sortbib(1)              (BSD Compatibility Package)              sortbib(1)

NAME
     sortbib - sort a bibliographic database

SYNOPSIS
     /usr/ucb/sortbib [-skey-letters] database ...

DESCRIPTION
     The sortbib command 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.

     By default, sortbib alphabetizes by the first %A and the %D fields,
     which contain the senior author and date. The -s option is used to
     specify new key-letters. See addbib for a list of the most common key
     letters. 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. No more than 16 databases may be sorted
     together at one time. Records longer than 4096 characters will be
     truncated.

     sortbib 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.

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

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












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