---
name: "indxbib"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "groff"
version: "1.24.2-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/indxbib"
---

# indxbib(1)

make inverted index of bibliographic databases

## Name

indxbib - make inverted index of bibliographic databases

## Synopsis

**indxbib** \[**-w**\] \[**-c**  *common-words-file*\] \[**-d**  *dir*\] \[**-f**  *list-file*\] \[**-h**  *min-hash-table-size*\] \[**-i**  *excluded-fields*\] \[**-k**  *max-keys-per-record*\] \[**-l**  *min-key-length*\] \[**-n**  *threshold*\] \[**-o**  *file*\] \[**-t**  *max-key-length*\] \[*file* ...\]

**indxbib** **--help**

**indxbib** **-v**

**indxbib** **--version**

## Description

*indxbib* makes an inverted index of the bibliographic databases in each *file* to speed their access by [*refer*(1)](/refer/1.md), [*lookbib*(1)](/lookbib/1.md), and [*lkbib*(1)](/lkbib/1.md). The program writes to a temporary file that it later renames to file*.i*. If no *file* operands are present and no **-o** option is given, *indxbib* names the index *Ind.i*.

Bibliographic databases are divided into records by blank lines. Within a record, each field starts with a **%** character at the beginning of a line. Fields have a one-letter name that follows the **%** character.

*indxbib* stores the values set by the **-c**, **-l**, **-n**, and **-t** options in the index: programs that search the index interpret them, discarding and truncating keys appropriately, and using the original keys to verify that any record found using the index actually contains the keys. This means that a user of an index need not know whether these options were used in the creation of the index, provided that not all the keys to be searched for would have been discarded during indexing and that the user supplies at least the part of each key that would have remained after being truncated during indexing. *indxbib* also stores the value set by the **-i** option in the index for use in verifying records found using it.

## Options

**--help** displays a usage message, while **-v** and **--version** show version information; all exit afterward.

- **-c** *common-words-file*

  Read the list of common words from *common-words-file* instead of */usr/share/groff/1.24.2/eign*.

- **-d** *dir*

  Use *dir* as the name of the directory to store in the index, instead of that returned by [*getcwd*(2)](/getcwd/2.md). Typically, *dir* will be a symbolic link whose target is the current working directory.

- **-f** *list-file*

  Read the files to be indexed from *list-file*. If *list-file* is **-**, files will be read from the standard input stream. The **-f** option can be given at most once.

- **-h** *min-hash-table-size*

  Use the first prime number greater than or equal to the argument for the size of the hash table. Larger values will usually make searching faster, but will make the index file larger and cause *indxbib* to use more memory. The default hash table size is 997.

- **-i** *excluded-fields*

  Don't index the contents of fields whose names are in *excluded-fields*. Field names are one character each. If this option is not present, *indxbib* excludes fields **X**, **Y**, and **Z**.

- **-k** *max-keys-per-record*

  Use no more keys per input record than specified in the argument. If this option is not present, the maximum is 100.

- **-l** *min-key-length*

  Discard any key whose length in characters is shorter than the value of the argument. If this option is not present, the minimum key length is 3.

- **-n** *threshold*

  Discard the *threshold* most common words from the common words file. If this option is not present, the 100 most common words are discarded.

- **-o** *basename*

  Name the index basename*.i*.

- **-t** *max-key-length*

  Truncate keys to *max-key-length* in characters. If this option is not present, keys are truncated to 6 characters.

- **-w**

  Index whole files. Each file is a separate record.

## Exit status

*indxbib* exits with status **0** on successful operation, status **2** if the program cannot interpret its command-line arguments, and status **1** if it encounters an error during operation.

## Files

- file*.i*

  index for *file*

- *Ind.i*

  default index name

- */usr/share/groff/1.24.2/eign*

  contains the list of common words. The traditional name, “*eign*”, is an abbreviation of “English ignored \[word list\]”.

- *indxbib*XXXXXX

  temporary file

## See also

“Some Applications of Inverted Indexes on the Unix System”, by M. E. Lesk, 1978, AT&T Bell Laboratories Computing Science Technical Report No. 69.

[*refer*(1)](/refer/1.md), [*lkbib*(1)](/lkbib/1.md), [*lookbib*(1)](/lookbib/1.md)