> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://overleaf-pro.ayaka.space/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://overleaf-pro.ayaka.space/latex/in-depth-articles/13-getting-started-with-biblatex.md). # Getting started with BibLaTeX **Author: Josh Cassidy (July 2013)** For years LaTeX users have been using BibTeX along with multiple additional packages such as `natbib` to write bibliographies. However, now there's a new option, BibLaTeX. It's designed to give you many more options to easily configure your bibliographies/citations. Conveniently, existing `.bib` files are unlikely to need much altering to work with BibLaTeX. In addition to the 300+ pages of [BibLaTeX documentation](http://mirror.ox.ac.uk/sites/ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/biblatex/doc/biblatex.pdf), CTAN also has a useful [BibLaTeX “cheat sheet”](http://tug.ctan.org/info/biblatex-cheatsheet/biblatex-cheatsheet.pdf). To complement those resources, here is a video tutorial followed by some notes/examples to help you get started. {% embed url="" %} ### Basic commands and styles Firstly the commands you use in the tex file to add a bibliography into the document are quite different. In the preamble you need to use the following code: ```latex \usepackage{biblatex} \addbibresource{} ``` The first command just loads up the `biblatex` package. The second is used to specify which bib files you want to use. You simply enter the file name in the curly brackets including the `.bib` extension. Then in the body of the document instead of using a `\bibliography` command to construct the bibliography, you use the `\printbibliography` command. When using BibTeX you specify the bibliography style by using the `\bibliographystyle` command. In `biblatex` we no longer use this command, instead we specify style options by passing more arguments into the `\usepackage` command. To do this we enter `style=` followed by a style name into square brackets immediately before the curly brackets. For example: ```latex \usepackage[style=numeric]{biblatex} ``` Alternatively if you want to declare one style for the citations and a different style for the bibliography, you use the words `citestyle` and `bibstyle`. Here's an example: ```latex \usepackage[citestyle=alphabetic,bibstyle=authortitle]{biblatex} ``` Before moving on I will quickly show you what some of these styles look like for both the citations and the actual bibliography entry. However, you can [refer to the documentation](http://mirror.ox.ac.uk/sites/ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/biblatex/doc/biblatex.pdf) for a full list of styles. * The `numeric` style: ![BiBLaTeXnumeric.png](/files/Qct0jhcDB1BBWBEkmkzK)- The `alphabetic` style: ![BiBLaTeXalphabetic.png](/files/C6gKgGxp28pMYFetcoll)- The `reading` style: ![BiBLaTeXreading.png](/files/im9vscMJTEaFQfglAzY8)- The `authoryear` style: ![BiBLaTeXauthoryear.png](/files/2jgCRidqhvXqs0KfrOdp) Another argument you can give the `\usepackage` command is the sorting option. For example: ```latex \usepackage[style=authoryear,sorting=ynt]{biblatex} ``` This would use the author-year style and then sort the bibliography entries by year, name, title. Here's a list of some of the different sorting options available: * `nty`—sorts entries by name, title, year; * `nyt`—sorts entries by name, year, title; * `nyvt`—sorts entries by name, year, volume, title; * `anyt`—sorts entries by alphabetic label, name, year, title; * `anyvt`—sorts entries by alphabetic label, name, year, volume, title; * `ynt`—sorts entries by year, name, title; * `ydnt`—sorts entries by year (descending order), name, title; * `none`—no sorting. Entries appear in the order they appear in the text. If you don't specify an order the default is `nty`. ### Citation Commands The citation commands have also been overhauled in `biblatex`. These more intelligent commands give you the option of adding a `prenote` and `postnote` in as arguments: * a `prenote` is a word or phrase like 'see' that is inserted at the start of the citation; * a `postnote` is text you want inserted at the end of the citation. To add these notes in you uses two sets of square brackets in the citation command. Here's an example: ```latex \cite[see][page 12]{latexcompanion} ``` In this example we've already loaded the `alphabetic` style and `latexcompanion` is just the citation key. This is what the citation would look like in the text: ![BiBLaTeXprepost.png](/files/PSFhG9HheGSYnSGi4Jbf) If you only open one set of square brackets it will assume the contents of the brackets is a `postnote`, so if you only want a `prenote` make sure you still open the second set of square brackets and then just leave it empty. There are also a number of different citation commands available for you to use. Here are some of the standard ones: * `\cite`—the most basic one. Prints without any brackets except when using the `alphabetic` or `numeric` style when it uses square brackets; * `\parencite`—prints citations in parentheses except when using the `alphabetic` or `numeric` style when it uses square brackets; * `\footcite`—puts the citation in a footnote. ### Subdividing Bibliographies One of the nice things about `biblatex` is that you can subdivide bibliographies according to source type. Here's an example of subdividing by source type: ```latex \printbibheading \printbibliography[type=book,heading=subbibliography,title={Book Sources}] \printbibliography[nottype=book,heading=subbibliography,title={Other Sources}] ``` In this example we are subdividing the bibliography into two sections, one for sources that are books and one for sources that aren't. Here's an example output: ![BiBLaTeXtypes.png](/files/6LSyZu4nN3CNPzNIb4sE) Another way you can subdivide bibliographies is using a keyword filter. To do this you need to add a `keywords` field into the entries in your `.bib` file. For example: ```latex @article{key, keywords = {keywordA,keywordB,keywordC} ``` Here's an example of how you'd then subdivide by keyword: ```latex \printbibheading \printbibliography[keyword=major,heading=subbibliography,title={Major Sources}] \printbibliography[keyword=minor,heading=subbibliography,title={Minor Sources}] ``` And the corresponding output: ![BiBLaTeXmajor.png](/files/No6sSe9x5UX6yzvpXtju) It looks like one day soon BibTeX will be nothing but a piece of LaTeX history! I hope this has been helpful in getting you started with `biblatex`. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. 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