Vim: how can I fix missing commas in BibTeX files?

Question

Often, I start with a BibTeX entry:

@book{,
    author = {Person, Some},
    title = {Book},
    publisher = {Publisher},
    year = {2015}
}

Then, I discover that the editor is called "Editor" and add the appropriate field:

     @book{,
    author = {Person, Some},
    title = {Book},
    publisher = {Publisher},
    year = {2015}
    editor = {Editor}
}

Which of course causes problems because I forgot the comma after the year entry. Can this be fixed with Vim, either automatically or by marking the error?

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 30 '15 at 11:29

1

I'm not sure how often you want to do this, but this will do the trick.

:%s/year = {\(....\)}\n/year = {\1},\r/

As I understand it

s/search/replace/ means search and replace
% means over the whole document
\(....\) takes those 4 characters and put them in the place of \1
\r is a newline

answered Aug 30 '15 at 11:29

jazzabeanie

425
4
15

Well, the thing is that I forget that comma all over the place -- not just for `year`entries! – Kristian Nordestgaard Aug 30 '15 at 11:38
How about this: `:%s/^\(.*\) = {\(.*\)}\n/\1 = {\2},\r/` – jazzabeanie Aug 30 '15 at 12:03
I guess that would do the trick, but I'm thinking it could work automatically? – Kristian Nordestgaard Sep 03 '15 at 22:53

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

0

You can try JabRef. It has all the functionalities you will ever need to manage bibliography. It is not in the cloud but you can keep your .bib files in dropbox and install Jabref on all your devices for portability.

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

1
1

answered Sep 03 '15 at 00:46

XtrimA

143
11

I'm familiar with JabRef, but I find it -- and similar tools -- clunky. – Kristian Nordestgaard Sep 03 '15 at 22:52

Vim: how can I fix missing commas in BibTeX files?

2 Answers2