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

# ctanbib(1)

retrieve bibliographic information for packages hosted on CTAN.

## NAME

ctanbib - retrieve bibliographic information for packages hosted on CTAN.

## SYNOPSIS

ctanbib \<options\> \[package name\]

## DESCRIPTION

This command can retrieve bibliographic information for TeX packages hosted on CTAN in the BibTeX format.

Look up the Catalogue entry for each PKGNAME on CTAN (at https://ctan.org/xml/2.0/pkg/PKGNAME), and convert relevant information to a BibTeX entry.

By default, the url field in the output entry is the package's home field value if that is specified in the Catalogue entry; if it isn't, https://ctan.org/pkg/PKGNAME is used.

## OPTIONS

- \-c,--ctan

  Always use CTAN /pkg/ url instead of the package homepage

- \-C,--CTAN

  Use the package's CTAN path as url (e.g.: /support/ctanbib)

- \-e,--entrytype

  (default manual)  Change entry type

- \-h,--help

  print the help message.

- \-p,--pkgname

  Wrap the package name in a tanbibpkgname command This command can be redefined in the document for the desired formatting.

- \-v,--version

  print the version info.

## EXAMPLES

$ ctanbib latex

This invocation will print data in the BibLaTeX format to the standard output:

```
@manual{latex,
  title = {The Latex package},
  subtitle = {A TeX macro package that defines LaTeX},
  author = {Lamport, Leslie and The LaTeX Team},
  url = {http://www.latex-project.org/},
  urldate = {2018-08-23},
  date = {2018-04-01},
  version = {PL 5}
}
```

The --ctan option:

$ ctanbib -c hyperref

This produces bib record with the @ctan type:

```
@ctan{hyperref,
title = {The Hyperref package},
subtitle = {Extensive support for hypertext in LaTeX},
author = {Rahtz, Sebastian and Oberdiek, Heiko},
url = {/macros/latex/contrib/hyperref},
urldate = {2018-08-27},
date = {},
version = {6.86b}
}
```

## See also

See ctanbib-doc.pdf for more details

## BUGS

No known bugs.

## AUTHOR

Michal Hoftich (michal.h21@gmail.com)

## LICENSE

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this software under the terms of the LaTeX Project Public License, version 1.3.