addbib

- create or extend a bibliographic database

Synopsis

addbib [-a] [-p promptfile] database

Description

When addbib starts up, answering y to the initial Instructions? prompt yields directions. Typing n (or RETURN) skips the directions. addbib then prompts for various bibliographic fields, reads responses from the terminal, and sends output records to database. A null response (just RETURN) means to leave out that field. A `-' (minus sign) means to go back to the previous field. A trailing backslash allows a field to be continued on the next line. The repeating Continue? prompt allows the user either to resume by typing y (or RETURN), to quit the current session by typing n or q, or to edit database with any system editor (see vi(1), ex(1), ed(1)).

Options

The following options are supported:

-a

Suppresses prompting for an abstract. Asking for an abstract is the default. Abstracts are ended with a Control-D.

-p promptfile

Uses a new prompting skeleton, defined in promptfile. This file should contain prompt strings, a TAB, and the key-letters to be written to the database.

Usage

Bibliography Key Letters

The most common key-letters and their meanings are given below. addbib insulates you from these key-letters, since it gives you prompts in English, but if you edit the bibliography file later on, you will need to know this information.

%A

Author's name

%B

Book containing article referenced

%C

City (place of publication)

%D

Date of publication

%E

Editor of book containing article referenced

%F

Footnote number or label (supplied by refer)

%G

Government order number

%H

Header commentary, printed before reference

%I

Issuer (publisher)

%J

Journal containing article

%K

Keywords to use in locating reference

%L

Label field used by -k option of refer

%M

Bell Labs Memorandum (undefined)

%N

Number within volume

%O

Other commentary, printed at end of reference

%P

Page number(s)

%Q

Corporate or Foreign Author (unreversed)

%R

Report, paper, or thesis (unpublished)

%S

Series title

%T

Title of article or book

%V

Volume number

%X

Abstract — used by roffbib, not by refer

%Y,Z

Ignored by refer

Examples

Example 1 Editing the bibliography file

Except for A, each field should be given just once. Only relevant fields should be supplied.

%A    Mark Twain
%T    Life on the Mississippi
%I    Penguin Books
%C    New York
%D    1978

Attributes

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

See Also

ed(1), ex(1), indxbib(1), lookbib(1), refer(1), roffbib(1), sortbib(1), vi(1), attributes(5)