BibTeX_ is a bibliographic database format and processing tool often used with LaTeX. .. _BibTeX: http://www.bibtex.org/ sawsim.bib ========== I maintain the bibliography format with pybtex_. The actual command used to re-format the files is $ python -c 'from pybtex.database.input.bibtex import Parser; from pybtex.database.output.clean_bibtex import Writer; p = Parser(); d = p.parse_file("src/sawsim.bib"); w = Writer(); w.write_file(d, "src/sawsim.bib", p.get_raw_macros())' 2> pybtex.log Be sure to look over `pybtex.log` and `git diff src/sawsim.bib` for anything suspicious before committing the new file. You may have to do some find-and-replacing to handle changed keys and consolidate or rename automatically generated macros. .. _pybtex: http://pybtex.sourceforge.net/ % which I can kindof achieve with % $ bibtool -f '%-1n(author)%2d(year)' wtk.bib -o wtk1.bib % Except any paper with more than one author has a '.ea' appended to the name % and bibtool removes all comments :(. Basic usage =========== At some point in your LaTeX document \bibliographystyle{prsty} % Phys. Rev. style other syles include `abbrv`, `alpha`, `plain`, `unsrt`, ... In your LaTeX document where you want the bibliography: \bibliography{wtk} % wtk.bib is the name of the database compile (using `latex` for example) with $ latex example $ bibtex example $ latex example $ latex example There are many possible author name formats, but the least ambiguous is `von Last, Jr., First Middle`. If the `von` is capitalized (e.g. "Emanuela Di Cola"), use `\uppercase`: @String{EDCola = "{\uppercase{d}}i Cola, Emanuela"} See *Tame the BeaST* for details. Natbib ====== The Natbib package adds support for other citation styles & link formats. Makebst ======= Customize bibliography with Makebst (`latex makebst`), makes `.bst` (bib-style) format files according to your specifications. References ========== There are a number of good resources to get you going: * very basic tutorial: http://cmtw.harvard.edu/Documentation/TeX/Bibtex/Example.html * Really awesome explaination of how BibTeX works: http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/bibtex/tamethebeast/ * process overview: http://www.andy-roberts.net/misc/latex/latextutorial3.html * entry types reference http://newton.ex.ac.uk/tex/pack/bibtex/btxdoc/node6.html * fields reference http://newton.ex.ac.uk/tex/pack/bibtex/btxdoc/node7.html * entry and fields reference, but with little discussion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BibTeX * examples of assorted styles http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~kjt/software/latex/showbst.html * assorted tools http://liinwww.ira.uka.de/bibliography/Bib.Format.html * Nelson Beebe's list of bibliographies http://www.math.utah.edu/~beebe/bibliographies.html * Nelson Beebe's GNU bibliography http://www.math.utah.edu/pub/tex/bib/gnu.html