OPERA GENERAL 31 DISTINGUISHING AN OPERA STRING
From: "Michael Wilcox" (mjwilcoCANTHAVESPAM@no-spam)
Subject: Distinguishing an Opera String
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 16:28:04 GMT


I'm making a site stats script and I'm trying to figure out how an Opera string is built, specifically looking at the version number. Do most of the unedited user agent strings have Opera x.x in them? Or is it Opera/x.x? Is this at the end? Maybe giving me some samples would help more. (I know, lots of requests, sorry).
--
Michael Wilcox Essential Tools for the Web Developer - http://mikewilcox.t35.com mjwilco at yahoo dot com














From: Jor (darkelf-at-operamail-dot-com@no-spam)
Subject: Re: Distinguishing an Opera String
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 18:42:59 +0200

It is said, on Fri, 11 Jul 2003 16:28:04 GMT Michael Wilcox spoke the words:

> I'm making a site stats script and I'm trying to figure out how an Opera > string is built, specifically looking at the version number. Do most of > the > unedited user agent strings have Opera x.x in them? Or is it Opera/x.x? > Is > this at the end? Maybe giving me some samples would help more. (I know, > lots > of requests, sorry).

For 7.20 on Windows:

When IDing normally, Opera reports:
User-Agent: Opera/7.20 (Windows NT 5.1; U) [en]

When IDing as MSIE:
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1) Opera 7.20 [en]

When IDing as Mozilla 5:
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; U) Opera 7.20 [en]

Summarizing, the version always follows the word Opera -- with a slash when IDing normally, and with a space as seperator when pretending to be Mozilla or MSIE. (note that MSIE's UA string itself is a lie that it is a version of Mozilla)

PS: your signature delimiter is wrong, it should be dash-dash-space, not dash-dash
-- Jor

From: "Michael Wilcox" (mjwilcoCANTHAVESPAM@no-spam)
Subject: Re: Distinguishing an Opera String
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 17:12:06 GMT

Jor <darkelf-at-operamail-dot-com@no-spam> wrote:
> Summarizing, the version always follows the word Opera -- with a > slash when IDing normally, and with a space as seperator when > pretending to be Mozilla or MSIE. (note that MSIE's UA string itself > is a lie that it is a version of Mozilla)

Thanks much, that helped :-)

> PS: your signature delimiter is wrong, it should be dash-dash-space,
> not dash-dash
It is dash dash space. Copy it into notepad and see.
--
Michael Wilcox Essential Tools for the Web Developer - http://mikewilcox.t35.com mjwilco at yahoo dot com

From: Jor (darkelf-at-operamail-dot-com@no-spam)
Subject: Re: Distinguishing an Opera String
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 19:20:18 +0200

It is said, on Fri, 11 Jul 2003 17:12:06 GMT Michael Wilcox spoke the words:

> It is dash dash space. Copy it into notepad and see.

Well, let me put it this way -- the post received does not include the space. So I only get the dashes ☺
But that's a known bug with your user agent (Outlook Express).

-- Jor

From: "Michael Wilcox" (mjwilcoCANTHAVESPAM@no-spam)
Subject: Re: Distinguishing an Opera String
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 17:34:45 GMT

Jor <darkelf-at-operamail-dot-com@no-spam> wrote:
> It is said, on Fri, 11 Jul 2003 17:12:06 GMT Michael Wilcox spoke the > words:
>
>> It is dash dash space. Copy it into notepad and see.
>
> Well, let me put it this way -- the post received does not include the > space. So I only get the dashes ?
> But that's a known bug with your user agent (Outlook Express).

Well that's sure dumb of OE. Sorry bout that. Now, how did you get that smilie face?
--
Michael Wilcox Essential Tools for the Web Developer - http://mikewilcox.t35.com mjwilco at yahoo dot com

From: Jor (darkelf-at-operamail-dot-com@no-spam)
Subject: Re: Distinguishing an Opera String
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 19:54:44 +0200

It is said, on Fri, 11 Jul 2003 17:34:45 GMT Michael Wilcox spoke the words:

> Well that's sure dumb of OE. Sorry bout that. Now, how did you get that > smilie face?

Seen at Hixie's natural log (1). I copied it as a Note for use elsewhere ☺
It's Unicode char 263A (hex) [the Miscellaneous Symbols range], so you can easily call it with ☺

Now excuse me, I'm going to create a Notes collection of funny Unicode chars ✌

1: <URL:http://ln.hixie.ch/?start=1057498349&count=1>

-- Jor

From: "Ted S." (fedya@no-spam)
Subject: Re: Distinguishing an Opera String
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 21:21:27 -0000

Somebody claiming to be "Michael Wilcox" <mjwilcoCANTHAVESPAM@no-spam> wrote in news:beFPa.95703$Io.8243687@no-spam
>I am using the QuoteFix, and I thought I had changed this. *sigh*

Better to change the email utility you use, of course. :-)

ObOpera: Of course, if you switch to Opera as your emailer, you won't be able to compose HTML email. No comments on whether this is A Good Thing or A Bad Thing, as I don't feel like starting *that* flame war again. :-)

-- Ted S.: change .spam to .net to reply by e-mail Homer Simpson: I'm sorry Marge, but sometimes I think we're the worst family in town.
Marge: Maybe we should move to a larger community.
<http://www.snpp.com/episodes/7G04.html>


From: news@no-spam (Wimjan)
Subject: Re: Distinguishing an Opera String
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2003 01:52:18 +0200

Ted S. wrote:
> "Michael Wilcox" wrote > [the well-known OE vs sig-sep problem]

> >I am using the QuoteFix, and I thought I had changed this. *sigh*
> > Better to change the email utility you use, of course. :-)
> But what good would that do for his Usenet posts?
Regards,

Wimjan (using Pegasus Mail for e-mail but thinks that's kind of irrelevant info in this discussion)

-- You are living in a world where lemonade is made from artificial ingredients and furniture polish is made from real lemons. Start worrying...


From: "Ted S." (fedya@no-spam)
Subject: Re: Distinguishing an Opera String
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2003 02:19:31 -0000

Somebody claiming to be news@no-spam (Wimjan) wrote in news:MPG.19796c1c7b1cb50e98a26b@no-spam
>
>Ted S. wrote:
>>"Michael Wilcox" wrote >>
>[the well-known OE vs sig-sep problem]
>
>>>I am using the QuoteFix, and I thought I had changed this. *sigh*
>>
>>Better to change the email utility you use, of course. :-)
>>
>But what good would that do for his Usenet posts?
I *did* mention M2 later in my post; M2 can handle Usenet. And since Usenet shuns HTML posting, M2 would be good for this. ;-)

But you're right that I was careless in my response.

-- Ted S.: change .spam to .net to reply by e-mail Homer Simpson: I'm sorry Marge, but sometimes I think we're the worst family in town.
Marge: Maybe we should move to a larger community.
<http://www.snpp.com/episodes/7G04.html>