Ubuntu Manpage: bibtex - Parse bibtex files

NAME

       bibtex - Parse bibtex files

SYNOPSIS

       package require Tcl  8.4

       package require bibtex  ?0.5?

       ::bibtex::parse ?options? ?text?

       ::bibtex::parse text

       ::bibtex::parse ?-command cmd? -channel chan

       ::bibtex::parse  ?-recordcommand   recordcmd? ?-preamblecommand preamblecmd? ?-stringcommand   stringcmd?
       ?-commentcommand  commentcmd? ?-progresscommand progresscmd? (text | -channel chan)

       ::bibtex::wait token

       ::bibtex::destroy token

       ::bibtex::addStrings token stringdict

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DESCRIPTION

This package provides commands for the parsing of bibliographies in BibTeX format.

::bibtex::parse ?options? ?text?
This is the general form of the command for parsing a bibliography. Depending on the options used
to invoke it it will either return a token for the parser, or the parsed entries of the input
bibliography. Instead of performing an immediate parse returning a predefined format the command
can also enter an event-based parsing style where all relevant entries in the input are reported
through callback commands, in the style of SAX.

::bibtex::parse text
In this form the command will assume that the specified text is a bibliography in BibTeX format,
parse it, and then return a list containing one element per record found in the bibliography. Note
that comments, string definitions, preambles, etc. will not show up in the result. Each element
will be a list containing record type, bibliography key and record data, in this order. The record
data will be a dictionary, its keys the keys of the record, with the associated values.

::bibtex::parse ?-command cmd? -channel chan
In this form the command will reads the bibliography from the specified Tcl channel chan and then
returns the same data structure as described above.

If however the option -command is specified the result will be a handle for the parser instead and
all processing will be incremental and happen in the background. When the input has been exhausted
the callback cmd will be invoked with the result of the parse. The exact definition for the
callback is

cmd token parseresult
The parse result will have the structure explained above, for the simpler forms of the
parser.

Note that the parser will not close the channel after it has exhausted it. This is still the
responsibility of the user of the parser.

::bibtex::parse ?-recordcommand recordcmd? ?-preamblecommand preamblecmd? ?-stringcommand stringcmd?
?-commentcommand commentcmd? ?-progresscommand progresscmd? (text | -channel chan)
This is the most low-level form for the parser. The returned result will be a handle for the
parser. During processing it will invoke the invoke the specified callback commands for each type
of data found in the bibliography.

The processing will be incremental and happen in the background if, and only if a Tcl channel chan
is specified. For a text the processing will happen immediately and all callbacks will be invoked
before the command itself returns.

The callbacks, i.e. *cmd, are all command prefixes and will be invoked with additional arguments
appended to them. The meaning of the arguments depends on the callback and is explained below. The
first argument will however always be the handle of the parser invoking the callback.

recordcmd token type key recorddict
This callback is invoked whenever the parser detects a bibliography record in the input.
Its arguments are the record type, the bibliography key for the record, and a dictionary
containing the keys and values describing the record. Any string macros known to the parser
have already been expanded.

preamblecmd token preambletext
This callback is invoked whenever the parser detects an @preamble block in the input. The
only additional argument is the text found in the preamble block. By default such entries
are ignored.

stringcmd token stringdict
This callback is invoked whenever the parser detects an @string-based macro definition in
the input. The argument is a dictionary with the macro names as keys and their replacement
strings as values. By default such definitions are added to the parser state for use in
future bibliography records.

commentcmd token commenttext
This callback is invoked whenever the parser detects a comment in the input. The only
additional argument is the comment text. By default such entries are ignored.

progresscmd token percent
This callback is invoked during processing to tell the user about the progress which has
been made. Its argument is the percentage of data processed, as integer number between 0
and 100. In the case of incremental processing the perecentage will always be -1 as the
total number of entries is not known beforehand.

::bibtex::wait token
This command waits for the parser represented by the token to complete and then returns. The
returned result is the empty string.

::bibtex::destroy token
This command cleans up all internal state associated with the parser represented by the handle
token, effectively destroying it. This command can be called from within the parser callbacks to
terminate processing.

::bibtex::addStrings token stringdict
This command adds the macro definitions stored in the dictionary stringdict to the parser
represented by the handle token.

The dictionary keys are the macro names and the values their replacement strings. This command has
the correct signature for use as a -stringcommand callback in an invokation of the command
::bibtex::parse.

BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK

       This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and  other  problems.   Please
       report      such      in      the      category      bibtex     of     the     Tcllib     SF     Trackers
       [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=12883].  Please also report any ideas for enhancements you  may
       have for either package and/or documentation.

KEYWORDS

       bibliography, bibtex, parsing, text processing

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