BibTeX, biblatex and biber ⇒ Parsing cite$ to replace "&" with "\&"

[dcnicholls]

I'm trying to include the cite key in references. It works except when the cite key includes the "&" character - which will occur as the 6th, 7th or 8th character in the some cite key strings. A typical string including '&' is 2006A&A...448..955I Some cite keys (most) do not include an '&'.

The cite keys are 18 or 19 characters long. I want to be able to print the cite key in the reference and still include the '&' where it occurs.

Is it feasible to chop up and reassemble strings in Bibtex before outputting them?

Currently I have a line in my .bst file, in FUNCTION {article} (etc) that says (in simplified form):

cite$ output

This delivers the cite key string to the output, and, with a console error, the keys that contain '&', but with the & dropped.

I'm using Mac OS X, TexShop, Latex2e, the current Bibtex, and a Bibdesk database. I'm using the natbib package.

[dcnicholls]

Solved.

It needed the package xstring and a \newcommand macro in the Latex file, called from within Bibtex.

This is what I used in the Latex file:

Code: Select all

\newcommand{\ampersandmacro}[1]{%
  \IfSubStr{#1}{&}{\StrBefore{#1}{&}\&\StrBehind{#1}{&}}{[#1]}
}

And in the .bst file within the {article} function (etc):

Code: Select all

"\ampersandmacro{" cite$ *
"}" *
output

May not be elegant (or even correct) but it works.

DN