[Tex/LaTex] Cleaning up a .bib file

bibtex

I have a large .bib file which is in a mess. In particular:

Entries are not in any particular order.
Some entries may be duplicates (albeit with different keys).
Some entries may not be used in the relevant book.

(1
is an issue because I'm working through the .bib file fixing up items one by one and examining the corresponding changes in the book; at the moment I'm having to dart back and forth a lot.

3 is an issue because I need to check the correctness of each entry manually, which can take a while; thus unused entries mean a lot of wasted time.)

Is there a way of taking a .bib file and cleaning it up? In particular, I'd like to

a) create a .bib file which is sorted by author, and

b) delete or, better, comment out unused entries.

Best Answer

I would recommend bibexport script. It creates a new .bib file that includes only the references you cite in the .tex file, and cleans them up. I use it for submissions to journals, when I want to send only the relevant references rather than my databases.

Also JabRef has some duplicate search and resolve capabilities which can be accessed via the menu items shown (for v2.8) below:

enter image description here

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Adding information to bibitems

If the combination of biblatex+biber is an option you can use the mapping feature to add information to a bibentry. This can be done, by using

\DeclareSourcemap{
  \maps{
    \map{
      \step[fieldset=entrykey, fieldvalue={<entryke>}]
      \step[fieldset=note, fieldvalue={text for <entrykey>}]
    }
  }
}

and use a map for every reference for which you want to add the note.

Or an alternative is to introduce a new field, let us say, notesonlyformystudent (and use such a field in the .bib file).

\begin{filecontents}{biblatex-dm.cfg}
\DeclareDatamodelFields[type=field,datatype=literal]{notesonlyformystudents}
\DeclareDatamodelEntryfields{notesonlyformystudents}
\end{filecontents}

and

\DeclareFieldFormat{notesonlyformystudents}{#1}
\renewbibmacro{finentry}{\finentry\par\printfield{notesonlyformystudents}}

[Tex/LaTex] Order Bibliography alphabetically (author and titles)

By default jurabib sorts the works by author and then by year.

To sort the items by author and then title you need to modify the file jurabib.bst, locate it on your computer (use kpsewhich jurabib.bst to find it, if you need), copy it to a location LaTeX can find it, rename it to say, myjurabib.bst.

Open the file myjurabib.bst and locate the FUNCTION {presort}; go to the following block

type$ "archival" = not
     { "    "
       *
       year field.or.null sortify
       *
       "    "
       *
       title field.or.null
       sort.format.title
       *
     }

change it to

type$ "archival" = not
   { 
     "    "
     *
     title field.or.null
     sort.format.title
     *
     "    "
     *
     year field.or.null sortify
     *
   }

In your document, you then use \bibliographystyle{myjurabib} instead of \bibliographystyle{jurabib}.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Adding information to bibitems

[Tex/LaTex] Order Bibliography alphabetically (author and titles)

Related Question