[OS X TeX] bibtex syntax defintion

[Michael McCracken]

Jan, in fact the bibtex source code is itself proper documentation -  
it's written in the same literate programming style as TeX. The file  
<ftp://tug.ctan.org/pub/tex-archive/biblio/bibtex/distribs/ 
bibtex.web> is both the original pascal source code and the  
documentation thoroughly explaining it.

To get a tex file out of that web file, use the command 'weave':
weave bibtex.web

The resulting file contains a typeset version of the source code that  
is much more readable than the usual program source.

I did have some troubles getting the resulting tex file to typeset  
with my current version of TeX, possibly because it is 20 years old,  
so perhaps someone with more time or experience could help solve that.

Also, in the btparse source code, the grammar used for bibtex is  
relatively well commented, so you could take a look at that also, if  
you are inclined to read language grammars. We have a copy of it in  
the bibdesk CVS here:
<http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/bibdesk/bibdesk_vendorsrc/ 
gward/btparse/src/bibtex.g?rev=1.2&view=auto>

-mike

On Aug 17, 2005, at 12:21 PM, Jan Erik Moström wrote:

> Adam R. Maxwell <amaxwell at mac.com> 2005-08-17 16:25:
>
>
>> No, unless you count the bibtex source code.
>>
>
> sigh (I hate when there is no proper documentation)
> -- 
> Jan Erik Moström, www.mostrom.pp.se
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--
     Michael McCracken
     michael_mccracken at mac.com
     http://michael-mccracken.net/


--------------------- Info ---------------------
Mac-TeX Website: http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/
           & FAQ: http://latex.yauh.de/faq/
TeX FAQ: http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq
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