feed|Title|Author|Link|Date):" default default underline
	highlight feedlist "https?://[^ ]+" yellow red bold

Note the <<_using_double_quotes,use of double quotes>> to preserve spaces in
the regular expressions.

==== Highlighting Articles in the Article List

In addition to generally highlighting text, there is also a specific way to
highlight articles in the article list based on whether they match a certain
filter expression. This means that you can highlight items in the article list
based on their content. This is done using the <<highlight-article,`highlight-article`>> configuration
command.

The syntax is similar to the <<highlight,`highlight`>> configuration command, with the difference
that there's no need to specify a target (since it only applies in the article list),
and instead of a regular expression, a filter expression is used. After the filter
expression, the colors and attributes are specified in the same way.

Example:

	highlight-article "author =~ \"Andreas Krennmair\"" white red bold

Note the <<_using_double_quotes,use of double quotes>> to preserve spaces in
the filter expression.

=== Advanced Dialog Management

Newsboat supports an advanced concept of dialogs.
Previously, all dialogs (feed list, article list, article view) were internally
laid out as a pure stack. In 2.0, this changed: all dialogs are managed in a
list, and the user can jump to another, previously opened dialog from
everywhere. This allows a user to open more than one article list, more than one
article view, etc., and switch between them without closing them.

The main dialog for this feature can be reached by pressing the "v" key. This
opens the list of open dialogs. From there, the user can switch to another
dialog by selecting the appropriate entry and pressing "Enter", or can close
open dialogs by selecting them and pressing "Ctrl-X".

=== Macro Support

In Newsboat, it's possible to define macros to execute more than one command
at once. A macro is configured using the <<macro,`macro`>> configuration
command. The first parameter to `macro` is the key, all parameters afterwards
are operations (see <<_newsboat_operations>> and <<_podboat_operations>>),
optionally with parameters on their own, separated by the `;` character. Here's
a simple example:

  macro k open; reload; quit
  macro o open-in-browser; toggle-article-read "read"

When the user presses the macro prefix ("," by default) and then the "k" key,
the three operations <<open,`open`>>, <<reload,`reload`>> and <<quit,`quit`>>
will be executed subsequently.

The macro prefix can be changed from the default "," to another key, e.g. "+"
(if you don't unbind the default "," you're left with two macro prefixes):

  bind-key + macro-prefix
  unbind-key ,

=== Open Links with External Commands

==== Using Browser

The first step to open links outside of Newsboat is to set a default
<<browser,`browser`>> in your config file. It can be any command that you would
normally run, such as a web browser or an executable script. For example:

  browser firefox

The browser command also takes an optional `%u` to specify at which point the
URL sould be expanded. If `%u` is not set, the URL will be appended at the end of
the command. Therefore, the following example is equivalent to the last one:

  browser "firefox %u"

To open any link with your browser, the versatile
<<open-in-browser,`open-in-browser`>> operation can be used. Its behavior is
specific to each dialog.

The default keybinding for `open-in-browser` is "o". An alternative operation,
<<open-in-browser-and-mark-read,`open-in-browser-and-mark-read`>> also marks the
article as read when in the article list, but doesn't work in the feed list.
The default keybinding is "O".

Articles usually contain links which point to different resources and websites.
Newsboat detects those links and creates a list which can be seen at the bottom
of the article view. To easily scroll through the list and choose a link to
open, one can go to the URL view with the "u" key.

Those links can also be opened directly from the article view.
Relevant operations are <<one,`one`>> to <<zero,`zero`>>
(digits written as words) and <<goto-url,`goto-url`>>.
Keys "1" to "0" can be used to open URL 1 to 10. To open URLs above 10,
start with the "#" key, then type the URL's number, and press "Enter". To use
goto-url inside a macro, simply append the URL's number (e.g. `goto-url 11`).

==== Switching Browser for Different Tasks

To manually change the browser from Newsboat internal command line, type
`:set browser` followed by the command, and press "Enter".
The variable is only set temporarily (useful for testing), so next
time Newsboat is launched, `browser` will reset to the command specified in your
config file:

  :set browser chromium

It is also possible to modify configuration variables within macros.
For example, one can temporarily modify the browser command to do
something else, such as running an image viewer from the URL view:

  macro i set browser feh; open-in-browser; set browser elinks

==== Separating Browser from Newsboat

The default behavior of Newsboat when running external commands is to use the
same terminal for the new application. It is great for a "classical" workflow
i.e., when working from a virtual console without a graphical environment.
On the other hand, it might seem like a limitation if you would like to keep
using Newsboat while the command is running. A few simple tricks can be used to
work with both Newsboat and an external application at the same time.
Those are explained below.

Applications like `firefox`, if already running, will simply open a new tab
when receiving a link, then give control back to Newsboat. Because of that,
Newsboat will be unavailable for a split second, then work can resume.

Other applications without this kind of feature will usually do two things:
print messages and warnings (or in the case of interactive console applications,
overwrite Newsboat interface with their own), while also blocking user input
(which prevents controlling Newsboat). To demonstrate this behavior,
the single-tabbed `surf` browser is used:

  :set browser surf

To prevent applications from printing messages and warnings over Newsboat
interface (useful mostly for GUI apps), you may need to "redirect standard
output and error" to the `null` device:

  :set browser "surf %u >/dev/null 2>&1"

At this point, if you try to open a link, you are back to the original terminal
from which Newsboat was initially launched, but input is still blocked.
By adding the `&` character to the very end of the browser command, the
application will run separately from Newsboat, which can then be used
(and even closed) independently of the app:

  :set browser "surf %u >/dev/null 2>&1 &"

This can be simplified by using Newsboat's `open-in-browser-noninteractively`
operation. The operation runs the browser while keeping Newsboat's view on the
foreground. It does not show any of the browser's `stdout` and `stderr` output.

  :set browser "surf %u &"
  :exec open-in-browser-noninteractively

This can also be useful if you want to run a download script in the background.
For example:

  macro d set browser "youtube-dl %u &"; open-in-browser-noninteractively; set browser elinks

For text-based console applications, it is best to first launch a terminal
emulator, which will in turn execute the remainder of the browser command.
Standard output do not need to be silenced with this technique.
Here, `alacritty` is used. Of course, you can replace it with your go-to
terminal emulator, just remember to set the "command" or "execute" option
(`-e` in this example). To open `lynx` in a dedicated terminal:

  :set browser "alacritty -e lynx %u &"

Once an application is properly detached, other apps can be launched from
the same instance of Newsboat. Each time, you can decide to either keep the same
browser, or change it to serve a different purpose.

=== Podcast Support

include::chapter-podcasts.asciidoc[]

The following sections present two different ways to handle podcasts with
Newsboat.

==== Managing Audio Files with Podboat

include::chapter-podboat.asciidoc[]

A macro can also be used to enqueue any of the URLs from the URLs view to
Podboat's download queue:

  macro E set browser "echo %u >> ~/.newsboat/queue"; open-in-browser; set browser elinks

==== Streaming Audio Content with a Media Player

As an alternative to Podboat file management, media players such as `mpv` can
stream content directly when given a URL. Since Newsboat always assign the
enclosure link to URL 1, the operation <<one,`one`>> can be used to open the audio file
(beware that this operation will always open URL 1, even if no enclosure is
found). To listen to your podcast from the article view, a basic macro would be:

  macro 1 set browser mpv; one; set browser firefox

For media players with a graphical user interface like `vlc`, console output
will typically need to be silenced with `>/dev/null 2>&1`. Also, the `&`
character at the end of the browser command will detach the media player from
Newsboat. You can then read your articles while listening to podcasts:

  macro v set browser "vlc %u >/dev/null 2>&1 &"; one; set browser firefox

With mpv, the podcast cover art is fetched automatically when using the
pseudo-gui. The `--` near the end will prevent mpv from interpreting the following
arguments as options:

  macro p set browser "mpv --player-operation-mode=pseudo-gui -- %u &"; one; set browser firefox

To use mpv's console interface instead, first launch a terminal emulator
which will in turn execute mpv. This way, Newsboat and the media player can both
be controlled with text-based interfaces, side by side:

  macro c set browser "alacritty -e mpv --vid=no -- %u &"; one; set browser firefox

If you are working without a graphical environment (e.g. from a virtual
console), you want to make sure the media player doesn't try to launch a
graphical user interface. With mpv, the `--vid=no` option can be used for this
purpose:

  macro n set browser "mpv --vid=no --"; one; set browser lynx

Another use case for this macro would be when running Newsboat on a
remote host, while logged in through a secure shell (e.g. OpenSSH).
With this setup, Newsboat will effectively serve as the controller to an ad hoc
"remote media server". Audio will be playing on the remote host.

=== Running multiple copies of Newsboat simultaneously

During development and testing, you might want to run a second copy of
Newsboat, operating with different config, URLs list or cache file. This can
be achieved by creative use of XDG environment variables. This approach is not
beautiful, but it works.

First of all, you will need to create a directory to store the data. Let's call
it _test_:

	$ mkdir -p test/newsboat

Note that we also create a subdirectory called _newsboat_; this is required
to satisfy XDG specification. **ATTENTION**: if this subdirectory is absent,
Newsboat will attempt to run on your live data!

You can now create _config_ and _urls_ files inside _test/newsboat_; you can
also copy _cache.db_ if you don't want to start with a fresh one.

When the files are ready, you can invoke Newsboat as follows:

	$ XDG_CONFIG_HOME=test XDG_DATA_HOME=test newsboat

(This will look +newsboat+ binary up in your +PATH+; if you've just built
your own, use +./newsboat+ instead, or provide a full path.)

By modifying the environment in which Newsboat runs you also modify
environments of all the programs that Newsboat starts; that includes filters
and external HTML renderers. If they rely on +XDG_*+ variables, they will look
for things in +test+ directory and might fail.

For filters, you should either copy the files they need to _test_, or invoke
them in such a way that they don't look in XDG directories at all.

For renderers, you can work around the issue by undoing the modifications to
environment, e.g.:

	html-renderer "XDG_CONFIG_HOME=$HOME/.config XDG_DATA_HOME=$HOME/.data w3c"

As already said: not beautiful, but gets the job done.

=== Using SQLite Triggers with Newsboat

This section was written by mailto:elrond+newsbeuter(at)samba-tng.org[Elrond],
originally for Newsbeuter.

SQLite, the db used by Newsboat, supports triggers. These are small
snippets of SQL that get executed inside the database by the database
engine. They're stored inside the db and the normal user (including
Newsboat itself) doesn't see them. Just the db seems to do some magic:
Like changing some values when you change another value.

So what is this good for when looking at Newsboat? Well, first off, it's a
hack. The real answer should be to use application logic (do it inside
Newsboat, not in the db). So: Don't use this, unless you know, what you're
doing, and unless you have some sort of backup.

==== Example

So after the "don't use it" you still want to know, what one can do? So here's an example.

Suppose you have a strange feed where the articles become "new" by just
changing their subject, and nothing else changes. The body is just empty, and
the URL keeps the same. This feed really exists. It's the "updated software rss
feed" of some major company and the title just contains the name of the driver
and version number. And the URL points to the download page. Newsboat
considers articles only as new, when they have a new UniqueID (this is good).
So those articles are never marked as new (unread) ever again.

So what can we do? We do some magic: We let the db test if Newsboat
changes the subject and then let itself mark the article again as unread.

1. You need the `sqlite3` command line tool (available via `apt-get install sqlite3` on Debian) or some other tool to do direct sql on the sqlite database.

2. Start `sqlite3` with the Newsboat db:

	 Rivendell:~/.newsboat% sqlite3 cache.db
	 SQLite version 3.4.2
	 Enter ".help" for instructions
	 sqlite>

3. Create the trigger:

	 sqlite> create trigger update_item_title update of title on rss_item
		   > for each row when old.title != new.title
		   > begin
		   >   update rss_item set unread = 1 where rowid == new.rowid;
		   > end;

4. Leave `sqlite3` with "Ctrl-D" or `.quit`.

That's it. Newsboat (well, its db) now marks articles as unread when their
title changes. And nicely enough this works all inside Newsboat, no need to
restart it so that it rereads the cache, that magically modifies itself. It
just works.

=== Environment variables

include::chapter-environment-variables.asciidoc[]

== Feedback and security

Please report security vulnerabilities to security@newsboat.org, encrypting your
emails to https://newsboat.org/newsboat.pgp[PGP key 4ED6CD61932B9EBE] if at all
possible.

Non-security issues and general questions can be discussed on
https://github.com/newsboat/newsboat/issues/[the issue tracker] and
mailto:newsboat@googlegroups.com[the mailing list].

You can also chat with developers and fellow users on #newsboat at Freenode
(irc.freenode.net or https://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=newsboat[via
webchat]).

[appendix]
== Newsboat Configuration Commands

include::configcommands-linked.asciidoc[]

[appendix]
== Newsboat Operations

include::availableoperations-linked.asciidoc[]

[appendix]
== Podboat Configuration Commands

include::podboat-cmds-linked.asciidoc[]

[appendix]
== Podboat Operations

.Available Operations in Podboat
[frame="all", grid="all", format="dsv", options="header", cols="20,20,60"]
|=========================================================================
Operation:Default key:Description
[[pb-quit]]<<pb-quit,+quit+>>:q:Quit the program.
[[pb-hard-quit]]<<pb-hard-quit,+hard-quit+>>:Q:Quit the program without confirmation.
[[pb-help]]<<pb-help,+help+>>:?:Show the help screen.
[[pb-download]]<<pb-download,+pb-download+>>:d:Download the currently selected URL.
[[pb-cancel]]<<pb-cancel,+pb-cancel+>>:c:Cancel the currently selected download.
[[pb-play]]<<pb-play,+pb-play+>>:p:Start player with currently selected download.
[[pb-mark-as-finished]]<<pb-mark-as-finished,+pb-mark-as-finished+>>:m:Mark currently selected entry as finished.
[[pb-delete]]<<pb-delete,+pb-delete+>>:D:Delete the currently selected URL from the queue.
[[pb-purge]]<<pb-purge,+pb-purge+>>:P:Remove all finished and deleted downloads from the queue and load URLs that were newly added to the queue.
[[pb-toggle-download-all]]<<pb-toggle-download-all,+pb-toggle-download-all+>>:a:Toggle the "automatic download" feature where all queued URLs are downloaded one after the other. The "max-downloads" configuration option controls how many downloads are done in parallel.
[[pb-increase-max-dls]]<<pb-increase-max-dls,+pb-increase-max-dls+>>:+:Increase the "max-downloads" option by 1.
[[pb-decrease-max-dls]]<<pb-decrease-max-dls,+pb-decrease-max-dls+>>:-:Decrease the "max-downloads" option by 1. If the option is already 1, no further decrease is possible.
|=========================================================================


[appendix]
== License

MIT License

Copyright 2006-2015 Andreas Krennmair <ak@newsbeuter.org> +
Copyright 2015-2021 Alexander Batischev <eual.jp@gmail.com> +
Copyright 2006-2017 Newsbeuter contributors +
Copyright 2017-2021 Newsboat contributors

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.  IN NO EVENT SHALL
THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER
DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
