bibtex

bibtex [OPTION]... AUX_FILE_BASENAME...

AUX_FILE_BASENAME
    The base name of the .aux file generated by LaTeX, without the .aux extension.
Example: For mydoc.aux, use mydoc.

--help
    Displays a help message and exits.

--version
    Shows version information and exits.

The bibtex command is a bibliography processing tool used primarily with LaTeX documents. It automates the creation of bibliographies and citation lists, extracting citation information from a .aux file (generated by LaTeX), looking up the corresponding entries in .bib database files, and formatting them according to a specified .bst bibliography style file. The result is a .bbl file containing the formatted bibliography, which is then included in the LaTeX document during subsequent compilations. This process ensures consistent and automated bibliography management, freeing authors from manual formatting.

Requires multiple LaTeX and bibtex runs for a fully typeset bibliography.
Limited direct support for modern Unicode and advanced sorting (often handled by biber for biblatex).
Syntax errors in .bib files can be obscurely reported, leading to debugging challenges.

To generate a bibliography, the document typically requires several compilation steps:
1. Run latex (or pdflatex) once to generate the .aux file with citation information.
2. Run bibtex on the .aux file to process the bibliography data and create the .bbl file.
3. Run latex (or pdflatex) one or two more times to incorporate the .bbl file and resolve all citations and page references.

.aux: Auxiliary file generated by LaTeX, containing citation keys and information.
.bib: The bibliography database file, storing citation entries (e.g., articles, books) in BibTeX format.
.bst: Bibliography style file, defining the formatting rules for citations and the final bibliography list.
.bbl: The generated bibliography file, containing the formatted bibliography, which LaTeX includes directly.
.blg: Log file from bibtex, useful for debugging issues with bibliography processing.

Developed by Oren Patashnik in 1985 as a companion to LaTeX, bibtex quickly became an essential tool for academic writing. It revolutionized bibliography management by separating content (.bib) from style (.bst), making it easier to maintain consistent citation formats across documents. While newer tools like biber have emerged to address modern requirements, bibtex remains widely used and is an enduring part of the LaTeX ecosystem.

latex(1), pdflatex(1), biber(1), biblatex(7), makeindex(1)