Feature Request: Support customizing citation syntax

[wenlzhang]

Feature Requested

Currently, the default citation syntax is [@citekey], for use with pandoc. In my workflow, there are also two other use cases.

• In Obsidian notes, sometimes I would like to insert the citation key as tags, e.g. #citekey. This way, I can easily see where a paper is referenced from the tag pane and graph view.
• When writing in LaTeX, I may use the citation key in the format \cite{citekey}.

Therefore, it would be great if one can customize the citation syntax to use. For instance, one can set a default format and a few other formats. When inserting the citation key, the default format would be used, unless specified otherwise.

Relevant Screenshot

No response

Checklist

• The feature would be useful to more users than just me.

[noirchen]

I agree. This can be implemented as an option choosing between @, # or bare key.

[owlasea]

Seconded. This would be super useful! Thanks!

[stravers56]

I would like this feature for latex as well.

[chrisgrieser]

Can anyone refer me to some documentation for Latex citations? Specifically, I need information on how citations look like for various cases?

• single citation with page numbers
• multiple citations without page numbers
• multiple citations with page numbers

[owlasea]

These are the ones that work for bibtex. Not sure if it works for other settings/packages (e.g., Natbib, apacite).

• Single citation with page numbers: \cite[pageNumber]{citekey}
• Multiple citations without page numbers: \cite{citekey1, citekey2, citekey3}
• Multiple citations with page numbers: \citetext{\citealp[pageNumber1]{citekey1}; \citealp[pageNumber2]{citekey2}.....}

I also found these on Overleaf for your reference:
https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Biblatex_citation_styles

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Natbib_citation_styles

[chrisgrieser]

so instead of hardcoding a citation syntax format, I have simply turned all of them into variables, so it should cover everything form tags in Obsidian to other citation formats. However I am not totally certain, that I "get" this weird Latex citation syntax – I am writing in markdown since I wanted to avoid all the hassle of Latex, after all 😅

Would this suffice? (the screenshot contains the values for Pandoc citations) You can try it out in release 9.0.0.

[owlasea]

Thanks for the great work Chris! Everything works except the _format_citekey_prefix though. When I set it to empty instead of @, the "@" still appears anyway. If I change it to other values, @ remains and the newly set value is not reflected. Wonder if there is anything I am doing wrong? Should I be tweaking something else? Thank you again!

[noirchen]

Thanks for the new version! Everything works like a charm. I did not meet the persisting @ issue.

[owlasea]

Ah I reloaded the buffer and now everything works!

[chrisgrieser]

Could you show me what values you have all set for _format... ?

That way, I can add some presets, which not only make it easier to switch, but also automatically reload the buffer

[chrisgrieser]

also, I noticed that with certain citation styles, you put the page number before the citekey. So I have added the following two options to version 9.1.0 to account for that possibility.

Could you give it a try and see whether you can cover all cases (multiple citations, with/without page numbers) by having these variables? If those are enough, and you can give me the values for the _format... variables, then I can set presets so the user doesn't have to fiddle too much with the formatting.

[owlasea]

Hi @chrisgrieser , here is the values I set for _format...:

I also noticed that the reason that reloading the buffer solves the issue with persistent @ is that I have set the prefix to empty in the first place, but this creates another problem that, if I want to insert something like [[@citekey]] and the prefix is set to empty, it will give me [[citekey]] without the @. In other words, it seems if I set the prefix and reload the buffer, it will always come up with prefix+citekey as the {query} variable. Is there a way for me to set the {query} as only the citekeys without the prefixes? Thanks!

[chrisgrieser]

if I want to insert something like [[@citekey]] and the prefix is set to empty, it will give me [[citekey]] without the @

@owlasea I am not entirely sure that I understand what you mean. Like, how is set prefix → get prefix not the intended behavior? 🤨

If this is about the need for reloading, I just pushed an update (9.1.2) which removes the prefix from the query, so that you can change the formatting without reloading the buffer.

[chrisgrieser]

with 9.2.0, one can now more conveniently change the citation format via scp. You can add citations formats, e.g. for all the Latex variants, via PR to this file.

[owlasea]

This is awesome! Thanks Chris!

By the way is the multiple citation working properly? I am getting something like this:

The only citation that gets the prefix is the one that I select last? Was not a problem in some earlier versions.

[chrisgrieser]

thanks, is fixed

[chrisgrieser]

well, I guess this issue can be regarded as closed then?

[chrisgrieser]

just for reference: I also added a bare citekey option.

With the irregularity of Latex citations, I'd probably need some advice on how to properly format that. In case someone is interested in that, please open a new issue for the Latex citation format