Provided by: refdb-clients_1.0.2-3ubuntu1_amd64 
NAME
bib2ris, bib2ris-utf8 - converts bibtex bibliographic data to the RIS format
SYNOPSIS
bib2ris [-e log-destination] [-h] [-j] [-l log-level] [-L log-file] [-q] [-s separator] [-v] [-y confdir]
file
bib2ris-utf8 [-e log-destination] [-h] [-j] [-l log-level] [-L log-file] [-q] [-s separator] [-v]
[-y confdir] file
DESCRIPTION
bib2ris converts BibTeX bibliography files into RIS files. Latex commands, including non-ASCII characters
written as commands, are preserved in the output. Importing the output of the bib2ris utility directly
into RefDB is useful only if you use the data exclusively for LaTeX.
bib2ris-utf8 is a variant which converts foreign characters to UTF-8 and strips all other LaTeX commands
by means of the refdb_latex2utf8txt (1) tool. The output of bib2ris-utf8 is the preferred format for
import into RefDB as it is suitable for both LaTeX and SGML/XML bibliographies.
Unfortunately the concepts underlying BibTeX and RIS bibliographic data are quite different so that
BibTeX data do not readily lend themselves to a clean conversion to the RIS format. This is not meant as
an excuse to provide a bad filter but you should be aware that a few compile-time assumptions have to be
made in order to get reasonable results. In any case, as the data models differ considerably, a loss-free
round-trip conversion between the two data types is not possible: If you convert a BibTeX bibliography
file to RIS and then back, the result will differ considerably from your input.
The following considerations apply to the data import into RefDB and the data export from RefDB:
1. BibTeX input data that are not written in UTF-8, that use formatting commands like font name, weight,
or posture specifications, or that use LaTeX commands to write foreign and special characters should
always be converted with bib2ris-utf8.
2. BibTeX output data will have the LaTeX command characters properly escaped. The data will use the
default encoding of your reference database unless you specifically request a different encoding with
the getref command or with the refdbib tool. Keep in mind that recent LaTeX installations can work
with UTF-8 data using the following incantation in the prolog, allowing the easiest support for all
kinds of foreign characters:
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
OPTIONS
-e log-destination
log-destination can have the values 0, 1, or 2, or the equivalent strings stderr, syslog, or file,
respectively. This value specifies where the log information goes to. 0 (zero) means the messages
are sent to stderr. They are immediately available on the screen but they may interfere with command
output. 1 will send the output to the syslog facility. Keep in mind that syslog must be configured
to accept log messages from user programs, see the syslog(8) man page for further information.
Unix-like systems usually save these messages in /var/log/user.log. 2 will send the messages to a
custom log file which can be specified with the -L option.
-h
Displays help and usage screen, then exits.
-j
Force bib2ris to use JO RIS fields in all cases. If this option is not used, bib2ris tries to infer
whether a journal name is an abbreviation or not. If the string contains at least one period, JO will
be used, otherwise JF will be used.
-l log-level
Specify the priority up to which events are logged. This is either a number between 0 and 7 or one of
the strings emerg, alert, crit, err, warning, notice, info, debug, respectively (see also Log level
definitions). -1 disables logging completely. A low log level like 0 means that only the most
critical messages are logged. A higher log level means that less critical events are logged as well.
7 will include debug messages. The latter can be verbose and abundant, so you want to avoid this log
level unless you need to track down problems.
-L log-file
Specify the full path to a log file that will receive the log messages. Typically this would be
/var/log/refdba.
-q
Start without reading the configuration files. The client will use the compile-time defaults for all
values that you do not set with command-line switches.
-s separator
Specify the delimiter which separates individual keywords in a non-standard keyword field. Use the
string spc for whitespace-separated lists (spaces and tabs).
-v
Prints version and copyright information, then exits.
-y confdir
Specify the directory where the global configuration files are Note: By default, all RefDB
applications look for their configuration files in a directory that is specified during the configure
step when building the package. That is, you don't need the -y option unless you use precompiled
binaries in unusual locations, e.g. by relocating a rpm package.
file
If used, this parameter denotes the names of one or more bibtex files. If no file is specified,
bib2ris tries to read the data from stdin. Output is always sent to stdout.
DIAGNOSTICS
The exit code of bib2ris indicates what went wrong in general (the details can be found in the log
output). The code is the sum of the following error values:
1
general error; includes out of memory situations and invalid command-line options
2
incomplete entry (at least one essential field in an entry was missing)
4
unknown field name
8
unknown publication type
16
invalid BibTeX->RIS type mapping
32
parse error; includes file access errors
CONFIGURATION
bib2ris evaluates the file bib2risrc to initialize itself.
Table 1. bib2risrc
┌─────────────────┬──────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┐
│Variable │ Default │ Comment │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│logfile │ /var/log/bib2ris.log │ The full path of a custom │
│ │ │ log file. This is used only │
│ │ │ if logdest is set │
│ │ │ appropriately. │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│logdest │ 1 │ The destination of the log │
│ │ │ information. 0 = print to │
│ │ │ stderr; 1 = use the syslog │
│ │ │ facility; 2 = use a custom │
│ │ │ logfile. The latter needs a │
│ │ │ proper setting of logfile. │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│loglevel │ 6 │ The log level up to which │
│ │ │ messages will be sent. A low │
│ │ │ setting (0) allows only the │
│ │ │ most important messages, a │
│ │ │ high setting (7) allows all │
│ │ │ messages including debug │
│ │ │ messages. -1 means nothing │
│ │ │ will be logged. │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│abbrevfirst │ t │ If this option is set to │
│ │ │ "t", the first names of all │
│ │ │ authors and editors will be │
│ │ │ abbreviated to the initials. │
│ │ │ If set to "f", the first │
│ │ │ names will be used as they │
│ │ │ are found in the BibTeX │
│ │ │ bibliography file. │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│listsep │ ; │ This is the delimiter which │
│ │ │ separates individual │
│ │ │ keywords in a non-standard │
│ │ │ keyword field. Use the │
│ │ │ string "spc" for │
│ │ │ whitespace-separated lists │
│ │ │ (spaces and tabs). │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│forcejabbrev │ f │ If this is set to "t", │
│ │ │ journal names will be │
│ │ │ wrapped in RIS "JO" entries. │
│ │ │ If it is set to "f", bib2ris │
│ │ │ will use "JO" entries only │
│ │ │ if the journal name contains │
│ │ │ at least one period, │
│ │ │ otherwise it will use "JF". │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│maparticle │ JOUR │ map the BibTeX article │
│ │ │ publication type to a RIS │
│ │ │ type │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│mapbook │ BOOK │ map the BibTeX book │
│ │ │ publication type to a RIS │
│ │ │ type │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│mapbooklet │ PAMP │ map the BibTeX booklet │
│ │ │ publication type to a RIS │
│ │ │ type │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│mapconference │ CHAP │ map the BibTeX conference │
│ │ │ publication type to a RIS │
│ │ │ type │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│mapinbook │ CHAP │ map the BibTeX inbook │
│ │ │ publication type to a RIS │
│ │ │ type │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│mapincollection │ CHAP │ map the BibTeX incollection │
│ │ │ publication type to a RIS │
│ │ │ type │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│mapinproceedings │ CHAP │ map the BibTeX inproceedings │
│ │ │ publication type to a RIS │
│ │ │ type │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│mapmanual │ BOOK │ map the BibTeX manual │
│ │ │ publication type to a RIS │
│ │ │ type │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│mapmastersthesis │ THES │ map the BibTeX mastersthesis │
│ │ │ publication type to a RIS │
│ │ │ type │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│mapmisc │ GEN │ map the BibTeX misc │
│ │ │ publication type to a RIS │
│ │ │ type │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│mapphdthesis │ THES │ map the BibTeX phdthesis │
│ │ │ publication type to a RIS │
│ │ │ type │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│mapproceedings │ CONF │ map the BibTeX proceedings │
│ │ │ publication type to a RIS │
│ │ │ type │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│maptechreport │ RPRT │ map the BibTeX techreport │
│ │ │ publication type to a RIS │
│ │ │ type │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│mapunpublished │ UNPB │ map the BibTeX unpublished │
│ │ │ publication type to a RIS │
│ │ │ type │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│nsf_xyz │ (none) │ You can specify an unlimited │
│ │ │ number of these entries to │
│ │ │ map non-standard BibTeX │
│ │ │ fields to RIS tags. The │
│ │ │ BibTeX field name in this │
│ │ │ variable has to be in │
│ │ │ lowercase, regardless of the │
│ │ │ case in your input data │
│ │ │ (bib2ris treats field names │
│ │ │ as case-insensitive). The │
│ │ │ two-letter RIS tag has to be │
│ │ │ in uppercase. E.g. to map │
│ │ │ your BibTeX "Abstract" field │
│ │ │ to the RIS "N2" tag, the │
│ │ │ entry would read: │
│ │ │ "nsf_abstract N2". │
└─────────────────┴──────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────┘
DATA PROCESSING
This section provides a few hints about the data conversion itself and the BibTeX format requirements.
• The parsing of the input data is done by the btparse library. All limitations of that library apply
to bib2ris as well. This applies very specifically to two hardcoded settings in btparse which, simply
put, limit the size and complexity (in terms of macros) of an input file that btparse can handle. If
you run into this kind of problem (I had to pull a 2 MB BibTeX bibliography from the net in order to
verify this limit) you should increase the values of NUM_MACROS and STRING_SIZE in the source file
macros.c and recompile the btparse library.
• All entry names and field names in the BibTeX input file are treated as case-insensitive, i.e. "BoOk"
is the same as "book" and "AUTHOR" is the same as "aUthoR".
• The entries are checked for completeness. An error is generated if an entry lacks fields which are
considered essential for the particular publication type.
• Non-standard fields can be imported in addition to the predefined BibTeX fields. Create an entry for
each non-standard BibTeX field name that your input data use in your bib2ris configuration file. The
data are handled differently based on the type of RIS field they are imported to. If the data are
imported to the RIS fields AD, N1, or N2, which basically have an unlimited size, all occurrences of
these fields will be concatenated into a single AD, N1, or N2 tag line, respectively. If the data are
mapped to the RIS KW field, the string will be tokenized based on the list separator specified in the
listsep configuration variable. Each token will be written as a separate KW tag line. A special case
is the RIS pseudo-field "PY.day". Data imported to this tag are integrated as the day part in the
publication date tag line "PY" (year and month, but not day, are standard BibTeX fields and are
recognized by default). All other fields will be printed with their requested RIS tag. It is at the
discretion of any RIS importing application to decide what to do with duplicate tag lines. Multiples
are allowed for author tags (AU, A2, A3) and the keyword tag (KW). refdb will use the last occurrence
of a tag line that does not allow multiple occurrences.
• Abbreviated journal names are detected only if they use periods. E.g. “J. Biol. Chem.” will be
mapped to a "JO" RIS element whereas “J Biol Chem” will be (incorrectly) mapped to a "JF" element
(“Journal of Biological Chemistry” would correctly end up here too). Spaces after periods are
optional. To capture “J Biol Chem” in a "JO" element, use the -j command line option or the
"forcejabbrev" configuration file variable.
• The mapping of BibTeX publication types (book, inproceedings...) to RIS types as specified in the
configuration file is checked for valid RIS types. If an invalid RIS type is specified, an error is
generated and the compile-time default is used instead.
• By default the first names of authors and editors are not abbreviated. If you wish you can configure
bib2ris to abbreviate first and middle names.
FILES
PREFIX/etc/refdb/bib2risrc
The global configuration file of bib2ris.
$HOME/.bib2risrc
The user configuration file of bib2ris.
SEE ALSO
RefDB (7), refdb_latex2utf8txt (1), db2ris (1), en2ris (1), marc2ris (1), med2ris (1).
RefDB manual (local copy) PREFIX/share/doc/refdb-<version>/refdb-manual/index.html
RefDB manual (web) <http://refdb.sourceforge.net/manual/index.html>
RefDB on the web <http://refdb.sourceforge.net/>
AUTHOR
bib2ris was written by Markus Hoenicka <markus@mhoenicka.de>.