BibTeX, biblatex and biberProblems with optional argument in \cite

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ZAndrews
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2011 6:31 pm

Problems with optional argument in \cite

Post by ZAndrews »

Hi all,

I'm trying to use the optional argument in \cite to reference a specific theorem within a book. I get the following error message when running BiBTeX:

Warning--I didn't find a database entry for "["

and this is the pdf output I get after continuing regardless and compiling the LaTeX:

[?]Theorem 5]McIver2004 [33]

for the LaTeX commands:

\cite[Theorem 5]{McIver2004} \cite{McIver2004}

I included the second citation just to show that cite works ok for this reference without the optional argument.

I have also tried using {\cite[Theorem 5]{McIver2004}}, but have the same results.

Has anyone come across this problem before or can spot what I've done wrong?
Last edited by ZAndrews on Wed Mar 02, 2011 6:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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frabjous
Posts: 2064
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:20 am

Problems with optional argument in \cite

Post by frabjous »

I imagine this has something to do with some package you're loading, or the particular document class you're using. Certainly this is not normal behavior. Could you provide a complete minimal working example that would allow us to reproduce the error?
ZAndrews
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2011 6:31 pm

Re: Problems with optional argument in \cite

Post by ZAndrews »

Thanks for the suggestion... in doing so I managed to locate the problem -- one of my colleagues had redefined \cite in the preamble! It's all fixed now, thanks for your help.
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localghost
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Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:06 pm

Problems with optional argument in \cite

Post by localghost »

ZAndrews wrote:[…] It's all fixed now, […]
Then please mark the topic (not the last post) accordingly as written in Section 3 of the Board Rules (to be read before posting).


Best regards and welcome to the board
Thorsten
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