lkbib

lkbib searches bibliographic databases for references matching all keywords key and writes any references found to the standard output stream. It reads databases given by -p options and then (unless -n is given) a default database. The default database is taken from the REFER environment variable if it is set, otherwise it is /usr/dict/papers/Ind. For each database file to be searched, if an index file.i created by indxbib(1) exists, then it will be searched instead; each index can cover multiple databases.

--help displays a usage message, while -v and --version show version information; all exit afterward.

-i string

When searching files for which no index exists, ignore the contents of fields whose names are in string.

-n

Suppress search of default database.

-p file

Search file. Multiple -p options can be used.

-t n

Require only the first n characters of keys to be given. The default is 6.

lkbib exits with status 0 on successful operation, status 2 if the program cannot interpret its command-line arguments, and status 1 if it encounters an error during operation.

REFER

Assign this variable a file name to override the default database.

/usr/dict/papers/Ind

Default database to be used if the REFER environment variable is not set.

file.i

Index files.

“Some Applications of Inverted Indexes on the Unix System”, by M. E. Lesk, 1978, AT&T Bell Laboratories Computing Science Technical Report No. 69.

refer(1), lookbib(1), indxbib(1)