refer was written by Mike Lesk at Bell Laboratories[1][2] in or before 1978, and is now available as part of most Unix-like operating systems. A free reimplementation exists as part of the groff package.
As of 2015[update], refer sees little use, primarily because troff itself is not used much for longer technical writing that might need software support for reference and citation management. As of 2016[update], some reference management software (for instance, RefWorks) will import refer data.
refer works with a "reference file", a text file where the author lists works to which they might want to refer. One such reference, to an article in a journal in this case, might look like:
%A Brian W. Kernighan %A Lorinda L. Cherry %T A System for Typesetting Mathematics %J J. Comm. ACM %V 18 %N 3 %D March 1978 %P 151-157 %K eqn
The author then can refer to it in their troff, groff, or nroff document by listing keywords which uniquely match this reference:
.[ kernighan cherry eqn .]
Database fieldsEdit
A refer bibliographic database is a text file consisting of a series of records, separated by one or more blank lines. Within each record, each field starts with a %-sign at the beginning of the line and one character immediately after. The name of the field should be followed by exactly one space, and then by the contents of the field. Empty fields are ignored. The conventional meaning of each field is shown in the table below. Compare this scheme with the newer EndNote scheme which uses a similar syntax.
The name of an author. If the name contains a title such as Jr. at the end, it should be separated from the last name by a comma. There can be multiple occurrences of the %A field. The order is significant. It is a good idea always to supply an %A field or a %Q field.
%B
For an article that is part of a book, the title of the book.
%C
The place (city) of publication.
%D
The date of publication. The year should be specified in full. If the month is specified, the name rather than the number of the month should be used, but only the first three letters are required. It is a good idea always to supply a %D field; if the date is unknown, a value such as in press or unknown can be used.
%E
For an article that is part of a book, the name of an editor of the book. Where the work has editors and no authors, the names of the editors should be given as %A fields and , (ed) or , (eds) should be appended to the last author.
%G
US Government ordering number.
%I
The publisher (issuer).
%J
For an article in a journal, the name of the journal.
%K
Keywords to be used for searching.
%L
Label.
%N
Journal issue number.
%O
Other information. This is usually printed at the end of the reference.
%P
Page number. A range of pages can be specified as m-n.
%Q
The name of the author, if the author is not a person. This will only be used if there are no %A fields. There can only be one %Q field.
%R
Technical report number.
%S
Series name.
%T
Title. For an article in a book or journal, this should be the title of the article.
%V
Volume number of the journal or book.
%X
Annotation.
For all fields except %A and %E, if there is more than one occurrence of a particular field in a record, only the last such field will be used.
^Michael Lesk. Some applications of inverted indexes on the Unix system. In UNIX Programmer's manual: Supplementary Documents, volume 2. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, seventh edition, 1982. Also available online [1]
^McIlroy, M. D. (1987). A Research Unix reader: annotated excerpts from the Programmer's Manual, 1971–1986(PDF) (Technical report). CSTR. Bell Labs. 139.
^refer man page, version 1.22.3, dated 2July 2016.
External linksEdit
Some Applications of Inverted Indexes on the UNIX System (PostScript)
man page for refer(1)
Extended refer code reference for the HCI bibliography database
August 31, 2023
refer, software, refer, program, managing, bibliographic, references, citing, them, troff, nroff, groff, documents, implemented, preprocessor, referoriginal, author, mike, leskoperating, systemunix, liketypereference, managementlicensedepends, implementationre. refer is a program for managing bibliographic references and citing them in troff nroff and groff documents It is implemented as a preprocessor referOriginal author s Mike LeskOperating systemUnix likeTypeReference managementLicensedepends on implementationrefer was written by Mike Lesk at Bell Laboratories 1 2 in or before 1978 and is now available as part of most Unix like operating systems A free reimplementation exists as part of the groff package As of 2015 update refer sees little use primarily because troff itself is not used much for longer technical writing that might need software support for reference and citation management As of 2016 update some reference management software for instance RefWorks will import refer data Contents 1 Example 2 Database fields 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksExample Editrefer works with a reference file a text file where the author lists works to which they might want to refer One such reference to an article in a journal in this case might look like A Brian W Kernighan A Lorinda L Cherry T A System for Typesetting Mathematics J J Comm ACM V 18 N 3 D March 1978 P 151 157 K eqn The author then can refer to it in their troff groff or nroff document by listing keywords which uniquely match this reference kernighan cherry eqn Database fields EditA refer bibliographic database is a text file consisting of a series of records separated by one or more blank lines Within each record each field starts with a sign at the beginning of the line and one character immediately after The name of the field should be followed by exactly one space and then by the contents of the field Empty fields are ignored The conventional meaning of each field is shown in the table below Compare this scheme with the newer EndNote scheme which uses a similar syntax Database fields 3 Field Meaning A The name of an author If the name contains a title such as Jr at the end it should be separated from the last name by a comma There can be multiple occurrences of the A field The order is significant It is a good idea always to supply an A field or a Q field B For an article that is part of a book the title of the book C The place city of publication D The date of publication The year should be specified in full If the month is specified the name rather than the number of the month should be used but only the first three letters are required It is a good idea always to supply a D field if the date is unknown a value such as in press or unknown can be used E For an article that is part of a book the name of an editor of the book Where the work has editors and no authors the names of the editors should be given as A fields and ed or eds should be appended to the last author G US Government ordering number I The publisher issuer J For an article in a journal the name of the journal K Keywords to be used for searching L Label N Journal issue number O Other information This is usually printed at the end of the reference P Page number A range of pages can be specified as m n Q The name of the author if the author is not a person This will only be used if there are no A fields There can only be one Q field R Technical report number S Series name T Title For an article in a book or journal this should be the title of the article V Volume number of the journal or book X Annotation For all fields except A and E if there is more than one occurrence of a particular field in a record only the last such field will be used A field with no value given is simply ignored See also EditData schemes BibTeX Bibliographic information file a text based data format used by LaTeX EndNote Tags and fields a similar but not identical data scheme used by the EndNote program RIS a text based data scheme from Research Information SystemsOther Comparison of reference management software PybliographerReferences Edit Michael Lesk Some applications of inverted indexes on the Unix system In UNIX Programmer s manual Supplementary Documents volume 2 Holt Rinehart and Winston seventh edition 1982 Also available online 1 McIlroy M D 1987 A Research Unix reader annotated excerpts from the Programmer s Manual 1971 1986 PDF Technical report CSTR Bell Labs 139 refer man page version 1 22 3 dated 2 July 2016 External links EditSome Applications of Inverted Indexes on the UNIX System PostScript man page for refer 1 Extended refer code reference for the HCI bibliography database Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Refer software amp oldid 1167033885, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
