Topic files for the group scan mode.

Topics:
	Group scan can display newsgroups in hierarchical menus of
newsgroups called "topics", defined by "topic files".  These topic
files are simple to create and allow easy browsing of related
newsgroups.  For instance, one can have a "Computer" topic which
contains all computer-related newsgroups.  Multiple topic levels are
possible--one could have a "sources" topic within the "Computer"
topic.  Here is a sample of a topic tree (using the sample topic
files included with strn):

	Here is the "top" level:
---------- cut ----------
Top Level | Top Level
      file> Favorites
      file  Americast (USA Today)
      file  USENET
      file  Networks
      file  Computers
      file  Amiga!
      file  Social
      file  Games
      file  Recreational
      file  Science
      file  Misc
      file  Hierarchies
      list  All groups in .newsrc
-ALL-
---------- cut ----------

	After selecting the "USENET" entry the screen displays:
---------- cut ----------
Level 2 | USENET
+....   31> news.software.readers
+M...    4  news.announce.newgroups
+....    7  news.misc
+....   33  news.software.nn
+....   11  news.sysadmin
+....   61  news.software.b
+....   40  news.software.nntp
+....   59  news.admin.policy
+M...    2  news.admin.technical
+....   93  news.admin.misc
+....  370  news.groups
+M...   34  news.lists
+M...   22  news.announce.newusers
+M...  509  news.answers
+M...   36  news.lists.ps-maps
+....    6  news.newsites
+....  163  news.newusers.questions
+....   54  news.software.anu-news
+....    3  news.software.notes
+....  139  alt.config
+....  201  alt.fan.warlord
+....    8  alt.uu.future
+....    5  alt.uu.announce
+....    2  alt.uu.tools
+.... 2259  control
      list  foreign news
-ALL-
---------- cut ----------

Group Scan topic-hierarchy oriented commands:
^E	Edits the topic file for the current topic level.  Strn will go
	to the directory containing the topic file before starting the editor
	(which makes editing "nearby" files easy with some editors).
(	Goes up a level in the hierarchy tree (toward the "Top Level")
q	Also goes up a level, but this might change.
[Many more commands will be added later.]

	To start using hierarchy files, one needs to create the "top"
topic file in the "scangroups" directory.  (The directory used is the
value of the environment variable SCANGROUPS or "%p/scangroups" by default.
("%p" is your private news directory, usually "~/News".))  The easy
way to do this is to go into the group scan mode, and type the 'E'
key.  This will give several options, one of which is:
3) Create a personalized top file for group scan mode.
   (You only need to do this once.)

...selecting this option will create a simple group scan setup.

	A sample scangroups directory is available in the "samples"
directory of the strn distribution.  (This directory can be used by
copying it into ~/News/scangroups.)

	When a user enters the group scan mode, strn will search for a
"top" topic file in the scangroups directory.  If that is not present,
but a system-wide default_topic file exists, then the default_topic
file will be used.  (If no topic files exist, a list of all newsgroups in
one's .newsrc is used.)  This file may contain the following types of
lines:

[Line format: lines may be up to 250 characters followed by a carriage
return.  Lines may *not* (yet) be continued with a '\' (backslash) character,
but this feature will be added later.]

Comments
	Lines which begin with '#' or are blank are ignored.

Examples:
#The next line will be a blank comment line (ignored)

#### This is another comment.
-----

Newsgroup(s)
	One or more newsgroup patterns separated by spaces and/or
commas which will be added to the current topic menu.  Patterns are
matched character-by-character except for "*" which may represent zero
or more characters.  Patterns must match the full text of a newsgroup
for the newsgroup to be considered.  For instance:
	sci.med		matches only sci.med
	*sci.med	matches sci.med and fj.sci.med
	sci.med*	matches sci.med and sci.med.physics
	*sci.med*	matches sci.med, fj.sci.med, and sci.med.physics
...A "!" (exclamation point) character may be placed before a newsgroup
pattern to exclude newsgroups matching the following pattern.

Examples:
sci.med*
*.politics*, !talk.bizarre.politics news.groups,sci.med
-----

List
	A "list" consists of descriptive text in double quotes ("text")
followed by a list of newsgroup patterns.  Unlike the newsgroup(s) line
type above, these newsgroups are not added to the current menu. 
For instance, if a topic file contains the line:
"Political groups" *.politics* soc.feminism news.groups
..., an entry like the following is added to the current menu:
      list   Political groups
....When this entry is selected, a new menu is created consisting of the
newsgroups in the list (*.politics* soc.feminism news.groups).

Examples:
"Political groups" *.politics*,soc.feminism, news.groups
"All newsgroups in .newsrc" *
"The sci.* hierarchy" sci.*
-----

File
	A list consists of descriptive text in double quotes ("text")
followed by a file name.  The descriptive text will be shown in the
menu, and when the file entry is selected a new menu will be created
using the contents of the named file.  The file may start with a tilde
('~') or a slash ('/') for a path name, a percent sign ('%') for a
%-interpolation (such as %p for one's private news directory), or a ":"
to indicate the current directory (the directory the currently used file
is located in).  The ":" form allows portable hierarchy trees.  (One can
use something like ":../foo" to access a file in a parent
directory--this is useful for more unstructured kinds of hierarchies.)

Examples:
"USENET" :net/usenet
"Socializing" :../chat/chatty_groups
"Cliff's topics" ~caadams/News/scangroups/top
"Mary's science topics" /users/mary/News/scangroups/science
"A topic file in my News directory" %p/misctopic
"A topic file with a URL" URL:http://nitrous.digex.net/~caadams/strn.top
-----

Virtual groups
	A virtual group follows the same format as a file, but it has
an @ character at the beginning of the file name.  See the separate
virtual newsgroup documentation for more information.

Examples:
"Virtual group" @:virt/miscvirt
"Another vgr" @~/vgr/foo
"An Internet virtual group" @URL:http://nitrous.digex.net/~caadams/strn.top
-----

Text files
	A text file follows the same format as a file, but it has an
'&' character at the beginning of the file name.  When this entry is
chosen, the text file will be displayed using the environment variable
SCANPAGER, PAGER, or "more" if neither of the previous variables are
defined.

Examples:
"Some text in the current directory" &:foo.txt
"My .signature file from my home directory" &~/.signature
"Text from the net" &URL:http://nitrous.digex.net/~caadams/strn.text
-----

Miscellaneous Notes:

More on newsgroup patterns:
	Newsgroup patterns are added to a menu in the order they appear
in a topic file.  If a pattern matches more than one newsgroup, the
newsgroups are added in the order they appear in the user's .newsrc
file.  Patterns may "overlap"--if a newsgroup is added twice it
will appear in the first place it was used.  One can use this behavior
to control the order of placement in a topic menu.  For instance,
"sci.med.physics sci.med*" will add sci.med.physics before the other sci.med
groups.  One can also use the "!" character to place groups later in a menu.
"sci.med* !sci.med.physics sci.med.physics" will first add all the
sci.med groups to the menu, then delete the sci.med.physics group, then
finally add the sci.med.physics group after all of the other sci.med groups.

Empty topics:
	If a topic menu entry is selected which does not have any
eligible newsgroup patterns (or files/lists which are always
eligible), strn will print an error message, and give you the
opportunity to edit the current (empty) topic.
