MIKTEX-BIBTEX(1)

📦 version 25.12, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

💅 miktex-bibtex — the one from the User Commands section, bestie

okay so picture this: it's a man page, it's called miktex-bibtex, and it's about to make your bibliography happen. sit down, grab a strawberry drink 🍓, and let's get into it.

✨ NAME ✨

miktex-bibtex — make a bibliography for LaTeX. literally that's the whole job and she does it immaculately 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

miktex-bibtex [option...] auxfile

like, options if you want them, auxfile because you have to. no cap.

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

real talk: this man page is an adaption of the corresponding TeX Live man page. just so you know where the vibes came from 🫶.

So. BibTeX reads the top-level auxiliary (.aux) file that was output during the running of miktex-latex(1) / miktex-tex(1) — and then it creates a bibliography (.bbl) file that will be incorporated into the document on subsequent runs of LaTeX or TeX. it's giving "I'll handle the glow-up, you just run it again" ✨.

Here's the tea on how she does it: BibTeX looks up, in bibliographic database (.bib) files specified by the \bibliography command, the entries specified by the \cite and \nocite commands in the LaTeX or TeX source file. then she formats the information from those entries according to instructions in a bibliography style (.bst) file — specified by the \bibliographystyle command — and she outputs the results to the .bbl file. see? main character energy, but make it citations 👑.

The LaTeX reference manual explains what a LaTeX source file must contain to work with BibTeX. Appendix B of the manual describes the format of the .bib files. The BibTeXing document describes extensions and details of this format, and it gives other useful hints for using BibTeX. iykyk 📚.

💖 OPTIONS 💖

  • --alias=name — pretend to be program name, i.e., set program (and memory dump) name to name. this may affect the search paths and other values used. using this option is equivalent to copying the program file to name and invoking name. it's cosplay, but for binaries 🎭
  • --disable-installer — disable automatic installation of packages. specifying this option overrules settings in the MiKTeX configuration data store. she will NOT be auto-installing anything, tyvm 🙅‍♀️
  • --enable-installer — enable automatic installation of packages. specifying this option overrules settings in the MiKTeX configuration data store. opposite of the above, obviously 💀
  • --help — give help and exit. the classic. she says her piece and dips 🫡
  • --hhelp — this option is only available on Windows systems: show the manual page in an HTML Help window and exit when the window is closed. windows girlies only, sorry to the rest of y'all 🙈
  • --include-directory=dir — add the directory dir to the head of the list of directories to be searched for input files. note: the head of the list. she goes first, respectfully 💅
  • --min-crossrefs=n — defines the minimum number of crossrefs required for automatic inclusion of the crossref'd entry on the citation list; the default is two. two. that's the number. remember it ✌️
  • --quiet — suppress all output, except errors. she's silent, but the errors still get to speak 🩷
  • --record-package-usages=file — record all package usages and write them into file. receipts, basically 🧾
  • --trace[=tracestreams] — enable trace messages. the tracestreams argument, if specified, is a comma-separated list of trace stream names (Chapter 9, Trace Streams). detective mode activated 🔍
  • --version — show version information and exit. a little "hi, this is me, bye" moment 🌈

🧚 ENVIRONMENT 🧚

  • BIBINPUTS — extra paths to locate .bib files. she's out here looking for your databases 🔎
  • BSTINPUTS — extra paths to locate .bst files. same energy, but for styles 🎀
  • MIKTEX_TRACE — comma-separated list of trace stream names (see Chapter 9, Trace Streams). If this variable is set, then MiKTeX programs will write trace messages into the configured log sink. set it and the logs get ✨verbose✨

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

and the reading list, because we're cultured here:

978-0201529838. LaTeX: A Document Preparation System. 2nd Edition. Leslie Lamport. Addison-Wesley. 1994.

okay that's the whole page, you ate that ngl 💜 and remember: MiKTeX 25.12, dated December 29, 2025 — that's the source/version and the date, bestie, we're not out here making stuff up. mwah 💋🌸

📦 where this page comes from