---
name: "nbibfind"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "nbibtex"
version: "0.9.18-13"
release: "Debian 11 (Bullseye)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/nbibfind"
---

# nbibfind(1)

find bibliography entries for BibTeX or NbibTeX

## NAME

nbibfind - find bibliography entries for BibTeX or NbibTeX

## SYNOPSIS

**nbibfind** \[**-terse**\|**-full**\|**-bib**\] *query* \[*bibname*...\]

## DESCRIPTION

**nbibfind** searches for BibTeX entries using the same query algorithm as NbibTeX. If the optional list of *bibname*s is given, it searches only those bibliographies; otherwise, it searches all bibliographies on the user's BIBINPUTS (or on the standard system path). The language of  *query* is that of [**nbibtex**(1)](/nbibtex/1.md).

## OPTIONS

- **-terse**

  Print a one-line summary of each matched entry (the default).

- **-full**

  Print a longer summary of each matched entry, including full authors, year, and title, possibly spread over multiple lines.

- **-bib**

  Print each entry in a form suitable for including in a *.bib* file.

## EXAMPLES

**nbibfind author=knuth:series=art-programming:volume=2**\
 **nbibfind knuth:seminumerical personal.bib**\
 **nbibfind harper-moggi:phase**\
 **nbibfind :essence-algol**\
 **nbibfind :essence-functional**

## QUERY LANGUAGE

The query language is that of [**nbibtex**(1)](/nbibtex/1.md).

A query consists of a sequence of one or more  *constraints* separated by colons. A constraint may be empty.

A nonempty constraint is of the form *key***=***words,* where  *key* is the name of a field in the NbibTeX entry and  *words* is a sequence of one or more words separated by dashes. The contraint is satisfied if every word in  *words* is found in the field named by *key.* (The *key* may also be **\[type\]**, which matches against the type of the entry, or **\***, which looks for  *words* in  *any* field.)

As a convenience, keys may be defaulted in up to three constraints. In the first constraint, the default key is **author**. In the second constraint, the default key is **year** if  *words* is all digits, and is **title** otherwise. In the third constraint, the default key is **year** if  *words* is all digits, and is **\[type\]** otherwise.

To match a word in *words*, **nbibfind** uses the Boyer-Moore string-matching algorithm, so longer words are usually faster.

## ENVIRONMENT

For *.bib* files,  **nbibfind** uses the BIBINPUTS environment variable if that is set, otherwise the default. For details of the searching,  see [**tex**(1)](/tex/1.md) and [**kpsewhich**(1)](/kpsewhich/1.md).

## SEE ALSO

[**nbibtex**(1)](/nbibtex/1.md), [**latex**(1)](/latex/1.md), [**tex**(1)](/tex/1.md), [**kpsewhich**(1)](/kpsewhich/1.md), [**bibtex**(1)](/bibtex/1.md).\
 Leslie Lamport, *LaTeX - A Document Preparation System*, Addison-Wesley, 1985, ISBN 0-201-15790-X.

## AUTHOR

Norman Ramsey, Harvard University.