BibTeX, biblatex and biber ⇒ customising 'apacite.bst'

[scooterb]

Thanks in advance for helping me with this problem.

I use apacite package a lot, and it makes a Harvard-style bibliography. I want to make just one change: remove the \newline that is put between items in the bibliography list (so they appear as a dense block of ugly text!).

I thought this might do it:
\setlength{\bibitemsep}{0mm}

But it doesn't. I think I need to edit the .bst file, but I've never done that before. Any hints for me?

Thanks again.

Scott.

[frabjous]

All right, I'll try to give you hints. Firstly, "apacite.bst" is not a package, it is a bibliography style. However, there is also a package called "apacite" (apacite.sty). Separate from this, there is also a harvard package, and six different harvard styles, and you also mentioned harvard. So it is very unclear what your document is like.

My next hint is that it will be impossible to provide help in this case unless you produce a minimal working example showing your usage.

I tried the following:

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{apacite}
\begin{document}
\cite{sample1,sample2}
\bibliographystyle{apacite}
\bibliography{sample}
\end{document}

And there was no spacing at all between the entries in the bibliography. The apacite documentation also clearly says that the spacing is determined by the length \bibitemsep, and indeed, I can increase that space by modifying that length with \setlength. So if things are different with your document, you have not provided enough information to help us identify what that problem is. That's why a minimal working example is so important.

[frabjous]

Actually, I think I might have misread what you're trying to do.

Do you want one big paragraph, with no demarcation at all between the entries? In that case, I don't think modifying the .bst will be necessary. You could just do something like this:

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{apacite}
\renewcommand{\bibitem}[2][]{}
\setlength{\bibleftmargin}{0pt}
\begin{document}
\cite{sample1,sample2}
\setlength{\bibitemsep}{2\baselineskip}
\bibliographystyle{apacite}
\bibliography{sample}
\end{document}

The important thing here is the third and fourth lines, obviously.

[scooterb]

Genius! Thanks! Re-defining the \bibitem function did the trick just as you suggested. And no mucking around with the .bst file, either.

Thanks again.

[localghost]

Now that the problem is solved, please be so kind and mark the topic (not the last post) accordingly as clearly written in the Board Rules (to be read before posting). Please keep that in mind for the future so that further reminders will not be necessary.


Thorsten