bib2tex 0.2.0

Create a subset of BibTeX entries based on an author's name and covert it into a LaTeX list.

bib2tex

A Python package to create a subset of BibTeX entries based on an author's name (and an entrytype). The result is converted into a LaTeX list in which the author can get highlighted with an underline. The list is sorted from the newest to the oldest entry.

The motivation for writing this package was to create a tool that generates lists with own publications for e.g. a curriculum vitae.

Installation

You can install bib2tex from the Python Package Index using pip:

pip install bib2tex

Dependencies

• click (to provide the CLI)

Usage

CLI

The CLI can be called with the command bib2tex, if the package is installed. Run it with the --help option to get the following usage information and a list of all options:

Usage: bib2tex [OPTIONS]

  Filter BibTeX entries by author and type, converting the subset into a LaTeX
  list. The defined author can be highlighted, and entries are sorted from
  newest to oldest by default.

Options:
  -i, --bibtex-path PATH    (input) Path to the BibTeX file.  [default:
                            /path/defined/as/BIB/env/var; required]
  -o, --latex-path PATH     (output) Path to the LaTeX file  [required]
  -a, --author TEXT         Author name for filtering entries.  [required]
  -d, --definitions PATH    Path to a JSON file with custom type definitions.
  -e, --entrytype TEXT      BibTeX entry type for filtering.
  -f, --format-scheme TEXT  Format scheme name for LaTeX item.
  -r, --reverse             Sort entries from old to new.
  -u, --underline           Underline the author in LaTeX.
  -v, --verbose             Print verbose output.
  --item TEXT               Options for LaTeX item, e.g. "[--]".
  --itemize TEXT            Options for LaTeX itemze, e.g. "[itemsep=3pt]".
  -h, --help                Show this message and exit.

  by Cs137, 2023 - development on Codeberg: https://codeberg.org/Cs137/bib2tex

Example

In order to obtain all articles for the author MyName from the default BibTeX file and write them into the file my_articles.tex, call the CLI as follows:

bib2tex -a MyName -e article -o my_articles.tex -v

The example above assumes that the --bibtex-path is defined via the environment variable BIB. Provide a path to it if the variable is undefined (-i path/to/example.bib). If no --latex-path | -o is provided, a prompt will request it.

Configuration

The path to the default BibTeX file can be defined with the environment variable BIB.

Format scheme

A format scheme is used to define the structure of BibTeX entries when converted to LaTeX list items. Default format schemes exist for all valid BibTeX types, and they are sourced from the directory format_schemes.

Custom format schemes can be defined in a JSON file named with the format scheme name. If a format scheme is missing for a certain entry type, the default format scheme is taken into account. The format scheme string consists of valid capitalised BibTeX tags wrapped in <> and is defined for each BibTeX entry type.

Underneath is a typical format scheme string, keep in mind that the availability of BibTeX tags depends on the entry type when defining new format schemes.

<AUTHOR>: ``<TITLE>'', <YEAR>, DOI: \href{https://doi.org/<DOI>}{<DOI>}.

Feel free to create a pull request to add new format schemes, and ensure your schemes follow the required structure and placeholders.

Custom types

In order to allow more complex filter tasks, custom entry types are introduced. A custom type is based on a valid BibTeX entry type and has certain keywords in defined BibTeX fields.

Create a JSON file containing a dictionary for each custom type you want to declare. The dictionaries must contain the properties shown in the example underneath. If a file with custom definitions is provided to the CLI, it accepts the custom types declared in it a entry types to filter for as well.

{
  "dataset": {
    "bibtex_type": "misc",
    "format_schemes": {
      "default": "<AUTHOR>: ``<TITLE>'', <YEAR>, <LICENSE>, DOI: \\href{https://doi.org/<DOI>}{<DOI>}."
    },
    "search_strings": {
      "notes": "data set"
    }
  }
}

The keys search_strings is assigned to a dictionary, which holds a mapping in order to identify custom entries in entries of the specified bibtex_type. In the sample above, an entry type is considered as dataset, if it is a BibTeX entry of type misc and the BibTeX field notes contains the string data set, multiple search_strings can be defined in the dictionary.

Format scheme strings can be declared in the format_schemes dictionary for the custom type. The key corresponds to the name for the format scheme, ensure to provide a default scheme for each custom type declared. Those may contain field names that are not conform with BibTeX, like license in the example above.

Notes

• Authors are always listed with initials, this is currently not configurable.
• Check the bib2tex.__main__:main function for a conversion without CLI. (Make click/CLI optional ?)

Changelog

All notable changes to this project are documented in the CHANGELOG.md file.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.