Creating Citations
==================
In order to create a citation, press `C-c ['. RefTeX then prompts
for a regular expression which will be used to search through the
database and present the list of matches to choose from in a selection
process similar to that for selecting labels (Note:Referencing
Labels).
The regular expression uses an extended syntax: `&&' defines a logic
`and' for regular expressions. For example `Einstein&&Bose' will match
all articles which mention Bose-Einstein condensation, or which are
co-authored by Bose and Einstein. When entering the regular
expression, you can complete on known citation keys.
RefTeX prefers to use BibTeX database files specified with a
`\bibliography' macro to collect its information. Just like BibTeX, it
will search for the specified files in the current directory and along
the path given in the environment variable `BIBINPUTS'. If you do not
use BibTeX, but the document contains an explicit `thebibliography'
environment, RefTeX will collect its information from there. Note that
in this case the information presented in the selection buffer will
just be a copy of relevant `\bibitem' entries, not the structured
listing available with BibTeX database files.
In the selection buffer, the following keys provide special
commands. A summary of this information is always available from the
selection process by pressing `?'.
General
.......
`?'
Show a summary of available commands.
`0-9,-'
Prefix argument.
Moving around
.............
`n'
Go to next article.
`p'
Go to previous article.
Access to full database entries
...............................
`<SPC>'
Show the database entry corresponding to the article at point, in
another window. See also the `f' key.
`f'
Toggle follow mode. When follow mode is active, the other window
will always display the full database entry of the current
article. This is equivalent to pressing <SPC> after each cursor
motion. With BibTeX entries, follow mode can be rather slow.
Selecting entries and creating the citation
...........................................
`<RET>'
Insert a citation referencing the article at point into the buffer
from which the selection process was started.
`mouse-2'
Clicking with mouse button 2 on a citation will accept it like
<RET> would. See also variable `reftex-highlight-selection',
Note:Options (Misc).
`m'
Mark the current entry. When one or several entries are marked,
pressing `a' or `A' accepts all marked entries. Also, <RET>
behaves like the `a' key.
`u'
Unmark a marked entry.
`a'
Accept all (marked) entries in the selection buffer and create a
single `\cite' macro referring to them.
`A'
Accept all (marked) entries in the selection buffer and create a
separate `\cite' macro for each of it.
`<TAB>'
Enter a citation key with completion. This may also be a key
which does not yet exist.
`.'
Show insertion point in another window. This is the point from
where you called `reftex-citation'.
Exiting
.......
`q'
Exit the selection process without inserting a citation into the
buffer.
Updating the buffer
...................
`g'
Start over with a new regular expression. The full database will
be rescanned with the new expression (see also `r').
`r'
Refine the current selection with another regular expression.
This will _not_ rescan the entire database, but just the already
selected entries.
In order to define additional commands for this selection process,
the keymap `reftex-select-bib-map' may be used.