bt_format_names(3) btparse bt_format_names(3)NAMEbt_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 for‐
mat" 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," oth‐
erwise known as unbreakable space, is currently hard-coded as
"~"---from TeX.)
The format is then applied to a particular name by "bt_for‐
mat_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.)
FUNCTIONSbt_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 format‐
ted 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 abbrevi‐
ated (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_NOTH‐
ING". 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, abbrevi‐
ated 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 0.34 2003-10-25 bt_format_names(3)
