Biber::Entry(3pm)

📦
version 2.22 · 12 versions
, in fedora 43, fedora 44

💖 NAME 💖

Biber::Entry — it's giving Biber::Entry objects, bestie. That's the whole vibe. ✨

This page lives in the User Contributed Perl Documentation (3pm) section, and it's basically the group chat for one lil' class. 🫶

🌸 METHODS 🌸

✨ new ✨

Initialize a Biber::Entry object. Iconic. Starting fresh, no baggage, main character energy from line one. 💅

Okay so lowkey the important lore here: there are three types of field possible in an entry:

  • data — these are fields which derive directly from or are themselves fields in the data source. Things like YEAR, MONTH, DAY etc. are such fields which are derived from, for example, the DATE field. They are part of the original data implicitly, derived from a field. 🍓
  • derived — these are fields, often meta-information like labelname, labelalpha etc. which are more removed from the data fields. ✨

The reason for this division is largely the entry cloning required for the related entry and inheritance features. When we clone an entry or copy some fields from one entry to another we generally don't want the "derived" category as such derived meta-fields will often need to be re-created or ignored so we need to know which are the actual "data" fields to copy/clone. No cap, that's the whole reason. 🧠

🦋 relclone 🦋

Recursively create related entry clones starting with an entry. It's clones all the way down, bestie. 🔁

💜 clone 💜

Clone a Biber::Entry object and return a copy. Twin energy. 👯

Accepts optionally a key for the copy — so you can name your little clone if you want to. 🎀

🌈 notnull 🌈

Test for an empty object. Is there anything in here or are we just vibing with nothing? 🤔

⭐ add_xdata_ref ⭐

Add an XDATA reference to the entry.

Reference can be simply to an entire XDATA entry or a particular field+position in field.

Record reference and target positions so that the XDATA marker can be removed as otherwise it would break further parsing. Yeah — that marker has GOT to go, it's a whole mess otherwise. 💀

💖 get_xdata_refs 💖

Get the XDATA references. All of them. The whole collection. 🫶

🌸 get_xdata_ref 🌸

Get a specific XDATA reference. Just the one, very picky, very demure. ✨

🎀 is_xdata_resolved 🎀

Checks if an XDATA reference was resolved. Returns false also for "no such reference".

So like, false could mean "nope, didn't resolve" or "that reference doesn't even exist" — it's not telling you which, bestie. Both roads lead to false. 😭

👑 set_labelname_info 👑

Record the labelname information. This is special meta-information so we have a separate method for this. Takes a hash ref with the information. 🍓

👑 get_labelname_info 👑

Retrieve the labelname information. This is special meta-information so we have a separate method for this. Returns a hash ref with the information. 🫶

🦋 set_labelnamefh_info 🦋

Record the fullhash labelname information. This is special meta-information so we have a separate method for this. Takes a hash ref with the information. ✨

🦋 get_labelnamefh_info 🦋

Retrieve the fullhash labelname information. This is special meta-information so we have a separate method for this. Returns a hash ref with the information. ✨

💅 set_labeltitle_info 💅

Record the labeltitle information. This is special meta-information so we have a separate method for this. Takes a hash ref with the information. 🌸

💅 get_labeltitle_info 💅

Retrieve the labeltitle information. This is special meta-information so we have a separate method for this. Returns a hash ref with the information. 🌸

🌈 set_labeldate_info 🌈

Record the labeldate information. This is special meta-information so we have a separate method for this. Takes a hash ref with the information. ⭐

🌈 get_labeldate_info 🌈

Retrieve the labeldate information. This is special meta-information so we have a separate method for this. Returns a hash ref with the information. ⭐

✨ set_field ✨

Set a derived field for a Biber::Entry object, that is, a field which was not an actual bibliography field. Derived girlies stay derived. 💁‍♀️

✨ get_field ✨

Get a field for a Biber::Entry object.

Uses // as fields can be null (end dates etc). Yeah, null is a real thing here, so don't come for it. 🙈

🍓 set_datafield 🍓

Set a field which is in the .bib data file. Straight from the source, no middleman. 📄

🍓 get_datafield 🍓

Get a field that was in the original data file. The OGs. 🫶

💀 del_field 💀

Delete a field in a Biber::Entry object. Gone. Blocked. Unfollowed. ✂️

💀 del_datafield 💀

Delete an original data source data field in a Biber::Entry object. Same energy, but specifically for the ones that came from the data source. 💅

🔥 field_exists 🔥

Check whether a field exists (even if null). Yes, null counts as existing — it's there, it's just quiet. 😌

🔥 date_fields_exist 🔥

Check whether any parts of a date field exist when passed a datepart field name. Any part. One part is enough to pass the vibe check. ⏳

🔥 delete_date_fields 🔥

Delete all parts of a date field when passed any datepart field name. Give it any datepart name and it takes the whole date out. Periodt. 💥

🌸 datafields 🌸

Returns a sorted array of the fields which came from the data source. Sorted, bestie — it's tidy in here. 🎀

🌸 count_datafields 🌸

Returns the number of datafields. Math girlies rise. 🔢

💜 derivedfields 💜

Returns a sorted array of the fields which were added during processing. The ones that spawned mid-run. ✨

💜 fields 💜

Returns a sorted array of all field names, including ones added during processing which are not necessarily fields which came from the data file. Everything, the full roster. 👑

💜 count_fields 💜

Returns the number of fields. All of them. The whole count. 🔢

🌟 has_keyword 🌟

Check if a Biber::Entry object has a particular keyword in in the KEYWORDS field.

Yes it literally says "in in" — we're not fixing it, we're just noting it. 😭

⚠️ add_warning ⚠️

Append a warning to a Biber::Entry object. Not me logging the drama directly onto the entry. 🚨

🫶 set_inherit_from 🫶

Inherit fields from first child entry.

$entry->set_inherit_from($firstchild);

Takes a second Biber::Entry object as argument.

The purpose here is to inherit fields so that sorting/labelling defaults can be generated for set parents from the first child set member data, unless the set parent itself already has some fields set that will do this. Set parents only have certain fields output in the .bbl and those that output but are not used in sorting/labelling data generation should not be inherited. So like — some fields are giving inheritance, some are absolutely not, and the .bbl only shows a select few. Keep up bestie. 💅

🧚 resolve_xdata 🧚

Recursively resolve XDATA in an entry. Sets a flag in the XDATA metadata to say if the reference was successfully resolved.

$entry->resolve_xdata($xdata);

🧚 inherit_from 🧚

Inherit fields from parent entry (as indicated by the crossref field).

$entry->inherit_from($parententry);

Takes a second Biber::Entry object as argument.

Uses the crossref inheritance specifications from the .bcf. The .bcf said it, so it's canon. 📜

🗑️ dump 🗑️

Dump Biber::Entry object. Full info dump, no filter, it's giving receipts. 📤

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Philip Kime "<philip at kime.org.uk>"

🐛 BUGS 🐛

Please report any bugs or feature requests on our Github tracker at <https://github.com/plk/biber/issues>. Don't suffer in silence bestie, drop it in the tracker. 🫶

Copyright 2009-2012 François Charette and Philip Kime, all rights reserved. Copyright 2012-2026 Philip Kime, all rights reserved.

This module is free software. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the Artistic License 2.0.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Okay that's the whole page, you made it, I'm so proud. 💖 This was Biber::Entry(3pm) from perl v5.42.3, dated 2026-08-14 — go forth and clone responsibly. Periodt. 💅✨

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