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#### 11.7.1 Gnus Utility Functions

When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables. Below is a list of the most common ones.

`gnus-newsgroup-name`
  This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
`gnus-find-method-for-group`
  A function that returns the select method for group.
`gnus-group-real-name`
  Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed name.
`gnus-group-prefixed-name`
  Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full (prefixed) Gnus group name.
`gnus-get-info`
  Returns the group info list for group.
`gnus-group-unread`
  The number of unread articles in group, or `t` if that is unknown.
`gnus-active`
  The active entry for group.
`gnus-set-active`
  Set the active entry for group.
`gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list`
  Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus exit.
`gnus-continuum-version`
  Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later versions.
`gnus-group-read-only-p`
  Says whether group is read-only or not.
`gnus-news-group-p`
  Says whether group came from a news back end.
`gnus-ephemeral-group-p`
  Says whether group is ephemeral or not.
`gnus-server-to-method`
  Returns the select method corresponding to server.
`gnus-server-equal`
  Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
`gnus-group-native-p`
  Says whether group is native or not.
`gnus-group-secondary-p`
  Says whether group is secondary or not.
`gnus-group-foreign-p`
  Says whether group is foreign or not.
`gnus-group-find-parameter`
  Returns the parameter list of group. If given a second parameter, returns the value of that parameter for group.
`gnus-group-set-parameter`
  Takes three parameters; group, parameter and value.
`gnus-narrow-to-body`
  Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
`gnus-check-backend-function`
  Takes two parameters, function and group. If the back end group comes from supports function, return non-`nil`.

                (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
                ⇒ t

`gnus-read-method`
  Prompts the user for a select method.