User Guide

Setting MIME types 129
Setting MIME types
You can use the MIME type criteria options, -mimeinclude, -indmimeinclude, -mimeexclude,
and
-indmimeexclude, to include or exclude MIME types.
Syntax restrictions
When you specify MIME type criteria, keep in mind the restrictions described in the following
sections.
Using the wildcard character (*)
The asterisk (*) wildcard character does not operate as a regular expression for the value of the
MIME type criteria. Instead, you can only use it to replace the entire MIME type or MIME sub-
type.
For example, the following value is a valid substitute for text/html:
text/*
The following value is NOT a valid substitute for text/html:
text/h*
Multiple parameter values
When you specify a series of parameter values for a single instance of one of the MIME type
criteria, and you use-quotation marks, you must enclose each separate parameter value in single-
quotation marks. For example:
-mimeinclude ’text/plain’ ’application/*’
If you enclose the entire sequence of parameter values, as follows:
-mimeinclude ’text/plain application/*’
Verity Spider considers the entire expression a single value.
You can also use multiple instances of the MIME type criteria, each with a single parameter value,
where quotation marks are necessary only if you use the wildcard character (*). For example:
-mimeinclude text/plain
-mimeinclude ’application/*’.Setting MIME Types
MIME types and web crawling
When you index a website, Verity Spider evaluates your MIME type criteria against the "Content-
Type" HTTP headers sent by the web server hosting that website. That web server passes along
MIME type information based on its own internal tables.
When you encounter MIME types being dropped, make sure that the web server you are indexing
has the necessary MIME type information. For information about specifying MIME types, see
the documentation for your web server.