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The Command Line

OldNews has a number of commands and options that can be passed on the command line. To see what is available you can use the --help switch:

oldnews --help

usage: oldnews [-h] [-v] [-t THEME]
               {directories,dirs,d,license,licence,bindings,themes,reset} ...

A terminal-based client for TheOldReader.

positional arguments:
  {directories,dirs,d,license,licence,bindings,themes,reset}
                        Available commands
    directories (dirs, d)
                        Show the directories created and used by OldNews
    license (licence)   Show license information
    bindings            List commands that can have their bindings changed
    themes              List the available themes that can be used with
                        --theme
    reset               Remove all data downloaded from TheOldReader

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v, --version         Show version information
  -t THEME, --theme THEME
                        Set the theme for the application (see `themes`
                        command for available themes)

v1.2.0

Commands

directories

The directories command can be used to see which directories have been created by and are being used by OldNews.

oldnews directories

/Users/davep/.config/oldnews
/Users/davep/.local/share/oldnews

This is useful if you want to remind yourself where OldNews stories its data and configuration.

license

The license command shows the licence details of OldNews.

oldnews licence

OldNews - A client for TheOldReader for the terminal.  
Copyright (C) 2025 Dave Pearson

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option)
any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for
more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

bindings

The bindings command shows all the available commands and their default bindings.

oldnews bindings

AddSubscription - Add a subscription feed
    Default: plus
ChangeTheme - Change the application's theme
    Default: f9
Copy - Copy a URL to the clipboard depending on the context
    Default: ctrl+c
CopyArticleToClipboard - Copy the URL for the current article to the clipboard
    Default: super+f3
CopyFeedToClipboard - Copy the URL of the current subscription's feed to the clipboard
    Default: shift+f3
CopyHomePageToClipboard - Copy the URL of the current subscription's home page to the clipboard
    Default: f3
Escape - Back out through the panes, or exit the app if the navigation pane has focus
    Default: escape, q
Help - Show help for and information about the application
    Default: f1, ?
Information - Show low-level information about the selected item
    Default: i
MarkAllRead - Mark all unread articles in the current category as read
    Default: R
MarkRead - Mark the current article as read
    Default: r
MarkUnread - Mark the current article as unread
    Default: u
MoveSubscription - Move the current subscription to folder
    Default: m
Next - Navigate to the next article regardless of read status
    Default: N, ctrl+down
NextUnread - Navigate to the next unread article in the currently-selected category
    Default: n
OpenArticle - Open the current article in the web browser
    Default: o
OpenHomePage - Open the home page for the current subscription in the web browser
    Default: O
Previous - Navigate to the next article regardless of read status
    Default: P, ctrl+up
PreviousUnread - Navigate to the previous unread article in the currently-selected category
    Default: p
Quit - Quit the application
    Default: f10, ctrl+q
RefreshFromTheOldReader - Connect to TheOldReader and refresh the local articles
    Default: ctrl+r
Remove - Remove the current folder or subscription
    Default: delete
Rename - Rename the current folder or subscription
    Default: apostrophe
SetSubscriptionContentFilter - Set the content grab filter for the current subscription
    Default: f
ToggleCompact - Toggle a more compact user interface
    Default: f5
ToggleShowAll - Toggle between showing all and showing only unread
    Default: f2
UserInformation - Show the information known about the logged-in account
    Default: f4

themes

The themes command shows all the available themes.

oldnews themes

atom-one-dark
atom-one-light
catppuccin-latte
catppuccin-mocha
dracula
flexoki
gruvbox
monokai
nord
rose-pine
rose-pine-dawn
rose-pine-moon
solarized-dark
solarized-light
textual-dark
textual-light
tokyo-night

reset

The reset command can used to reset the local data held by OldNews. The command has some switches that can change how it works.

oldnews reset --help

usage: oldnews reset [-h] [-l] [-y]

options:
  -h, --help    show this help message and exit
  -l, --logout  Force a logout from TheOldReader
  -y, --yes     Perform the reset without confirming first

If run as oldnews reset you will be prompted with a y/n prompt to confirm that you want to remove your local data. If you use the --yes switch the reset will be performed without confirming with you first.

When the local data is reset, the locally-held login token isn't reset; this means you can reset the data, run up OldNews again and your data will be freshly synchronised without needing to login again.

If you want to clear the login information too use the --logout switch.