Text Formatting ⇒ How to cite the title of a publication?

[masil]

Hi all,

using commands like \citeauthor and \citeyear it is possible to display the author and the year of a publication. Now my question is, is there a similar command for citing the title of a publication?

Many thanks,
Masil

[phi]

That depends on the bibliography style/package. E.g., biblatex has a
\citetitle command.

[masil]

Thanks Phi!

Unfortunately, Biblatex installation (instructions at http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/ ... tex/README) looks awfully complicated to a beginner like myself. It involves, for instance, updating "the file hash tables (also known as the file name database)" of which I have no idea what it is.

While waiting for biblatex to be available as a simple Ubuntu (my OS) Package Manager installation, might there be any other ways of citing the title of a publication?

[totti]

Hi masil!

I'd definitely invest some time and try to get biblatex up and running. It is worth it and it'll save you a lot of time and hassle in the future. IMHO it is the best bib package as it is highly flexible and easy to customise. It also supports natbib commands if needed.

Updating the database is not that difficult. Depending on your operating system and the tex distribution you just need a few minutes (read commands or clicks) to get it done. In Miktex (which I personally don't use) it is just a click to update the library. On a Mac you just need to create a new folder in your personal home folder: ~/library/texmf/tex/latex/bibtex and move all files you find in the Latex folder to this place. Secondly you create a folder ~/library/texmf/bibtex/bst/ and move the biblatex.bst file to this place. Finally you need a texhash and thats it.

HTH.
totti

[masil]

Thanks Totti. I'm sure it will be worth it to go through the installation but unfortunately I've run into problems.

First of all, I'm running a Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron.

Using the instructions (at http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/ ... tex/README), I run into problems already when trying to find the folders within my system into which I'm supposed to copy biblatex.

The instructions tell me to find /usr/local/share/texmf/ or /usr/share/texmf-local/ which both don't exist on my computer. I've got something similar though: for instance, /usr/share/texmf/ and /etc/texmf and /usr/share/doc/texmf plus a host of other folder and file names with texmf mentioned in them.

I'm a hopeless case, eh?

[totti]

Don't worry! If no such directory exist you have to create it. If you run Ubuntu it should work similar to the description I gave for the Mac. Do not copy the biblatex package into the main directory but in your personal one!

Firstly create the folder texmf in the directory usr/local/share/
Secondly you do the following:

Copy all files and subdirectories found in the 'latex' directory of
this package to

<TEXMFLOCAL>/tex/latex/biblatex/

and the file in the 'bibtex' directory to

<TEXMFLOCAL>/bibtex/bst/biblatex/

where <TEXMFLOCAL> denotes the root of the local TeX installation
tree, for example

/usr/local/share/texmf/
or
/usr/share/texmf-local/
or
C:\Local TeX Files\

The manual ('biblatex.pdf') goes to

<TEXMFLOCAL>/doc/latex/biblatex/

or to any other place where you will find it later.

Finally do the texhash in the terminal:

Code: Select all

sudo texhash

Now biblatex should be up and running.
Good luck.

[phi]

If you're on a single-user system, just insert ~/texmf for <TEXMFLOCAL>, and don't run texhash. Never mess around in /usr/share; your changes will be lost after the next update. Probably you'll have to install the newest version of etoolbox, too.

[masil]

Hi Totti,

I tried it

...and it does work! Many, many thanks!

Masil

[masil]

If you're on a single-user system, just insert ~/texmf for <TEXMFLOCAL>, and don't run texhash. Never mess around in /usr/share; your changes will be lost after the next update. Probably you'll have to install the newest version of etoolbox, too.

Ummm... so, I did mess around in /user/share/ and I did run texhash... *feeling ancious*

And what do you mean by "just insert ~/texmf for <TEXMFLOCAL>"? What is "~/texmf"? Do I create it, and where?

[phi]

~/texmf denotes a folder called texmf inside your home directory (~). If it doesn't exist, just create it, and copy the biblatex files into the appropriate subdirectories as stated in the readme file (e.g., the bst file goes into ~/texmf/bibtex/bst/biblatex/). The directories in ~/texmf are searched automatically, no filename database is required at this place. Placing something in /usr/share doesn't destroy your system, but it's inconvenient since you have to redo it every time after something is updated there, and you need root access, and you have to rebuild the filename database, and you lose the strict separation between packages installed automatically and those installed manually. Generally, on Linux, avoid to write in most directory hierarchies except /etc, /opt, /usr/local, and /home, because the package manager will overwrite most manual changes outside these directories without asking.