Inquiry about citation commands supported by helm-bibtex package.

[hongyi-zhao]

Hi here,

I am interested in knowing if helm-bibtex supports all the following citation commands in LaTeX:

• \cite{key}
• \citet{key}
• \citep{key}
• \citeauthor{key}
• \citeyear{key}

Thank you very much for your time and assistance.

Best regards,
Zhao

[tmalsburg]

Please see the documentation of bibtex-completion-cite-commands.

[hongyi-zhao]

But I cannot find this variable at all:

[tmalsburg]

A lot of other customization variables are missing in your screenshot. Must be a problem in your configuration because the variable I mentioned does definitely exist as you can easily confirm: https://github.com/tmalsburg/helm-bibtex/blob/master/bibtex-completion.el#L277

[hongyi-zhao]

In my case, the configuration for helm and helm-bibtex is as follows:

(use-package helm
  :bind (:map helm-command-map
	      ("C-c h" . helm-execute-persistent-action)))

(use-package helm-bibtex
  :init
  (setq
   bibtex-completion-pdf-field "File"
   ;;https://github.com/tmalsburg/helm-bibtex#insert-latex-cite-commands
   bibtex-completion-cite-prompt-for-optional-arguments nil)

  :bind-keymap
  ("<menu>" . helm-command-prefix)
  :bind
  (
   :map helm-command-map
   ("b" . helm-bibtex)
   ("B" . helm-bibtex-with-local-bibliography)
   ("n" . helm-bibtex-with-notes)
   ("<menu>" . helm-resume)
   )

  :config
  (require 'helm-config)
  ;;https://github.com/tmalsburg/helm-bibtex#application-used-for-opening-pdfs
  ;;https://github.com/tmalsburg/helm-bibtex/issues/386
  (defun bibtex-completion-open-pdf-external (keys &optional fallback-action)
    (let ((bibtex-completion-pdf-open-function
	   (lambda (fpath) (start-process "evince" "*helm-bibtex-evince*" "/usr/bin/evince" fpath))))
      (bibtex-completion-open-pdf keys fallback-action)))

  (helm-bibtex-helmify-action bibtex-completion-open-pdf-external helm-bibtex-open-pdf-external)

  (helm-add-action-to-source
   'helm-bibtex
   '(("P" helm-bibtex-open-pdf-external "Open PDF file in external viewer (if present)")))

  ;;https://github.com/tmalsburg/helm-bibtex#browser-used-for-opening-urls-and-dois
  (setq bibtex-completion-browser-function
	(lambda (url _) (start-process "firefox" "*firefox*" "firefox" url)))

  )

I confirm the above configuration alone when testing with emacs -Q doesn't trigger the problem here. So, it must be caused by other settings.

[hongyi-zhao]

On the other hand, the current predefined value of bibtex-completion-cite-commands doesn't include the following entries:

\citet{key}
\citep{key}

[tmalsburg]

Please feel free to make a pull request if you have ideas for improvements.

[hongyi-zhao]

An exhaustive grep via ug gives me the following list, but I don't know whether they are all related to this variable:

werner@X10DAi:/opt/texlive/2023$ ug -Ii -oh '\{[a-zA-Z0-9]*cite[a-zA-Z0-9]*\}' | sort -u | tr '{}' ' ' |awk '{print "\""$1"\""}' |paste -sd,
"ABCIciteoptionwasused","ABCItextondemand","abntcite","abntex2cite","ABNTovercite","acrocite","acrogroupcite","agsmcite","aiDataCite","ALCitem","allnocited","anbtex2cite","andincite","andincitecn","andothersincite","andothersincitecn","apacite","apaciteclassic","apacitex","atcite","AtEachCitekey","AtEveryCite","AtEveryCitekey","AtEveryMultiCite","AtIntrocite","AtMultiEveryCite","AtNextCite","AtNextCitekey","AtNextMultiCite","atpcite","AtVolcite","AtXrefcite","authornumcite","autocite","Autocite","autocites","Autocites","AutoPuncItemize","AutoPuncItemizeE","AutoPuncItemizeO","autopuncitems","AutoPuncItems","AutoPuncItemsE","AutoPuncItemsO","avolcite","Avolcite","avolcites","Avolcites","backcite","backcitepages","backcitesections","badciteauthor","badcitefullauthor","badcitekey","badciteyear","bibcite","bibcitefn","bibcitelabel","bibentrycite","biblikecite","bibliographycite","biblistcite","blockcite","bplsecitems","breakcites","breakffcites","btCiteSect","btPrintCited","btPrintNotCited","btxcite","btxcitereference","btxcitevariant","calcite","Capacite","cc2cite","cccite","ccite","cfcite","checkcites","ChemCite","chicitecommande","chicitecommandechars","chicitecommandelarge","chscite","chslacite","cite","Cite","CITE","citeaffixed","citeall","citeallclaves","citealldefaultcite","citeallfinentry","citeallgroupseparator","citeallseparator","citealn","citealp","citealt","CiteAltPunct","citeannotesep","citeasnoun","citeathn","citeauthor","Citeauthor","citeauthorformat","citeauthorlist","citeauthorname","citeauthoronline","citeauthorstar","citeauthoryear","citeautoscript","citeb","citebib","citebibtex","citebook","citebordercolor","CiteByAuthor","CiteByFootnote","CiteByNumber","CiteBySuperscript","CiteByTag","citecfilm","citecmd","citecolor","CiteColor","citecolour","citecommand","citecompletefilm","citeconference","citecount","citecounter","citecountnopage","citecountpage","citecountpages","cited","citedas","citedash","citedate","citedby","citedbypage","citedbytitle","citedest","citedoi","citedornocited","citedstring","citeepisode","citeeprint","citefield","citefilm","citefinalnamedelim","citefirst","citefn","citeform","citefull","citefullauthor","Citefullauthor","citefullfilm","citefulltitle","citehack","citehandout","citeheading","citehyperref","citeincite","citeincitef","citeincites","citeindex","citeindexfile","citeinit","citeinxref","citeisbn","citeissue","citeissues","citejournal","citejournaltitle","citejz","citekey","citeKey","CiteKey","citelabel","citelabeldate","citelatex","citeleft","citelet","citelist","CiTelWork","citemid","citemidpenalty","citemize","cItemList","CiteMoveChars","citemultinamedelim","citen","citename","citenotitle","citenum","citenumfont","citeonce","citeonline","citeonly","citeopt","citeoption","citeorder","citep","Citep","citepack","citepackcode","citepage","citepages","citepalias","citepaper","citeprefix","citeprepenalty","CitePropriete","citepunct","citepunctpenalty","citequote","citequoteparenv","citerange","citeref","Citeref","citerequest","citereset","citerevsdnamedelim","citeright","cites","Cites","citesavefn","citeseen","citesel","CITESEL","citesep","citeseries","citesetup","citeshorthand","citeshortin","citesnum","citesort","citestyle","citet","Citet","citeta","citetalias","citetitle","Citetitle","citetlist","citetoend","citetotal","citetracker","citetrackerfalse","citetrackertrue","citetranslator","citeurl","citeURL","citeurlpost","citeurlpre","citex","citexref","citeyear","citeyearpar","cmscitesortdate","cmsciteyear","colorforcite","combcite","compactcite","compcitedelim","crosscite","datacite","DBIBcitekey","dcucite","DeclareAutoCiteCommand","DeclareCiteCommand","DeclareCitePunctuationPosition","DeclareInnerCiteDelim","DeclareInnerCiteDelimAlias","DeclareInnerCiteDelims","DeclareInnerCiteDelimsAlias","DeclareMultiCiteCommand","DeclareOuterCiteDelim","DeclareOuterCiteDelimAlias","DeclareOuterCiteDelims","DeclareOuterCiteDelimsAlias","defcitealias","DeferNextCitekeyHook","delimandincite","delimandincitecn","delimandothersincite","descitem","detailcite","detailscite","detailscites","docitem","DocItem","drftcite","Drftcite","drftffcite","DSMcite","DTLcite","DTLnocite","dvngcite","egcite","emojicite","endmcitethebibliography","entrynocite","expcites","explicite","Explicite","explicitement","extracites","extradateonlycompcitedelim","extradateonlycompciterangedelim","extranameonlycompcitedelim","extranameonlycompciterangedelim","fciteissue","fciteissues","ffciteform","ffciteleft","ffcitemid","ffcitepunct","ffciteright","filmcite","firstcite","firstcitefull","fixcitedash","fnotecite","footcite","footcitecount","footcitelabeldate","footcites","Footcites","footcitestar","footcitet","footcitetext","footcitetextlabeldate","footcitetexts","footcitetotal","footfullcite","footidemcite","footidemcites","foottextcite","foottextcites","fshowcited","ftvolcite","fulcite","fullcite","fullcitefilm","fullciteincite","fullciteincites","fullocite","fvolcite","Fvolcite","fvolcites","Fvolcites","gbcitecomp","gbcitelabel","gbcitelocal","gbcitelocalcase","gbcitepunctcn","gcite","gentextcite","gentextcites","globalcitecopy","glstopicItem","GOCiter","harvardcite","headlesscite","Headlesscite","headlesscites","headlessfullcite","headlessparencite","headlessparenshortcite","HMcitecolor","howcited","hycitebordercolor","hycitecolor","hypercite","icite","idemcite","idemcites","ideographiciterationmark","ifciteibid","ifciteidem","ifciteindex","ifciteseen","ifciteuseshorthand","iffirstcitekey","iflastcitekey","ifnocite","ifvolcite","Implicite","indxcite","inlinecite","inparencite","inreferencesasfullcite","intciteorder","introcite","introcitebreak","introcitepunct","introcitesep","introcitewidth","invalidcitestyle","jbusehowcitedforcite","jdcite","klucite","Latincite","lexcitecountinteger","mancite","mancitepar","markdownRendererCite","markdownRendererTextCite","mautocite","Mautocite","maxcitecounter","maxcitenames","mcite","mcitebibitemcount","mciteheadsortkey","mciteplus","mcitesubitemcount","MciteSubReferenceLabel","mcitethebibliography","mincitenames","mincitesep","miscItem","mkinnercitedelims","mkinnerfootcitedelims","mkinnerparencitedelims","mkinnertextcitedelims","mkoutercitedelims","mkouterfootcitedelims","mkouterparencitedelims","mkoutersupercitedelims","mkoutertextcitedelims","mkshcite","mkvolcitenote","mlarepeatedcites","multicite","multicitecount","multicitedelim","multiciterangedelim","multicites","multicitesubentrydelim","multicitesubentryrangedelim","multicitetotal","mycitecolor","natcite","neutralcite","newcites","nmbibcitenumber","nmbibSetCiteall","noapacite","nocccite","nocite","nocitecount","nocited","nocitemeta","nocites","nocitetags","noffcitecount","normalcite","notcite","notecite","Notecite","notffcite","notoccite","nptextcite","numcites","numCites","nwejmfootcite","ocite","ocites","onlinecite","Opacite","opcited","opencite","origcite","overcite","Overcite","OverciteFont","pagescite","parcitename","parencite","Parencite","parencitelabeldate","parencites","Parencites","parenfullcite","partofcited","partofcitedflag","pcite","pciteissue","pciteissues","pcitenote","pdfcitecolor","pincite","pnotecite","Pnotecite","poormancitea","posscite","Posscite","posscites","Posscites","possesivcite","possessivecite","ppexplicite","ppExplicite","PPexplicite","PPExplicite","prevcite","previewcite","Previewcite","previewcites","Previewcites","printscrcite","ProCite","pvolcite","Pvolcite","pvolcites","Pvolcites","rawcite","realcitepagesomitcmd","redefcite","refcite","RegisterCiteDelims","reviewcite","Reviewcite","reviewcites","Reviewcites","runcite","savedcitecounter","scauthorcite","scauthorscite","sccite","scite","SciTE","scitehere","sciteissue","sdcite","sentencecitename","SetCiteCommand","setcitestyle","setupcite","sfcite","sfcites","shcite","shortcite","shortformcite","shortformcites","shorthandcite","shorthandrefcite","shortrefcite","showcites","sidecite","skbslidecite","skelcite","smartcite","Smartcite","smartcites","Smartcites","sortcites","starnocited","strongcitedelim","subcite","supercite","supercitedelim","superciterangedelim","supercites","supercitesubentrydelim","supercitesubentryrangedelim","surnamecite","svolcite","Svolcite","svolcites","Svolcites","tcite","textcite","Textcite","textcitecount","textcitedelim","textcitehyperref","textcitelabeldate","textcitemaxnames","textcites","Textcites","textcitesdelim","textcitestar","textcitetotal","textpreviewcite","textreviewcite","Textreviewcite","textreviewcites","Textreviewcites","thiscite","totalcites","tvolcite","Tvolcite","tvolcites","Tvolcites","UndeclareCiteDelims","UndeclareInnerCiteDelim","UndeclareInnerCiteDelims","UndeclareOuterCiteDelim","UndeclareOuterCiteDelims","uppercasecite","usecitecmd","UseEveryCiteHook","UseEveryCitekeyHook","UseEveryMultiCiteHook","usefullcite","UseNextCiteHook","UseNextCitekeyHook","UseNextMultiCiteHook","UseVolciteHook","volcite","Volcite","volcitedelim","volcitenote","volcitepages","volcites","Volcites","volcitevolume","workscited","xcite","xcitebordercolor","xrefcite","xrefcitedascheck","ycite","ycites","yearcite","yearpagescite"

[tmalsburg]

I'm not sure whether it makes sense to include all cite commands in existence as this would make tab-completion for citations commands much less useful. I think a good default would be to include something like the top-10 most used citation commands. Not trivial though to find out what they are.

[hongyi-zhao]

I think a good default would be to include something like the top-10 most used citation commands. Not trivial though to find out what they are.

See the answer given by GPT-4:

Here are the top 20 most commonly used citation commands in LaTeX:

1. `\cite{}`: Cite a single reference.
2. `\citep{}`: Cite a reference in parentheses.
3. `\citet{}`: Cite a reference in the text itself, without parentheses.
4. `\citeauthor{}`: Cite only the author(s) of a reference.
5. `\citeyear{}`: Cite only the year of a reference.
6. `\nocite{}`: Include a reference in the bibliography without citing it in the text.
7. `\footnote{\cite{}}`: Create a footnote citation.
8. `\citep*{}`: Cite a reference with all authors' names included.
9. `\citealt{}`: Cite a reference without parentheses.
10. `\citeauthor*{}`: Cite a reference with all authors' names included, without using "et al.".
11. `\citep[][]{}`: Cite a reference with multiple optional parameters.
12. `\citealp{}`: Cite a reference without parentheses and with author names separated by commas.
13. `\citeauthor[][p.~]{}`: Cite a reference with page numbers and additional text before the citation.
14. `\citep{A, B}`: Cite multiple references in a single citation, separated by commas.
15. `\citeauthor{A, B}`: Cite multiple references with author names in a single citation, separated by commas.
16. `\citeyearpar{}`: Cite a reference in parentheses with the year.
17. `\citepalias{}`: Cite a reference with an alias (a short name for the citation).
18. `\citeauthoryear{}`: Cite a reference with both author names and year.
19. `\citeyear[][p.~]{}`: Cite a reference with the year and additional text before the citation.
20. `\citet*{}`: Cite a reference with all authors' names included, for use in the text.

These are 20 of the most commonly used citation commands in LaTeX. Remember to replace "A" and "B" with the actual reference keys you are citing.

[tmalsburg]

Hm, it's not clear that GPT-4 actually has internal access to the frequencies of commands. Also not that the biblatex standard commands parencite and textcite are missing in the list. Seems slightly suspicious to me. But there are certainly some commands in that list that should be included, notably nocite, citet, citep.

[hongyi-zhao]

Also not that the biblatex standard commands parencite and textcite are missing in the list.

It seems that you originally intended to express Also, it's worth noting that ....