BibTeX, biblatex and biber ⇒ Can one BibTeX key expand to multiple citations?

[kaiserkarl13]

Is it possible to have one cite key expand to more than one citation? Let's say I have a group of citations---perhaps the three or four papers for a scientific software package or a paper and its erratum---that ALWAYS get cited together. For example,

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@article{Foo1992a,
  author = "Foo, Myrtle and Bar, Hershey",
  title = "Haha",
  journal = jacs,
  volume = 3,
  year = 1992
}
@article{Foo1992b,
  author = "Foo, Myrtle and Bar, Hershey",
  title = "ERRATUM:  Haha",
  journal = jacs,
  volume = 3,
  year = 1992
}

Then in the document you write

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...the best thing ever~\cite{Foo1992a,Foo1992b}.

For the sake of argument, let's say there are four or five papers instead of two (the last two being omitted for brevity's sake). Instead, it would be much easier to write something like,

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...the best thing ever~\cite{Foo1992}

and have it expand to all four Foo et al papers. I could define a TeX command that expands to all the cite keys, viz.

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\newcommand{\FooBar}{Foo1992a,Foo1992b}

However, this would require me to define that command in every document, not just once in my bibliography database. I was hoping for something like

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@string{Foo1992 = "Foo1992a, Foo1992b"}

but that of course doesn't work.

Does anyone know for sure whether this is possible?

I've been digging for this for a while, and I suspect it's impossible, but sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised on this forum.

[kaiserkarl13]

I discovered this morning that there exists the exact construct I'm looking for in Biber, which is designed to be a better-maintained backend to BibLaTeX:

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@set{Foo1992,
    entryset = {Foo1992a,Foo1992b}
}

BibTeX, evidently, doesn't support this type of construct natively, but it can sometimes be faked if using BibLaTeX (which I'm not).

Does anyone know if Biber can be used in place of BibTeX if NOT using BibLaTeX? I've been meaning to learn how to use BibLaTeX for a while, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

[pipk]

Biber cannot work as a stand-alone bibtex replacement - it is tied closely to biblatex. I would strongly consider switching to biblatex anyway - it's a lot more flexible than plain bibtex.