1BIBER(1) User Contributed Perl Documentation BIBER(1)
2
6 "biber" - A bibtex replacement for users of biblatex
7
9 biber [options] file[.bcf]
10 biber [options] --tool <datasource>
11 Creates "file.bbl" using control file "file.bcf" (".bcf" extension is
13 optional). Normally use with biblatex requires no options as they are
14 all set in biblatex and passed via the ".bcf" file
15 In "tool" mode (see B<--tool> option), takes a datasource (defaults to
17 "bibtex" datasource) and outputs a copy of the datasource with any command-line
18 or config file options applied.
19 Please run "biber --help" for option details
21
23 "biber" provides a replacement of the bibtex processor for users of
24 biblatex.
25
27 --annotation-marker=[marker]
28 Sets the suffix which can be appended to a BibTeX data source field
29 name to indicate that the value of the field is a data annotation.
30 The default is "+an".
31 --cache
33 If running as a PAR::Packer binary, show the cache location and
34 exit.
35 --clrmacros
37 Clears any BibTeX macros (@STRING) between BibLaTeX refsections.
38 This prevents BibTeX warnings about macro redefinitions if you are
39 using the same datasource several times for different refsections.
40 --collate-options|-c [options]
42 Options to pass to the "Unicode::Collate" object used for sorting
43 (default is 'level => "4", variable => "non-ignorable"'). See
44 "perldoc Unicode::Collate" for details.
45 --configfile|-g [file]
47 Use file as the configuration file for "biber" instead of looking
48 in the default locations which are, in order:
49 * "biber.conf" or ".biber.conf" in the current directory
51 * "$HOME/.biber.conf"
53 * "$ENV{XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/biber/biber.conf"
55 * "$HOME/.config/biber/biber.conf"
57 * "$HOME/Library/biber/biber.conf" (Mac OSX only)
59 * "$ENV{APPDATA}/biber.conf" (Windows only)
61 * The output of "kpsewhich biber.conf" (if available on the
63 system).
64 In tool mode, (--tool) the biber-tool.conf installed with Biber is
66 always used to set default options if a user-defined config file is
67 not specified. Use the --tool-config option to view the location of
68 the default tool mode config file which may be useful as a source
69 for writing your own.
70 --convert-control
72 Converts the .bcf control file into html using an XSLT transform.
73 Can be useful for debugging. File is named by appending ".html" to
74 .bcf file.
75 --decodecharsset=[recode set name]
77 The set of characters included in the conversion routine when
78 decoding LaTeX macros into UTF-8 (which happens when
79 --bblencoding|-E is set to UTF-8). Set to "full" to try harder with
80 a much larger set or "base" to use a smaller basic set. Default is
81 "base". You may want to try "full" if you have less common UTF-8
82 characters in your data source. The recode sets are defined in the
83 reencoding data file which can be customised. See the --recodedata
84 option and the PDF manual. The virtual set name "null" may be
85 specified which effectively turns off macro decoding.
86 --debug|-D
88 Turn on debugging for "biber".
89 --dieondatamodel
91 Exit immediately with error if using "--validate-datamodel" and a
92 datamodel validation error is found. Default is to warn and
93 continue.
94 --dot-include=section,field,xdata,crossref,xref,related
96 Specifies the element to include in GraphViz DOT output format if
97 the output format is 'dot'. You can also choose to display
98 crossref, xref, xdata and/or related entry connections. The
99 default if not specified is
100 "--dot-include=section,xdata,crossref,xref".
101 --fixinits
103 Try to fix broken multiple initials when they have no space between
104 them in BibTeX data sources. That is, "A.B. Clarke" becomes "A. B.
105 Clarke" before name parsing. This can slightly mess up things like
106 "{U.K. Government}" and other esoteric cases.
107 --help|-h
109 Show this help message.
110 --input-directory [directory]
112 .bcf and data files will be looked for first in the directory. See
113 the biber PDF documentation for the other possibilities and how
114 this interacts with the "--output-directory" option.
115 --input-encoding|-e [encoding]
117 Specify the encoding of the data source file(s). Default is "UTF-8"
118 Normally it's not necessary to set this as it's passed via the .bcf
119 file from biblatex's "bibencoding" option. See "perldoc
120 Encode::Supported" for a list of supported encodings. The legacy
121 option --bibencoding is supported as an alias.
122 --input-format=bibtex|biblatexml
124 Biber input format. This option only means something in tool mode
125 (see tool option) since normally the input format of a data source
126 is specified in the .bcf file and therefore from the \addbibresouce
127 macro in BibLaTeX. The default value when in tool mode is 'bibtex'
128 --isbn10
130 Force all ISBNs to 10-digit versions on output. This will convert
131 the ISBN internally to an ISBN object which will not have hyphens
132 on output. If you use this option and want an ISBN with hyphens in
133 the correct place on output, use the --isbn-normalise option.
134 --isbn13
136 Force all ISBNs to 13-digit versions on output. This will convert
137 the ISBN internally to an ISBN object which will not have hyphens
138 on output. If you use this option and want an ISBN with hyphens in
139 the correct place on output, use the --isbn-normalise option.
140 --isbn-normalise
142 Normalise ISBNs with hyphens in the correct places on output.
143 --logfile [file]
145 Use file.blg as the name of the logfile.
146 --listsep=[sep]
148 Use sep as the separator for BibTeX data source list fields.
149 Defaults to BibTeX's usual 'and'.
150 --mincrossrefs|-m [number]
152 Set threshold for crossrefs.
153 --named-annotation-marker=[marker]
155 Sets the separator between the "--annotation-marker" and the name
156 of a named annotation. The default is ":".
157 --namesep=[sep]
159 Use sep as the separator for BibTeX data source name fields.
160 Defaults to BibTeX's usual 'and'.
161 --no-bblxml-schema
163 When writing bblxml output, don't generate an RNG XML schema from
164 the data model.
165 --no-bltxml-schema
167 When reading or writing biblatexml data sources, don't generate an
168 RNG XML schema from the data model.
169 --noconf
171 Don't look for a configfile.
172 --no-default-datamodel
174 Do not load the default datamodel coming from either the .bcf or,
175 when in tool mode, from the default tool mode config file. Use of
176 this option implies that you will provide a complete datamodel in a
177 config file. This option is useful when you wish to make major
178 modifications to the datamodel because the simple add/modify
179 operations to the default datamodel via a user config file are not
180 enough. For example, to remove things from the default datamodel,
181 you would use this option and supply a complete, reduced datamodel
182 in the user config file.
183 --nodieonerror
185 Don't exit on errors, just log and continue as far as possible.
186 This can be useful if the error is something from, for example, the
187 underlying BibTeX parsing C library which can complain about
188 parsing errors which can be ignored.
189 --glob-datasources
191 By default, glob (expand according to pattern) any data source
192 filenames. Allows data sources to be specified like *.bib to load
193 all .bib files in a directory. Can be overridden on a per-dataource
194 basis with the glob option to \addbibresource in biblatex.
195 --nolog
197 Do not write any logfile.
198 --noskipduplicates
200 Don't skip duplicate bibliography keys if found. The detection of
201 duplicate keys is done across all data sources. Sometimes you might
202 need duplicates when using several data sources across several
203 refsections in which case you might need to use this option.
204 --nostdmacros
206 Don't automatically define any standard macros like month
207 abbreviations. If you also define these yourself, this option can
208 be used to suppress macro redefinition warnings.
209 --noremove-tmp-dir
211 Do not remove the temporary directory used for various intermediate
212 files and data before exit (default is false). Name of the
213 directory can be obtained with the --show-tmp-dir option.
214 --noxname
216 Disable exended name processing in bibtex data sources. Can be
217 useful if you don't use this and it causes problems due to auto-
218 detection of extended name format.
219 --onlylog
221 Do not write any message to screen.
222 --others-string=[string]
224 Use string as the final name in a name field which implies "et al".
225 Defaults to BibTeX's usual 'others'.
226 --output-align
228 Align field values in neat columns in output. Effect depends on the
229 output format. Default is false. The legacy option --tool-align is
230 supported as an alias.
231 --output-all-macrodefs
233 When outputting bibtex format, whether to output all found macro
234 (@STRING entries) definitions rather than just definitions for
235 macros which are actually used in the output entries. Default is
236 false.
237 --output-annotation-marker=[marker]
239 As --annotation-marker but for tool mode bibtex output. The default
240 is "+an".
241 --output-named-annotation-marker=[marker]
243 As --named-annotation-marker but for tool mode bibtex output. The
244 default is ":".
245 --output-directory [directory]
247 Output files (including log files) are output to directory instead
248 of the current directory. Input files are also looked for in
249 directory before current directory unless "--input-directory" is
250 also specified in which case input files are only looked for in the
251 directory specified by "--input-directory".
252 --output-encoding|-E [encoding]
254 Specify the encoding of the output ".bbl" file. Default is "UTF-8".
255 Normally it's not necessary to set this as it's passed via the .bcf
256 file from biblatex's "texencoding" option. See "perldoc
257 Encode::Supported" for a list of supported encodings. The legacy
258 option --bblencoding is supported as an alias.
259 --output-fieldcase=upper|lower|title
261 Case for field names output. Effect depends on the output format.
262 Defaults to 'upper'. The legacy option --tool-fieldcase is
263 supported as an alias.
264 --output-field-order=[field1, ... fieldn]
266 When outputting bibtex format data in tool mode, this option allows
267 the customisation of the order of fields within entries. The value
268 is a comma-separated string of field names or classes of fields.
269 Fields not mentioned in the list are output in sorted name order
270 after the explicitly specified fields. The classes of fields are:
271 'names' - All name list fields 'lists' - All non-name list fields
273 'dates' - All date fields
274 By default, its value is 'options,abstract,names,lists,dates'.
276 --output-field-replace=[field1:replacefield1, ... fieldn:replacefieldn]
278 When outputting bibtex format output "replacefieldn" instead of
279 "fieldn". This can be used to output legacy formats which undo the
280 default driver source map e.g
281 --output-field-replace=location:address,journaltitle:journal. See
282 --output-legacy-dates if legacy (YEAR/MONTH) date fields are
283 required in bibtex format output.
284 --output-file|-O [file]
286 Output to file instead of basename.bbl file is relative to
287 --output-directory, if set (absolute paths in this case are
288 stripped to filename only). file can be absolute if
289 --output-directory is not set. file can be '-' to output directly
290 to STDOUT. The legacy option --outfile is supported as an alias.
291 --output-format=dot|bibtex|biblatexml|bbl|bblxml
293 Biber output format. Default if not specified is of course, bbl.
294 Use dot to output a GraphViz DOT file instead of .bbl. This is a
295 directed graph of the bibliography data showing entries and, as
296 requested, sections and fields. You must process this file with
297 "dot", e.g. "dot -Tsvg test.dot -o test.svg" to render the graph.
298 See the --dot-include option to select what is included in the DOT
299 output. bblxml is an XML version of the bbl format which you could
300 transform using XSLT. By default, when outputting bblxml, a RelaxNG
301 XML schema is generated from the active data model and saved with a
302 rng extension along with the output file name (unless the
303 --no-bblxml-schema option is specified). You may validate the
304 bblxml using the schema with the --validate-bblxml option. The
305 legacy option --outformat is supported as an alias.
306 --output-indent=[num][t]
308 Indentation for body of entries in output. Effect depends on the
309 output format. Defaults to 2. The "num" can be followed by 't' to
310 specify tabs instead of spaces. The legacy option --tool-indent is
311 supported as an alias.
312 --output-legacy-dates
314 When outputting bibtex format, output YEAR/MONTH fields instead of
315 DATE. This is not possible if the input is not convertible to
316 legacy format, meaning that any date to be output with legacy
317 fields can only have a YEAR part and perhaps a MONTH part. If a DAY
318 or ENDYEAR part are found, the date is not convertible and the
319 legacy output format will be skipped. Default is false.
320 --output-listsep=[sep]
322 As --listsep but for tool mode bibtex output. Defaults to BibTeX's
323 usual 'and'.
324 --output-namesep=[sep]
326 As --namesep but for tool mode bibtex output. Defaults to BibTeX's
327 usual 'and'.
328 --output-no-macrodefs
330 When outputting BibTeX format, don't output macro definitions
331 (@STRING entries). You might not want to output macro definitions
332 if you keep them in a separate file.
333 --output-resolve
335 Convenience option to set all of the --output-resolve-* options to
336 'true'. The legacy option --tool-resolve is supported as an alias.
337 --output-resolve-xdata
339 Whether to resolve XDATA inheritance in tool mode or when
340 --output-format=bibtex in non tool mode. Defaults to 'false'.
341 --output-resolve-crossrefs
343 Whether to resolve CROSSREF/XREF inheritance in tool mode or when
344 --output-format=bibtex in non tool mode. Defaults to 'false'.
345 --output-resolve-sets
347 Whether to resolve data sets in tool mode or when
348 --output-format=bibtex in non tool mode. Defaults to 'false'.
349 --output-safechars
351 Try to convert UTF-8 chars into LaTeX macros when writing the
352 output. This can prevent unknown char errors when using PDFLaTeX
353 and inputenc as this doesn't understand all of UTF-8. Note, it is
354 better to switch to XeTeX or LuaTeX to avoid this situation. By
355 default uses the --output-safecharsset "base" set of characters.
356 The legacy option --bblsafechars is supported as an alias.
357 --output-safecharsset=[recode set name]
359 The set of characters included in the conversion routine for
360 --output-safechars. Set to "full" to try harder with a much larger
361 set or "base" to use a basic set. Default is "base" which is fine
362 for most use cases. You may need to load more macro packages to
363 deal with the results of "full" (Dings, Greek characters, special
364 symbols etc.). The recode sets are defined in the reencoding data
365 file which can be customised. See the --recodedata option and the
366 PDF manual. The legacy option --bblsafecharsset is supported as an
367 alias. The virtual set name "null" may be specified which
368 effectively turns off macro encoding.
369 --output-xdatamarker=[marker]
371 As --xdatamarker but for tool mode output. Default is 'xdata'.
372 --output-xdatasep=[sep]
374 As --xdatasep but for tool mode output. Default is '-'.
375 --output-xname
377 When output is a .bib BibTeX file in tool mode, whether to output
378 names the eXtended BibTeX name field format.
379 --output-xnamesep=[sep]
381 As --xnamesep but for tool mode bibtex output. Default is '='.
382 --quiet|-q
384 Log only errors. If this option is used more than once, don't even
385 log errors.
386 --recodedata=[file]
388 The data file to use for the reencoding between UTF-8 and LaTeX
389 macros. It defines the sets specified with the
390 --output-safecharsset and --decodecharsset options. It defaults to
391 recode_data.xml in the same directory as Biber's Recode.pm module.
392 See the PDF documentation for the format of this file. If this
393 option is used, then file should be somewhere "kpsewhich" can find
394 it.
395 --show-tmp-dir
397 Prints the location of the temporary directory used for various
398 intermediate files and data. Only useful if --noremove-tmp-dir is
399 set to true.
400 --sortdebug
402 Add comments to output with sorting keys. Useful for debugging.
403 --sortcase=true|false
405 Case-sensitive sorting (default is true).
406 --sortlocale|-l [locale]
408 Set the locale to be used for sorting. The locale is used to add
409 CLDR tailoring to the sort (if available for the locale).
410 --sortupper=true|false
412 Whether to sort uppercase before lowercase when sorting (default is
413 true).
414 --ssl-nointernalca
416 Don't try to use the default Mozilla CA certificates when using
417 HTTPS to fetch remote data. This assumes that the user will set
418 one of the perl LWP::UserAgent module environment variables to find
419 the CA certs.
420 --ssl-noverify-host
422 Turn off host verification when using HTTPS to fetch remote data
423 sources. You may need this if the SSL certificate is self-signed
424 for example.
425 --strip-comments
427 In tool mode, strip all comments from the output file.
428 --tool
430 Run in tool mode. This mode is datasource centric rather than
431 document centric. biber reads a datasource (and a config file if
432 specified), applies the command-line and config file options to the
433 datasource and writes a new datasource. Essentially, this allows
434 you to change your data sources using biber's transformation
435 options (such as source mapping, sorting etc.)
436 --tool-config
438 Show the location of the default tool mode config file and exit.
439 Useful when you need to copy this file and customise it.
440 --tool-noremove-missing-dependants
442 Use this option in tool mode if you don't want to remove "XREF",
443 "CROSSREF" and "XDATA" fields from the output which point to a
444 missing entry. Useful if you have split datafiles where the e.g.
445 "CROSSREF"s are in another file that you are not including in the
446 tool mode run.
447 --trace|T
449 Turn on tracing. Also turns on --debug|d and additionally provides
450 a lot of low-level tracing information in the log.
451 -u Alias for --input-encoding=UTF-8
453 -U Alias for --output-encoding=UTF-8
455 --validate-bblxml
457 Schema validate bblXML output against a schema auto-generated from
458 the BibLaTeX datamodel. The schema will be auto-generated with the
459 name of the .bbl file with a .rng extension. The generated schema
460 can be kept and used with standard XML editors to validate the
461 output during XSL development.
462 --validate-bltxml
464 Schema validate BibLaTeXML datasources against a schema auto-
465 generated from the BibLaTeX datamodel. The schema will be auto-
466 generated with the name of the .bcf file with a .rng extension. The
467 generated schema can be kept and used with standard XML editors to
468 validate the datasource during datasource development. The schema
469 validation does not validate all semantic aspects of the datamodel
470 (i.e. the data model constraints)---for this use the
471 "--validate-datamodel" option.
472 --validate-config
474 Schema validate the biber config file.
475 --validate-control
477 Schema validate the .bcf biblatex control file.
478 --validate-datamodel|-V
480 Validate the data against a data model.
481 --version|-v
483 Display version number.
484 --winunicode|-W
486 In Windows 10 1803+, turning on the 'Use Unicode UTF8 for worldwide
487 language support' option makes Windows use UTF-8 instead of UTF-16
488 for many system APIs. If that option is enabled, use this option to
489 turn off biber's UTF-16 filename support on Windows. This will
490 result in much improved handling of Unicode filenames.
491 --wraplines|-w
493 Wrap lines in the .bbl file.
494 --xdatamarker=[marker]
496 Use marker as the string before "--xdatasep" which introduces an
497 XDATA reference in BibTeX format data sources. Not used in
498 BibLaTeXML data sources as it has a dedicated XML attribute
499 "xdata"' for this. Default is 'xdata'.
500 --xdatasep=[sep]
502 Use sep as the separator between XDATA sub-entry parts in the
503 eXtended name format. See biber docs. Default is '-'.
504 --xnamesep=[sep]
506 Use sep as the separator between namepart names and the namepart
507 values in the eXtended name format. Also applies to XDATA
508 references as the separator between "--xdatamarker" and the XDATA
509 reference. See biber docs. Default is '='.
510 --xsvsep=[sep]
512 Use sep as the separator for fields of format type "xsv" in the
513 data model. A Perl regexp can be specified. Defaults to a single
514 comma surround by optional whitespace (\s*,\s*).
515
517 Philip Kime, "Philip at kime.org.uk"
518
520 To see the full documentation, run texdoc biber or get the biber.pdf
521 manual from SourceForge.
522 Please report any bugs or feature requests on our Github tracker at
524 <https://github.com/plk/biber/issues>.
525
527 Copyright 2009-2012 Francois Charette and Philip Kime, all rights
528 reserved. Copyright 2012-2022 Philip Kime, all rights reserved.
529 This module is free software. You can redistribute it and/or modify it
531 under the terms of the Artistic License 2.0.
532 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
534 without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of
535 merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
536perl v5.34.0 2022-01-31 BIBER(1)