[Tex/LaTex] Where the .bst file comes in

bibtex

On page 29 of Tame the Beast, it says

"Roughly speaking, BibTEX reads three files, in the following order: The .aux file first, where it
finds the name of the style file to be used, the name of the database(s), and the list of cited entries.
The .bst file is read next, and the .bib file last."

When I compile by LaTeX and BibTeX, the files I have are .aux, .bbl, .bib, .blg, .dvi, .log, .pdf, .tex. Why do I not need a .bst file? If I want to use a .bst file that I make up on my own, can I?

Best Answer

A .bst file is a bibliography style file, and it is the analogous of a class .cls file. When you use BibTeX, you have a command \bibliographystyle{xyz}, and \bibliography{abc}. The information about which .bst file (i.e., xyz.bst) is written in the .aux file.

There are two main options to create your own .bst. You have to learn the language it .bst files are written (and the guide you mention "Tame the BeaST" is one of the few resources available for them). The second alternative is to use custom-bib. To use it, open a terminal window (command line interface) and type latex makebst. Then follow the prompt. At the end you will obtain a .bst producing a bibliography style corresponding to the way you answered to the questions in the promo of makebst.

Another option would be to use BibLaTeX. With BibLaTeX you can design you bibliographic style coding it in LaTeX. See this answer Guidelines for customising biblatex styles for an introduction on how to modifying and customise existing BibLaTeX style

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] In bst file, check if variable contains string

We use the string.length function from Tame the Beast, the or function should be contained in your bst file already. Then we define a simple search function that tests whether a string is contained in another string. Using this, we can test for "collaboration" and "Collaboration" in the collaboration field. Note that we do not need to test for the plural forms, as searching for the singular form will find those plurals, too.

INTEGERS{ l }
FUNCTION{ string.length }
{
  #1 'l :=
  {duplicate$ duplicate$ #1 l substring$ = not}
    { l #1 + 'l :=}
  while$
  pop$ l
}

INTEGERS {find.length search.start search.end done}
STRINGS {find.string find.pattern}
FUNCTION {contains}
{
  'find.pattern :=
  'find.string :=
  find.pattern string.length 'find.length :=
  #1 'search.start :=
  find.string string.length find.length - #2 + 'search.end :=
  #0 'done :=
  { search.start search.end < }
  {
    find.string search.start find.length substring$ find.pattern =
      { 
        #1 'done :=
        search.end 'search.start :=%% stop searching
      }
      { #1 search.start + 'search.start := }
    if$
  }
  while$
  done
}

FUNCTION {format.collaboration}
{ collaboration empty$
    { "" }
    { collaboration num.names$ #1 >
        { " (" collaboration *
          collaboration "collaboration" contains
          collaboration "Collaboration" contains or
            { ")" * }
            { " Collaborations)" * }
          if$
        }
        { " (" collaboration *
          collaboration "collaboration" contains
          collaboration "Collaboration" contains or
            { ")" * }
            { " Collaboration)" * }
          if$
        }
    if$
    }
  if$
}

As a final note I would advice against those hacks, and change the bib file instead. BibTeX is meant to just format the bibliography, not to alter the content. If you would like to use another style, or switch to biblatex, those inconsistent BibTeX entries come back to bite you, again.

[Tex/LaTex] bibtex – how to check .bst for errors

The error is unrelated to bibtex (other than it was bibtex that generated the bad latex) In

$\texttt{<{http://www.collegium.cz/waldorf/hudba/kurzy/rytmicke%20texty.pdf}>}$.

The % is TeX's comment character so latex just sees

$\texttt{<{http://www.collegium.cz/waldorf/hudba/kurzy/rytmicke

so the \texttt and the math $ are never closed and you get the errors that you quoted.

the $ were never doing anything useful, so they could just be deleted, but rather than \texttt you need a command that deals with special characters in URL such as %, ~ and #. Obvious choice is \url from the url (or hyperref) package that will make those characters safe and also allow line breaking at good places like /.

So something like

{ new.block "Dostupn{\'{e}}~z: \url{" url * "}" * }

and

\usepackage{url}

in your document (or package).

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] In bst file, check if variable contains string

[Tex/LaTex] bibtex – how to check .bst for errors

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