SORTBIB(1) User Commands SORTBIB(1)

NAME

sortbib - sort a bibliographic database

SYNOPSIS

sortbib [-s KEYS] database...

DESCRIPTION

sortbib sorts files of records containing refer key-letters by user-
specified keys. Records may be separated by blank lines, or by `.['
and `.]' delimiters, but the two styles may not be mixed together.
This program reads through each database and pulls out key fields,
which are sorted separately. The sorted key fields contain the file
pointer, byte offset, and length of corresponding records. These
records are delivered using disk seeks and reads, so sortbib may not
be used in a pipeline to read standard input.


The most common key-letters and their meanings are given below.

%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Report, paper, or thesis (unpublished)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


By default, sortbib alphabetizes by the first %A and the %D fields,
which contain the senior author and date.


sortbib sorts on the last word on the %A line, which is assumed to be
the author's last name. A word in the final position, such as `jr.'
or `ed.', will be ignored if the name beforehand ends with a comma.
Authors with two-word last names or unusual constructions can be
sorted correctly by using the nroff convention `\0' in place of a
blank. A %Q field is considered to be the same as %A, except sorting
begins with the first, not the last, word. sortbib sorts on the last
word of the %D line, usually the year. It also ignores leading
articles (like `A' or `The') when sorting by titles in the %T or %J
fields; it will ignore articles of any modern European language. If a
sort-significant field is absent from a record, sortbib places that
record before other records containing that field.


No more than 16 databases may be sorted together at one time. Records
longer than 4096 characters will be truncated.

OPTIONS

-sKEYS
Specify new KEYS. For instance, -sATD will sort by author,
title, and date, while -sA+D will sort by all authors, and
date. Sort keys past the fourth are not meaningful.

SEE ALSO

addbib(1), indxbib(1), lookbib(1), refer(1), roffbib(1),
attributes(7)

BUGS

Records with missing author fields should probably be sorted by
title.

September 14, 1992 SORTBIB(1)