refer

refer [options] files

Process files for bibliographic references. Input is passed through to the output unchanged, except for lines bracketed by .[ and .]. Such lines are taken to be references to citations kept in a separate database. Based on the keywords provided between the brackets, refer generates troff .ds commands that define strings containing the relevant pieces of information. It then generates calls to macros that can format the references appropriately. The ms and me macro packages contain macro definitions for use with refer. The line right before the call to .[ will have a suitable string appended to its end to indicate the use of a reference. Using the -e option, references can be gathered for placement at the end as a group.

Options

-a[n]

Reverse the first n author names (i.e., last name first). With no n, all names are reversed.

-b

Bare mode. Do not add inline references to the text.

-clist

Capitalize, with SMALL CAPS, those fields whose letters are given in list.

-e

Collect references for output at the end. References to the same source are only printed once. The references are printed when these lines are encountered:

.[
$LIST$
.]

-kc

Instead of numbered references, use labeled references, where the data supplied is from field %c in the database. The default is %L.

-l[m[,n]]

Instead of numbered references, use labeled references, where the label is generated based on the senior (first) author's last name, and the year of publication. If supplied, m and n indicate how many letters from the author's last name and the last n digits of the year. Otherwise, the full name and year are used.

-n

Do not search the default file (found in /usr/lib/refer/papers).

-p refsfile

Use refsfile as a list of references.

-skeylist

Sort references based on the fields listed in keylist. This implies -e. Each letter may be followed by a number, indicating how many of that field is to be used. A + is equivalent to infinity. The default is -sAD, which sorts on the senior author and date.

Example

Sort on all authors, and then the date; use mybib for references.

refer -sA+D -p mybib thesis.ms | tbl | eqn | troff -ms - | lp