Discussion:
another filtering question, question marks
(too old to reply)
Rich Ulrich
2023-11-25 17:30:42 UTC
Permalink
I don't read the non-default character sets, so some foreign
language stuff shows up as question marks.

The comp.soft-sys.stat.spss group is bombarded this week
with spam, a dozen or so a day. (I still check the group, though
real posts are rare.

I read some previous posts here and thought I had a solution by
marking READ (so I don't see it) everything with ?'s in the Subject,
which all of these have.

Checking on posts thus marked READ, I see that EVERY post was
marked read. (The additional posts are also spam, but in English
selling something.)

Here is the start of one post.
On Tue, 21 Nov 2023 22:16:06 -0800 (PST), ????????????????
????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????? ??????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????? ?????THE88????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????? ????????????
The filter I set up is

Subject:{/?/?/?/?}

I thought that the / would quote the special character.

I didn't know if that should detect 4 consecutive or 4 in all.
Apparently it detects every post

What did I miss?
--
Rich Ulrich
Ralph Fox
2023-11-25 18:56:55 UTC
Permalink
Post by Rich Ulrich
I don't read the non-default character sets, so some foreign
language stuff shows up as question marks.
The comp.soft-sys.stat.spss group is bombarded this week
with spam, a dozen or so a day. (I still check the group, though
real posts are rare.
I read some previous posts here and thought I had a solution by
marking READ (so I don't see it) everything with ?'s in the Subject,
which all of these have.
Checking on posts thus marked READ, I see that EVERY post was
marked read. (The additional posts are also spam, but in English
selling something.)
Here is the start of one post.
On Tue, 21 Nov 2023 22:16:06 -0800 (PST), ????????????????
????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????? ??????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????? ?????THE88????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????? ????????????
The filter I set up is
Subject:{/?/?/?/?}
I thought that the / would quote the special character.
You need to use \ not / here.
Post by Rich Ulrich
I didn't know if that should detect 4 consecutive or 4 in all.
Apparently it detects every post
What did I miss?
See the help file page "Regular Expressions Reference"
Help >> Index >> Expressions >> Regular Expressions Reference

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ QUOTE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...
Rules for Writing Regular Expressions
...
* The \ (backslash) character, followed by any character. You can
use backslash to "quote" characters that otherwise have special
meaning. For example, to match the literal character ".", you
would write "\.". Without the backslash, the "." would match any
character, not just ".".
...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ QUOTE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--
Kind regards
Ralph

“Whose ȝong lerneþ, olt he ne leseþ,” quoþ Hendyng.
Rich Ulrich
2023-11-25 20:43:25 UTC
Permalink
Post by Ralph Fox
Post by Rich Ulrich
I don't read the non-default character sets, so some foreign
language stuff shows up as question marks.
The comp.soft-sys.stat.spss group is bombarded this week
with spam, a dozen or so a day. (I still check the group, though
real posts are rare.
I read some previous posts here and thought I had a solution by
marking READ (so I don't see it) everything with ?'s in the Subject,
which all of these have.
Checking on posts thus marked READ, I see that EVERY post was
marked read. (The additional posts are also spam, but in English
selling something.)
Here is the start of one post.
On Tue, 21 Nov 2023 22:16:06 -0800 (PST), ????????????????
????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????? ??????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????? ?????THE88????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????? ????????????
The filter I set up is
Subject:{/?/?/?/?}
I thought that the / would quote the special character.
You need to use \ not / here.
Thanks!
Post by Ralph Fox
Post by Rich Ulrich
I didn't know if that should detect 4 consecutive or 4 in all.
Apparently it detects every post
What did I miss?
See the help file page "Regular Expressions Reference"
Help >> Index >> Expressions >> Regular Expressions Reference
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ QUOTE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...
Rules for Writing Regular Expressions
...
* The \ (backslash) character, followed by any character. You can
use backslash to "quote" characters that otherwise have special
meaning. For example, to match the literal character ".", you
would write "\.". Without the backslash, the "." would match any
character, not just ".".
...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ QUOTE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--
Rich Ulrich
Ralph Fox
2023-11-26 02:02:46 UTC
Permalink
Post by Rich Ulrich
Thanks!
You’re welcome.

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