Command-line utility for BibTeX databases

© 2016–2019 Paul Natsuo Kishimoto (mail@paul.kishimoto.name)

Licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 3.

bib provides commands to work with BibTeX databases. To specify the default database, use the --database command-line option, or set a configuration file (below).

• check-files: check for the existence of file paths pointed to by entry localfile fields.
• curl: return args for curl -K -, using entry url fields.
• diff OTHER: display entries in the database but not in OTHER.
• export KEYS: print out a subset of the entries in the database.
• import PATHS: interactively read new entries into the database from .bib files found in PATHS.
• list FIELD: list all unique values appearing in FIELD (e.g. 'keywords') across the entire database.
• note-template: return a (Zim)[http://zim-wiki.org] note template for entry KEY.
• read KEY: open the local file for entry KEY.
• queue: display a reading queue.

Use bib --help and bib COMMAND --help for more detailed documentation.

Configuration

bib reads a configuration file .bibpy.yaml in:

• the path given by --path command-line option,
• the current directory, or
• the directory given by the BIBPY_PATH environment variable.

The only general configuration key is:

database: path/to/database.bib  # same as the --database option

The following commands have command-specific keys. For these, use a top-level key with the command name, and then place command-specific keys underneath. Use bib COMMAND --help to see documentation about these keys:

• check_files
• import
• queue

For example:

import:
  path: 0sort/bib

check_files:
  format: csv

  ignore:
    - .git
    - .gitignore
    - .rsync-filter
    - references.bib
    - biblatex-dm.cfg

  filter:
    # Don't check for files for all entries of a given type
    - field: ENTRYTYPE
      value: online
      sort: other

    # Don't check for files with a given keyword
    - field: keywords
      value: x-custom:hardcopy
      sort: other

queue:
  # Get queue inclusion and priority from a custom keyword
  include: x-queue-priority:(?P<priority>\w+)