sortbib(1)                                             sortbib(1)



NAME
     sortbib - sorts bibliographic database

SYNOPSIS
     sortbib [-skeys] database...

ARGUMENTS
     database
          Specifies the database containing the files to be
          sorted.  No more than 16 databases may be sorted
          together at one time.

     keys Specifies the user-specified keys that will be used
          when sorting files.

     -s   Enables you to specify new values for the keys
          argument.  For instance, -sATD will sort by author,
          title, and date, while -sA+D will sort by all authors,
          and date.  Sort keys past the fourth are not
          meaningful.

DESCRIPTION
     sortbib sorts files of records containing refer key-letters
     by user-specified keys.  Records may be separated by blank
     lines, or by .[ and .] delimiters, but the two styles may
     not be mixed together.  This program reads through each
     database and pulls out key fields, which are sorted
     separately.  The sorted key fields contain the file pointer,
     byte offset, and length of corresponding records.  These
     records are delivered using disk seeks and reads, so sortbib
     may not be used in a pipeline to read standard input.
     Records longer than 4096 characters will be truncated.

     By default, sortbib alphabetizes by the first %A and the %D
     fields, which contain the senior author and date.

     The sortbib program sorts on the last word on the %A line,
     which is assumed to be the author's last name.  A word in
     the final position, such as jr. or ed., will be ignored if
     the name beforehand ends with a comma.  Authors with two-
     word last names or unusual constructions can be sorted
     correctly by using the nroff convention \0 in place of a
     blank.  A %Q field is considered to be the same as %A,
     except sorting begins with the first, not the last, word.
     sortbib sorts on the last word of the %D line, usually the
     year.  It also ignores leading articles (like A or The) when
     sorting by titles in the %T or %J fields; it will ignore
     articles of any modern European language.

     If a sort-significant field is absent from a record, sortbib
     places that record before other records containing that
     field.



January 1992                                                    1

sortbib(1)                                             sortbib(1)



LIMITATIONS
     Records with missing author fields should probably be sorted
     by title.

FILES
     /usr/ucb/sortbib
          Executable file

SEE ALSO
     addbib(1), indxbib(1), lookbib(1), refer(1), roffbib(1)













































2                                                    January 1992