Provided by: libbtparse-dev_0.91-1_amd64 
NAME
bt_format_names - formatting BibTeX names for consistent output
SYNOPSIS
bt_name_format * bt_create_name_format (char * parts,
boolean abbrev_first);
void bt_free_name_format (bt_name_format * format);
void bt_set_format_text (bt_name_format * format,
bt_namepart part,
char * pre_part,
char * post_part,
char * pre_token,
char * post_token);
void bt_set_format_options (bt_name_format * format,
bt_namepart part,
boolean abbrev,
bt_joinmethod join_tokens,
bt_joinmethod join_part);
char * bt_format_name (bt_name * name, bt_name_format * format);
DESCRIPTION
After splitting a name into its components parts (represented as a "bt_name" structure), you often want
to put it back together again as a single string in a consistent way. btparse provides a very flexible
way to do this, generally in two stages: first, you create a "name format" which describes how to put the
tokens and parts of any name back together, and then you apply the format to a particular name.
The "name format" is encapsulated in a "bt_name_format" structure, which is created with
bt_create_name_format(). This function includes some clever trickery that means you can usually get away
with calling it alone, and not need to do any customization of the format. If you do need to customize
the format, though, bt_set_format_text() and bt_set_format_options() provide that capability.
The format controls the following:
• which name parts are printed, and in what order (e.g. "first von last jr", or "von last jr first")
• the text that precedes and follows each part (e.g. if the first name follows the last name, you
probably want a comma before the `first' part: "Smith, John" rather than "Smith John")
• the text that precedes and follows each token (e.g. if the first name is abbreviated, you may want a
period after each token: "J. R. Smith" rather than "J R Smith")
• the method used to join the tokens of each part together
• the method used to join each part to the following part
All of these except the list of parts to format are kept in arrays indexed by name part: for example, the
structure has a field
char * post_token[BT_MAX_NAMEPARTS]
and "post_token[BTN_FIRST]" ("BTN_FIRST" is from the "bt_namepart" "enum") is the string to be added
after each token in the first name---for example, "." if the first name is to be abbreviated in the
conventional way.
Yet another "enum", "bt_joinmethod", describes the available methods for joining tokens together. Note
that there are two sets of join methods in a name format: between tokens within a single part, and
between the tokens of two different parts. The first allows you, for example, to change "J R Smith"
(first name abbreviated with no post-token text but tokens joined by a space) to "JR Smith" (the same,
but first-name tokens jammed together). The second is mainly used to ensure that "von" and "last" name-
parts may be joined with a tie: "de~Roche" rather than "de Roche".
The token join methods are:
BTJ_MAYTIE
Insert a "discretionary tie" between tokens. That is, either a space or a "tie" is inserted,
depending on context. (A "tie," otherwise known as unbreakable space, is currently hard-coded as
"~"---from TeX.)
The format is then applied to a particular name by bt_format_name(), which returns a new string.
BTJ_SPACE
Always insert a space between tokens.
BTJ_FORCETIE
Always insert a "tie" ("~") between tokens.
BTJ_NOTHING
Insert nothing between tokens---just jam them together.
Tokens are joined together, and thus the choice of whether to insert a "discretionary tie" is made, at
two places: within a part and between two parts. Naturally, this only applies when "BTJ_MAYTIE" was
supplied as the token-join method; "BTJ_SPACE" and "BTJ_FORCETIE" always insert either a space or tie,
and "BTJ_NOTHING" always adds nothing between tokens. Within a part, ties are added after a the first
token if it is less than three characters long, and before the last token. Between parts, a tie is added
only if the preceding part consisted of single token that was less than three characters long. In all
other cases, spaces are inserted. (This implementation slavishly follows BibTeX.)
FUNCTIONS
bt_create_name_format()
bt_name_format * bt_create_name_format (char * parts,
boolean abbrev_first)
Creates a name format for a given set of parts, with variations for the most common forms of
customization---the order of parts and whether to abbreviate the first name.
The "parts" parameter specifies which parts to include in a formatted name, as well as the order in
which to format them. "parts" must be a string of four or fewer characters, each of which denotes
one of the four name parts: for instance, "vljf" means to format all four parts in "von last jr
first" order. No characters outside of the set "fvlj" are allowed, and no characters may be
repeated. "abbrev_first" controls whether the `first' part will be abbreviated (i.e., only the first
letter from each token will be printed).
In addition to simply setting the list of parts to format and the "abbreviate" flag for the first
name, bt_create_name_format() initializes the entire format structure so as to minimize the need for
further customizations:
• The "token join method"---what to insert between tokens of the same part---is set to "BTJ_MAYTIE"
(discretionary tie) for all parts
• The "part join method"---what to insert after the final token of a particular part, assuming
there are more parts to come---is set to "BTJ_SPACE" for the `first', `last', and `jr' parts. If
the `von' part is present and immediately precedes the `last' part (which will almost always be
the case), "BTJ_MAYTIE" is used to join `von' to `last'; otherwise, `von' also gets "BTJ_SPACE"
for the inter-part join method.
• The abbreviation flag is set to "FALSE" for the `von', `last', and `jr' parts; for `first', the
abbreviation flag is set to whatever you pass in as "abbrev_first".
• Initially, all "surrounding text" (pre-part, post-part, pre-token, and post-token) for all parts
is set to the empty string. Then a few tweaks are done, depending on the "abbrev_first" flag and
the order of tokens. First, if "abbrev_first" is "TRUE", the post-token text for first name is
set to "."---this changes "J R Smith" to "J. R. Smith", which is usually the desired form. (If
you don't want the periods, you'll have to set the post-token text yourself with
bt_set_format_text().)
Then, if `jr' is present and immediately after `last' (almost always the case), the pre-part text
for `jr' is set to ", ", and the inter-part join method for `last' is set to "BTJ_NOTHING". This
changes "John Smith Jr" (where the space following "Smith" comes from formatting the last name
with a "BTJ_SPACE" inter-part join method) to "John Smith, Jr" (where the ", " is now associated
with "Jr"---that way, if there is no `jr' part, the ", " will not be printed.)
Finally, if `first' is present and immediately follows either `jr' or `last' (which will usually
be the case in "last-name first" formats), the same sort of trickery is applied: the pre-part
text for `first' is set to ", ", and the part join method for the preceding part (either `jr' or
`last') is set to "BTJ_NOTHING".
While all these rules are rather complicated, they mean that you are usually freed from having to do
any customization of the name format. Certainly this is the case if you only need "fvlj" and "vljf"
part orders, only want to abbreviate the first name, want periods after abbreviated tokens, non-
breaking spaces in the "right" places, and commas in the conventional places.
If you want something out of the ordinary---for instance, abbreviated tokens jammed together with no
puncuation, or abbreviated last names---you'll need to customize the name format a bit with
bt_set_format_text() and bt_set_format_options().
bt_free_name_format()
void bt_free_name_format (bt_name_format * format)
Frees a name format created by bt_create_name_format().
bt_set_format_text()
void bt_set_format_text (bt_name_format * format,
bt_namepart part,
char * pre_part,
char * post_part,
char * pre_token,
char * post_token)
Allows you to customize some or all of the surrounding text for a single name part. Supply "NULL"
for any chunk of text that you don't want to change.
For instance, say you want a name format that will abbreviate first names, but without any
punctuation after the abbreviated tokens. You could create and customize the format as follows:
format = bt_create_name_format ("fvlj", TRUE);
bt_set_format_text (format,
BTN_FIRST, /* name-part to customize */
NULL, NULL, /* pre- and post- part text */
NULL, ""); /* empty string for post-token */
Without the bt_set_format_text() call, "format" would result in names formatted like "J. R. Smith".
After setting the post-token text for first names to "", this name would become "J R Smith".
bt_set_format_options()
void bt_set_format_options (bt_name_format * format,
bt_namepart part,
boolean abbrev,
bt_joinmethod join_tokens,
bt_joinmethod join_part)
Allows further customization of a name format: you can set the abbreviation flag and the two token-
join methods. Alas, there is no mechanism for leaving a value unchanged; you must set everything
with bt_set_format_options().
For example, let's say that just dropping periods from abbreviated tokens in the first name isn't
enough; you really want to save space by jamming the abbreviated tokens together: "JR Smith" rather
than "J R Smith" Assuming the two calls in the above example have been done, the following will
finish the job:
bt_set_format_options (format, BTN_FIRST,
TRUE, /* keep same value for abbrev flag */
BTJ_NOTHING, /* jam tokens together */
BTJ_SPACE); /* space after final token of part */
Note that we unfortunately had to know (and supply) the current values for the abbreviation flag and
post-part join method, even though we were only setting the intra-part join method.
bt_format_name()
char * bt_format_name (bt_name * name, bt_name_format * format)
Once a name format has been created and customized to your heart's content, you can use it to format
any number of names that have been split with "bt_split_name" (see bt_split_names). Simply pass the
name structure and name format structure, and a newly-allocated string containing the formatted name
will be returned to you. It is your responsibility to free() this string.
SEE ALSO
btparse, bt_split_names
AUTHOR
Greg Ward <gward@python.net>
btparse, version 0.91 2025-01-31 btparse::doc::bt_format_names(3)