(BSD System Compatibility)

lookbib(1bsd)

lookbib -- (BSD) find references in a bibliographic database

Synopsis

   /usr/ucb/lookbib database

Description

A bibliographic reference is a set of lines, constituting fields of bibliographic information. Each field starts on a line beginning with a `%', followed by a key-letter, then a blank, and finally the contents of the field, which may continue until the next line starting with `%'. [See addbib(1bsd)].

lookbib uses an inverted index made by indxbib to find sets of bibliographic references. It reads keywords typed after the `>' prompt on the terminal, and retrieves records containing all these keywords. If nothing matches, nothing is returned except another `>' prompt.

It is possible to search multiple databases, as long as they have a common index made by indxbib. In that case, only the first argument given to indxbib is specified to lookbib.

If lookbib does not find the index files (the .i[abc] files), it looks for a reference file with the same name as the argument, without the suffixes. It creates a file with a .ig suffix, suitable for use with fgrep [see grep(1)]. lookbib then uses this fgrep file to find references. This method is simpler to use, but the .ig file is slower to use than the .i[abc] files, and does not allow the use of multiple reference files.

Files

*.ia
*.ib: index files
*.ic
*.ig: reference file

References

addbib(1bsd), grep(1), indxbib(1bsd), refer(1bsd), roffbib(1bsd), sortbib(1bsd)

Notices

Probably all dates should be indexed, since many disciplines refer to literature written in the 1800s or earlier.