[comp.text.tex] Using \input in *.bib files

oliver@athena.mit.edu (James D. Oliver III) (05/30/91)

Can you use the \input command in *.bib files?  Two things I have tried
seem to indicate that you can't.  

1.  I have a several *.bib files which I'd like to share a common file
containing all the @string command for journal title abbreviations.  So the
first line in all these *.bib files is:

\input{journalabbreviations}

where journalabbreviation.tex looks like

@string{j1 = "Journal 1"}
@string{j2 = "Journal 2"}
etc.

However, when I try to creat a bibliography, I get errors for all of my
@string-defined entries, and no journal title printed out.  The entries in
which the title is explicitly stated come out fine.

2.  Combining several *.bib files into one using \input doesn't seem to
work.  I.e, as an alternative to using

\bibliography{bib1,bib2,bib3}

I want to creat a file bib4.bib which has the lines

\input{bib1.bib}
\input{bib2.bib}
\input{bib3.bib}

and then just have

\bibliography{bib4} in my main tex file.  This runs through without erros,
but I get no references printed.

Comments, suggestions?

--
____________________________
	Jim Oliver  
	oliver@athena.mit.edu /	joliver@hstbme.mit.edu
	oliver%mitwccf.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU

ralph@laas.fr (Ralph P. Sobek) (05/30/91)

In article <OLIVER.91May29135442@m66-070-5.mit.edu> oliver@athena.mit.edu (James D. Oliver III) writes:
| 
|  \input{journalabbreviations}
| ...
|  \bibliography{bib1,bib2,bib3}

First of all, *.bib files are neither TeX not LaTeX files, but BibTeX
files.  BibTeX reacts to the appropriate commands that are in the
associated *.aux file.  You have to get all the \bibiography and
\bibliographystyle commands right since they reappear in the *.aux
file.

Now tell me what is wrong with the following:

\bibliography{journalabbreviations,bib1,bib2,bib3}

BibTeX is fast enough, even with many bib files.  In addition, with
TeX 3.0, BibTeX accepts the BIBINPUTS environment variable which tells
it the paths to look into for the *.bib files.

--
Ralph P. Sobek			  Disclaimer: The above ruminations are my own.
ralph@laas.fr				   Addresses are ordered by importance.
ralph@laas.uucp, or ...!uunet!laas!ralph		
If all else fails, try:				      sobek@eclair.Berkeley.EDU
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