INTERNET-DRAFT                               Charles H. Lindsey
Usenet Format Working Group                  University of Manchester
                                             July 2001

4.1. Syntax of News Articles

4.1.  Syntax of News Articles
   The overall syntax of a news article is:

      article           = 1*header separator body
      header            = header-name ":" 1*SP header-content CRLF
      header-name       = 1*name-character *( "-" 1*name-character )
      name-character    = ALPHA / DIGIT
      header-content    = USENET-header-content
                               *( [CFWS] ";" header-parameter ) /
                          other-header-content
      USENET-header-content
                        = 
      other-header-content
                        = 
      header-parameter  = USENET-header-parameter /
                          other-header-parameter
      USENET-header-parameter
                        = 
      other-header-parameter
                        = attribute "=" value
      attribute         = USENET-token / iana-token / x-token
      value             = token / quoted-string
      USENET-token      = 
      iana-token        = 
      x-token           = [CFWS] "x-" token-core [CFWS]
      token             = [CFWS] token-core [CFWS]
      token-core        = 1*
      tspecials         = "(" / ")" / "<" / ">" / "@" /
                          "," / ";" / ":" / "\" / DQUOTE /
                          "/" / "[" / "]" / "?" / "="
      separator         = CRLF
      body              = *( *998text CRLF )

   An article consists of some headers followed by a body. An empty line
   separates the two. The headers contain structured information about
   the article and its transmission. A header begins with a header-name
   identifying it, and can be continued onto subsequent lines as
   described in section 4.2.3.  The body is largely unstructured text
   significant only to the poster and the readers.

        NOTE: Terminology here follows the current custom in the news
        community, rather than the [RFC 2822] convention of referring to
        what is here called a "header" as a "header-field" or "field".


   Note that the separator line must be truly empty, not just a line
   containing white space. Further empty lines following it are part of
   the body, as are empty lines at the end of the article.

        NOTE: The syntax above defines the canonical form of a news
        article as a sequence of lines each terminated by CRLF. This
        does not prevent serving agents or transport agents from storing
        or handling the article in other formats (e.g. using a single LF
        in place of CRLF) so long as the overall effects achieved are as
        defined by this standard when operating on the canonical form.

Diffs to previous draft

--- {draft-04}	Wed Jul 11 21:55:04 2001
+++ {draft-05}	Wed Jul 11 21:55:05 2001
@@ -49,8 +49,9 @@
    significant only to the poster and the readers.
 
         NOTE: Terminology here follows the current custom in the news
-        community, rather than the [MESSFOR] convention of referring to
+        community, rather than the [RFC 2822] convention of referring to
         what is here called a "header" as a "header-field" or "field".
+
 
    Note that the separator line must be truly empty, not just a line
    containing white space. Further empty lines following it are part of