---
name: "bibtex"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "texlive-doc"
version: "2026.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/bibtex"
---

# bibtex(1)

make a bibliography for (La)TeX

## NAME

bibtex - make a bibliography for (La)TeX

## SYNOPSIS

**bibtex** \[**-min-crossrefs=*number***\] \[**-terse**\] *auxname*\[***.aux***\]

## DESCRIPTION

BibTeX reads the top-level auxiliary (**.aux**) file *auxname* that was output during (typically) the running of [**latex**(1)](/latex/1.md) or [**tex**(1)](/tex/1.md), and creates a bibliography (**.bbl**) file that will be incorporated into the document on subsequent runs of LaTeX or TeX.

BibTeX looks up, in bibliographic database (**.bib**) files specified by the \\bibliography command, the entries specified by the \\cite and \\nocite commands in the LaTeX or TeX source file. It formats the information from those entries according to instructions in a bibliography style (**.bst**) file (specified by the \\bibliographystyle command), and it outputs the results to the **.bbl** file.

The LaTeX manual explains what a LaTeX source file must contain to work with BibTeX. Appendix B of the manual describes the format of the **.bib** files.

The short \`BibTeXing' (\`\`btxdoc'') document describes extensions and details of this format, and gives other useful hints for using BibTeX.

BibTeX can also be used with plain TeX, via \\input btxmac; the interface is essentially the same as LaTeX.  The support is included in [**eplain**(1)](/eplain/1.md), and the Eplain manual explains the usage, which is essentially the same as in LaTeX: https://tug.org/eplain/doc/eplain.html#Citations

## OPTIONS

See [**tex**(1)](/tex/1.md) for details of command-line parsing.

The **-min-crossrefs** option defines the minimum number of **crossref** required for automatic inclusion of the crossref base entry in the citation list; the default is two. To avoid these automatic inclusions altogether, give this option a sufficiently large number, and be sure to remove any previous **.aux** and **.bbl** files.  Otherwise the option may appear to have no effect, since BibTeX will have added the citation for the base entry to the **.aux** file, and nothing will remove it.

With the **-terse** option, BibTeX operates silently.  Without it, a banner and progress reports are printed on stdout.

The standard **-help** and **-version** options are also supported.

## ENVIRONMENT

BibTeX searches the directories in the path defined by the BSTINPUTS environment variable for **.bst** files. If BSTINPUTS is not set, it uses the system default. For **.bib** files, it uses the BIBINPUTS environment variable if that is set, otherwise the default. See [**tex**(1)](/tex/1.md) for the details of the searching.

If the environment variable TEXMFOUTPUT is set, BibTeX attempts to put its output files in it, if they cannot be put in the current directory.  Again, see [**tex**(1)](/tex/1.md). No special searching is done for the **.aux** file.

## FILES

- *\*.bst*

  Bibliography style files.

- *btxdoc.tex*

  \`\`BibTeXing'' - documentation for BibTeX users

- *btxhak.tex*

  \`\`Designing BibTeX Styles'' - documentation for .bst writers

- *btxdoc.bib*

  database file for those two documents

- *xampl.bib*

  database file giving examples of all standard entry types

- *btxbst.doc*

  template file and documentation for the standard styles

- *btxmac.tex*

  BibTeX for plain TeX

All those files should be available somewhere on your system. Running *texdoc btxdoc* (or *btxhak*) may display the above documents.

## SEE ALSO

[**latex**(1)](/latex/1.md), [**eplain**(1)](/eplain/1.md), [**tex**(1)](/tex/1.md).

BibTeX home page: https://tug.org/bibtex\
 Bib-related CTAN topics: https://ctan.org/topic/:B\
 BibTeX package page on CTAN: https://ctan.org/pkg/bibtex\
 (which has links to the above documents, among others).

Leslie Lamport, *LaTeX: A Document Preparation System*, Addison-Wesley.

Bibliography support in plain TeX: https://tug.org/eplain/doc/eplain.html#Citations

BibTeX chapter in the Web2c manual: https://tug.org/texinfohtml/web2c.html#BibTeX

Typeset source code for BibTeX: https://ctan.org/pkg/knuth-pdf

Thanks to Nelson Beebe, the University of Utah has a vast collection of *.bib* files available, including entries for all the standard TeX books and a complete bibliography for *TUGboat*.  Nelson also provides this information page on BibTeX:\
 https://ftp.math.utah.edu/pub/bibnet/bibtex-info.html\
 and a large collection of BibTeX-related tools:\
 https://www.math.utah.edu/~beebe/software/bibtex-bibliography-tools.html

## AUTHOR

Oren Patashnik, Stanford University. This man page describes the Web2c (TeX Live) version of BibTeX. Other ports of BibTeX do not have the same path searching implementation or the same command-line options.

Public discussion list and bug reports: https://lists.tug.org/biblio