ADDBIB(1)

📦 version 1.053, in alpine 3.24

💖 ADDBIB(1) — addbib 💖

🌸 NAME 🌸

okay so this is the ADDBIB(1) manual page from User Contributed Perl Documentation, and the star of the show is addbib — create or extend a bibliographic database. That's the whole gig, bestie. periodt. 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

addbib [ -a ] [ -p promptfile ] database

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

Okay so when the program starts, you will be prompted for instructions. Answering "n" or simply hitting enter will continue without showing the instructions. Answering "y" will display directions for using the program. addbib then prompts for various bibliographic fields, accepting input from the console and eventually saving records in a database file.

At each prompt, if one enters a null response (i.e. simply hits the return/enter key), then this field is skipped. Entering a minus sign ("-") means to return to the previous field. Using a trailing backslash allows a field to be continued to the next line.

Once all fields have been entered, the user is presented with the "Continue? (y)" prompt in order to continue adding items to the database. Entering "y" or simply hitting return will start entering a new item into the database. Entering "n" or "q" exits the program and saves the database file to the filesystem. slay. 💾

  • -a — suppresses prompting the user for an abstract; entering an abstract is the default behaviour. To finish entering an abstract, enter Ctrl-d.
  • -p — allows for the definition of new prompt sequences. The prompt file uses the following format: prompt text followed by a tab character and finally the field symbol for writing into the database file. For instance, to define a set of prompts specifically for the addition of books, use something like this:
Author name %A
Title       %T
Publisher   %I
Date        %D
Other       %O
Keywords    %K

Note that the author name field can occur more than once to allow for multiple authors. iykyk 👑

🔥 the field symbols, adapted from the FreeBSD manual for addbib 🔥

The most common field symbols are (adapted from the FreeBSD manual for addbib):

  • %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

An example database file output is:

%A      M Bremner
%T      Quantum dynamics as a physical resource
%J      Physical Review A
%V      67
%P      523011-5230119
%I      American Physical Society
%D      2003

🗂️ FILES 🗂️

  • promptfile — optional file to define prompting

🌟 AUTHOR 🌟

Jeffrey S. Haemer. the icon, the legend. 👑

💀 BUGS 💀

Also wants both testing and the other bib/refer utilities to go with it. Release early and often, that's my motto. not me being a whole mood. 😭

This program is copyright (c) Jeffrey S. Haemer (2004).

This program is free and open software. You may use, modify, distribute, and sell this program (and any modified variants) in any way you wish, provided you do not restrict others from doing the same. fr fr. 🌈

mwah 💋 — this page is from perl v5.42.2, dated 2026-02-15. slay and goodbye, bestie! 👑

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