SUMMARY
The "type" field can be used to specify any of several different types
of data that are present in the Nameserver database. These types may
be specified either by adding "type=name-of-desired-type" to any query
or by using the "-t name-of-desired-type" switch.
Actually, a given entry may have more than one type, if it fits in more
than one category. For example, people are listed under types "person"
(since that's what they are) and "phone" (since information about people
is commonly found in a phone book).
The following types are used in the database:
- person: Information about a human being.
- unit: Information about a campus unit (e.g., department).
- areacode: Information about a telephone area code.
- food: Information about a Champaign-Urbana restaurant.
- phone: Anything a reasonable person might expect to see in a phone
book. The "phone" type covers the following other types: "person",
"unit", "areacode", and "food".
- weather: Information about current weather conditions.
- timetable: The current UIUC course timetable. Also listed under
types "fall", "spring", and "summer".
EXAMPLES
When a query is executed without any field specifiers, ph searches the
entire database for all entries whose "name" and/or "nickname" fields
match the query expression. In most cases a simple query expression
will deliver the desired results. However, occasionally a simple query
can produce too many matches, several or many of which may have nothing
to do with the data type for which one is searching. For instance, the
expression "ph english" displays the names of six people whose last name
is English, the names of two campus units (Division of English as an
International Language and the Department of English), and the titles
of 59 courses in the University Timetable. In such cases, it can be
helpful to include the "type" field specifier in your query expression.
The general syntax for using the "type" field specifier is:
In the case of the ambiguous example given above (i.e., "ph english"),
using the "type" field specifier would only display those records
matching the data type indicated. For example, if you were only
searching for the entries of persons with the name "English," you could
say "ph type=person english". The following examples demonstrate how
to extract specific types of data from the ph database.
syntax: ph type=areacode name-of-city-or-state
examples: ph type=areacode san francisco
ph type=areacode california
The area code database does not include every city in the U.S. If no
matches are found using the name of a city, try entering the name of
the state, and the area codes for the major regions in the state will
be displayed.
If you already know the name of the restaurant you want to locate, set
the "type" field specifier to "food" followed by all or part of the name
of the restaurant. If you want to locate all restaurants that serve a
certain type of cuisine, use the "other" field specifier to indicate
the type of food in which you are interested. In the latter case, you
must also either give a name or indicate one of the five types of eating
establishments used in the "nickname" field of the database: restaurant,
bar, pizza, tavern, or donut. (For more information on the subtleties
of extracting restaurant data from the ph database, see help on
"restaurants".)
TO EXTRACT WEATHER INFORMATION:
Ph can display weather condition information for many locations
throughout the state and country. It also offers some special options
for local weather information. Weather conditions for a particular
location are requested by including one of the three letter city codes
listed below in the query:
Ph Weather City Codes
ALN Alton DSM DesMoines MWA Marion
ARR Aurora FNT Flint MVN Mt. Vernon
BLV Belleville GBG Galesburg NBU Glenview
BMI Bloomington IND Indianapolis ORD Chicago O'Hare
BOS Boston JFK New York PIA Peoria
CGX Meigs LAX Los Angeles PDX Portland
CMI Champaign MDH Carbondale RFD Rockford
CMX Houghton MDW Midway SFO San Francisco
COU Columbia MLI Moline SPI Springfield
CPS East St. Louis MMO Marseilles STL St. Louis
DEC Decatur MSN Madison SYR Syracuse
DPA Dupage MSY New Orleans UIN Quincy
The timetable information in ph can be searched by course number or by
significant words likely to be found in the course's title. Additionally
it is possible to conduct a search on the spring, summer, and fall
timetables simultaneously or specify the semester for the query. Set
the type field specifier to "timetable" in order to search all timetables
or to "fall", "spring", or "summer" to search a specific timetable:
