What Archie searches

Archie keeps a list of every file on the FTP sites and web file archives (directory listings) it visits, with size, date and place. It searches the names of the files and directories, not what is in them.

Search for

A file name, a part of one, or a regular expression, depending on the match type.

Match

Part of the name (Sub String)

A name matches if it contains what you typed. is finds islington, this and poison. With case matched, TeX finds LaTeX but neither Latex nor TExTroff.

Exact name

The whole name must be what you typed. The fastest search.

Regular expression

Regular expressions as in ed(1):

^gcc-[0-9]+\.tar\.gz$    names starting with gcc-, a version, ending in .tar.gz
readme                   (same as a part-of-the-name search)
[Tt]elnet.*\.zip$        Telnet or telnet, then anything, ending in .zip

Case

Whether upper and lower case must match. Only for part-of-the-name and regular expression searches.

Database

File archives are the FTP, FTPS, SFTP and web file archives Archie lists. The web index holds web pages, for searching by words; how its hits are shown is chosen under Web index output: keywords, a short excerpt, the links only, or only the matching words.

More options

Maximum hits

How many hits to show at once (at most 1000). Use More hits for the next ones.

Path must contain / must not contain

Words the directory of a hit must have, or must not have, in it, e.g. pub mirrors. With several words, any or all of them must be in the path.

Only sites in the domains

Only hits on sites whose names end in these domains, e.g. nz, edu or disconnected-by-peer.at.

Other ways to search

The same database can be searched with the archie command line and telnet clients and over the Prospero protocol. Questions and bug reports: the issue tracker of the project.