refer(1) General Commands Manual refer(1) (NAME) refer - groff (SYNOPSIS) refer [-bCenPRS] [-a n] [-B field.macro] [-c fields] [-f n] [-i fields] [-k field] [-l range-expression] [-p database-file] [-s fields] [-t n] [file ...] refer --help refer -v refer --version (DESCRIPTION) refer groff(1) . refer troff(1) roff(7) . file .[ .] . refer .R1 .R2 . refer lf roff . refer -R groff(1) . file file "-" refer . . . . . refer "[Lesk1978a]". . . refer roff me mm mom ms . ( ) ( ). . .R1 .R2 refer . refer AT&T : .de R1 .ig R2 .. . troff .R1 .R2 . refer refer AT&T . . . . ( ) % . . . . lookbib(1) lkbib(1) indxbib(1) . . . %A %E . %A %E . %A . "Jr." "III" . %A %Q . %B . %J %T . %C . %D . . . %D "in press" "unknown" . %E . %A ", (ed.)" ", (eds.)" . %G (ISBN) (DOI) . %I () . %J . %B %T . %K . %L . %N . %O ("") . %P . m-n . %Q %A . %Q . %R . %S (series) . %T . %B %J . %V . %X (annotation) . . " " ms me ms AM . : \ . groff_char(7) . . .[opening-text flags keyword ... field ... .]closing-text opening-text closing-text flags keyword field . refer () . . . . . opening-text closing-text roff bracket-label . . bracket-label [ ] . flags . AT&T refer . refer . # short-label ( ) . refer . - . "#" () . [ opening-text bracket-label . ] closing-text bracket-label . [ ] opening-text closing-text bracket-label . . refer roff .[ . refer . . . refer . . <> sort-adjacent-labels abbreviate-label-ranges . opening-text closing-text . ] closing-text [ opening-text opening-text closing-text . ( \& closing-text .) .R1 .R2 . -R . refer .R1 . .R1 .R2 . - . (#) . . (tab) . () (") . . . - . "\" . * no-name name . no-sort . . field fields m n string file . abbreviate* fields string1 string2 string3 string4 fields . string1 string2 string3 ( "von" "de") . . string4 . . . abbreviate-label-ranges* string string . . string "-" . accumulate* . : .[ $LIST$ .] .R1 . annotate* field string field : .string . string AP field X . . articles string ... string T . "a" "an" "the" . bibliography file ... file . .R1/.R2 . bracket-label string1 string2 string3 string1 string2 . string2 string1 string3 . . bracket-label \*([. \*(.] ", " capitalize fields fields . compatible* .R1 .R2 . database file ... file . file file.i indxbib(1) . date-as-label* string string D . " " . . . no-label-in-reference . date-as-label D.+yD.y%a*D.-y D . default-database* . . refer . no-default-database . discard* fields fields fields . fields XYZ . et-al* string m n "et al" ( ) @ . u t t-u string t-u m t n . . et-al " et al" 2 3 . (Et al[.] et alli etc. et cetera.) include file file . join-authors string1 string2 string3 string . string1 . string2 string3 . string3 string1 string2 string1 . join-authors " and " ", " ", and " . label-in-reference* [F . . label-in-text* . bracket-label . . label string string . separate-label-second-parts string string . <> . move-punctuation* . . reverse* string string . . search-ignore* fields fields . XYZ . search-truncate* n n . n . n 6 . short-label* string string ( ) . # . - . short-label . sort* string string . . string . "+" . . () . ( " " .) sort-adjacent-labels* . abbreviate-label-ranges <> . . . . . date-as-label short-label . @ * % . . field [n] n field . n 1 . 'string' string . @ join-authors . . ( "A+" ) . n n n-1 n n . . et-al . @ (canonical) . %n %a %A %i %I % . 1 . . expr* expr . . expr+n expr-n n (+) (-) expr. roff ( \('a) . . expr.l expr . expr.u expr . expr.c expr . expr.r expr . expr.a expr . abbreviate . .a . expr.y expr. expr.+y expr expr . expr.-y expr expr . expr.n expr. expr1~expr2 expr1 expr1 - expr2 . expr1 expr2 expr1 expr2. expr1|expr2 expr1 expr1 expr2. expr1&expr2 expr1 expr2 . expr1?expr2:expr3 expr1 expr2 expr3. expr . separate-label-second-parts ( ) . short-label . (expr) expr. . ( ) & | . ]- . [F no-label-in-reference . : [X X . [P P 1 . [T [A [O T A O .?! ( ) 1 . [E [E 1 . ][ . . J 1 B 3 G R 4 I 2 0 . : other journal-article book article-in-book tech-report. bibliography ]< ]> . (OPTIONS) --help -v --version . -R .R1/.R2 . refer . -a n reverse An -b no-label-in-text; no-label-in-reference -B . -c fields capitalize fields -C compatible -e accumulate -f n label %n -i fields search-ignore fields -k label L~%a -k field label field~%a -l label A.nD.y%a -l m label A.n+mD.y%a -l ,n label A.nD.y-n%a -l m,n label A.n+mD.y-n%a -n no-default-database -p db-file database db-file -P move-punctuation -s spec sort spec -S label "(A.n|Q) ', ' (D.y|D)"; bracket-label " (" ) "; " -t n search-truncate n B bibliography . -B annotate X AP; no-label-in-reference -B field.macro annotate field macro; no-label-in-reference (EXIT STATUS) refer 0 2 1 . (ENVIRONMENT) REFER . (FILES) /usr/dict/papers/Ind . file.i . /usr/share/groff/1.24.1/tmac/refer.tmac refer . refer . groff(1) . (REPORTING BUGS) <> .char . (EXAMPLES) refer roff . $ cat > my-db-file %A Daniel P.\& Friedman %A Matthias Felleisen %C Cambridge, Massachusetts %D 1996 %I The MIT Press %T The Little Schemer, Fourth Edition $ refer -p my-db-file Read the book .[ friedman .] on your summer vacation. .lf 1 - Read the book\*([.1\*(.] .ds [F 1 .]- .ds [A Daniel P. Friedman and Matthias Felleisen .ds [C Cambridge, Massachusetts .ds [D 1996 .ds [I The MIT Press .ds [T The Little Schemer, Fourth Edition .nr [T 0 .nr [A 0 .][ 2 book .lf 5 - on your summer vacation. refer ) "1" ) "[." ".]" ) "]-" ) ) "][" ) lf . " " . groff_ms(7) . $ REFER=my-db-file groff -R -ms .LP Read the book .[ friedman .] on your summer vacation. Commentary is available.\*{*\*} .FS \*{*\*} Space reserved for penetrating insight. .FE ms refer () . (SEE ALSO) "Refer -- A Bibliography System", Bill Tuthill 1983 Computing Services, University of California, Berkeley. "Some Applications of Inverted Indexes on the Unix System", M. E. Lesk 1978 AT&T Bell Laboratories Computing Science Technical Report No. 69. indxbib(1), lookbib(1), lkbib(1) groff 1.24.1 2026-03-15 refer(1)