A default format can be set in the User Preferences.

Some of the common formatting strings include the following:

AASTeX: \\bibitem%[\4n]%{R} %\8l %\Y,%\j,%\V,%\p\n

Icarus: \\bibitem%[\2N]%{R} %\10I %\Y.%\t.%\j %\V,%\p%-\P\n

MNRAS: \\bibitem%[\2h]%{R} %\8.3g,%\Y,%\j, %\V,%\p\n

Or you can build one of your own using the abbreviations listed below. For example, the default format is:

\\bibitem%[N]%{R} %8a %Y,%T,%j,%V,%P\n

which produces a reference of the form:

\bibitem[Rester et al. 1989]{1989ApJ...342L..71R} Rester, A. C., Coldwell, R. L., Dunnam, F. E., Eichhorn, G., Trombka, J. I., Starr, R., and Lasche, G. P. 1989, Gamma-ray observations of SN 1987A from Antarctica, \apjl, 342, L71

To create one of your own, use the format:

%[s][c][n.m]f[e]

where:

s: Starting character (optional).

This character will be printed before the string specified by the format character is printed. If the starting character is one of ',', '.', ';', ':', it will be followed by a space. This character is only printed if the field itself is available. This can be any non-alphanumeric character except '=', '&', and '\' (the encoding characters).

c: Encoding (optional).

This character specifies what encoding scheme to use. Options are:

&: SGML encoding.

This encoding converts the characters '&', '<', '>', and '"' to &amp;, &lt;, &gt;, and &quot;, respectively.

=: Hex encoding.

This encoding converts all characters with hex values less than 0x20 and all characters with hex values greater or equal to 0x7F into the form %XX where XX are the two hex digits.

\: Tex/Latex encoding.

This encoding converts all special Tex characters into their Tex escape sequences. For instance '\' is converted to '$\backslash$', '$' is converted into '\$', '^' is converted into '\^{}', etc.

n.m: Maximum number of entries in field (optional).

This is implemented for the author field. If the number of authors in the list is larger than n, the list will be truncated and returned as "author1, author2, ..., authorm, et al.". If .m is not specified, n.1 is assumed.

f: Output field specifier.

This character specifies which field is to be printed with this format specification. These are the valid field specifiers:

A: Authors

This field prints out the author list as it is in the database. If the maximum number of entries in the field is specified, the output will be truncated to first author, et al. if there are more than n authors. The last author is separated by 'and'.

a: Authors

This field prints out the author list as it is in the database. If the maximum number of entries in the field is specified, the output will be truncated to first author, et al. if there are more than n authors. The last author is separated by '&'.

G: Authors (last names first)

This field prints out the author list. The author first names are truncated to first initials. The authors are written as 'lastname f. i.' (no comma separator for f. i.). If the maximum number of entries in the field is specified, the output will be truncated to author1 f. i., author2 f. i., author3 f. i., et al. if there are more than n authors. The last author has no special separator.

g: Authors (last names first)

This field prints out the author list. The author first names are truncated to first initials. The authors are written as 'lastname f. i.' (no comma separator for f. i.). If the maximum number of entries in the field is specified, the output will be truncated to author1 f. i., et al. if there are more than n authors. The last author has no special separator.

H: Reference Name

This field prints out the reference name if available. The reference name is the citation that is used in the article text. It consists of either "Lastname year" (for one-author articles), or "Lastname1 and Lastname2 year" (for 2 author articles), "Lastname1 Lastname2 and Lastname3 year" (for 3 to n-1 author articles), or "Lastname1 et al. year" (for articles with more than n authors). Default for n is 3. It can be changed for instance to 5 with %5n.

h: Reference Name

Same as N, except it uses '&' before the last author instead of 'and'.

I: Authors (initials first)

This field prints out the author list. The author first names are truncated to first initials. The first author is written as 'lastname, f. i.', subsequent authors are written as 'f. i. lastname'. If the maximum number of entries in the field is specified, the output will be truncated to "first author, and xx colleagues" if there are more than n authors. The last author is separated by 'and'.

i: Authors (initials first)

This field prints out the author list. The author first names are truncated to first initials. The first author is written as 'lastname, f. i.', subsequent authors are written as 'f. i. lastname'. If the maximum number of entries in the field is specified, the output will be truncated to first author, et al. if there are more than n authors. The last author is separated by '&'.

L: Authors (last names first)

This field prints out the author list. The author first names are truncated to first initials. The authors are written as 'lastname, f. i.'. If the maximum number of entries in the field is specified, the output will be truncated to "first author, and xx colleagues" if there are more than n authors. The last author is separated by 'and'.

l: Authors (last names first)

This field prints out the author list. The author first names are truncated to first initials. The authors are written as 'lastname, f. i.'. If the maximum number of entries in the field is specified, the output will be truncated to first author, et al. if there are more than n authors. The last author is separated by '&'.

M: Author list (last names only)

This field prints out the last names of the authors if available. The reference name is the citation that is used in the article text. It consists of either "Lastname" (for one-author articles), or "Lastname1 and Lastname2" (for 2 author articles), "Lastname1, Lastname2 and Lastname3" (for 3 to n-1 author articles), or "Lastname1 et al." (for articles with more than n authors). Default for n is 0, meaning no truncation. It can be changed for instance to 5 with %5n.

m: Author list (last names only)

Same as M, except it uses '&' before the last author instead of 'and'.

N: Reference Name

This field prints out the reference name if available. The reference name is the citation that is used in the article text. It consists of either "Lastname(year)" (for one-author articles), or "Lastname1 and Lastname2(year)" (for 2 author articles), "Lastname1 Lastname2 and Lastname3(year)" (for 3 to n-1 author articles), or "Lastname1 et al.(year)" (for articles with more than n authors). Default for n is 3. It can be changed for instance to 5 with %5n.

n: Reference Name

Same as N, except it uses '&' before the last author instead of 'and'.

B: Abstract

This field prints out the abstract if it is available.

b: Abstract

Same as B.

C: Copyright

This field prints out the copyright statement if available.

c: Copyright

Same as C.

D: Publication Date

This field prints out the Publication date if available.

d: Publication Date

Same as D.

E: Electronic Data Table Address

This field prints out the electronic data table address if available.

e: Electronic Data Table Address

Same as E.

F: Author Affiliation

This field prints out the Author affiliation if available.

f: Author Affiliation

Same as F.

J: Journal

This field prints out journal the if available.

j: Journal

This field prints out journal the if available. If an AASTeX macro for the journal is available, this macro is printed instead.

K: Keywords

This field prints out the keywords if available.

k: Keywords

Same as K.

O: Object Names

This field prints out the object names if available.

o: Object Names

Same as O.

P: Last Page

This field prints out the last page number of the article if available.

p: First Page

This field prints out the first page number of the article if available.

R: Bibliographic Code

This field prints out the bibliographic code if available.

r: Bibliographic Code

Same as R.

S: Reference Source

This field prints out the reference source if available.

s: Reference Source

Same as S.

T: Title

This field prints out the title if available.

t: Title

Same as T.

U: URL

This field prints out the URL of the abstract as a complete hyperlink with the bibcode as the anchor in the form <a href="url">bibcode</a>

u: URL

This field prints out the URL of the abstract in the form http://cdsads.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/bib_query?bibcode=bibcode

V: Volume

This field prints out the volume if available.

v: Volume

Same as V.

W: Publication Category

This field prints the publication category. Currently available categories are:
MISC
BOOK
INBOOK
PROCEEDINGS
INPROCEEDINGS
ARTICLE
PHDTHESIS
MASTERSTHESIS
TECHREPORT

w: Publication Category

Same as W.

X: Comments

This field prints out the comments if available.

x: Comments

Same as X.

Y: Publication Year

This field prints out the publication year if available.

y: Publication Year

Same as Y.

e: Ending character (optional).

This character will be printed after the string specified by the format character is printed. If the ending character is one of ',', '.', ';', ':', it will be followed by a space. This character is only printed if the field itself is available. This can be any non-alphanumeric character except '%' and '\'.

The default format is: \\bibitem%[N]%{R} %8a %Y,%T,%j,%V,%P\n

This format produces a reference of the form:

\bibitem[Rester et al. 1989]{1989ApJ...342L..71R} Rester, A. C., Coldwell, R. L., Dunnam, F. E., Eichhorn, G., Trombka, J. I., Starr, R., and Lasche, G. P. 1989, Gamma-ray observations of SN 1987A from Antarctica, \apjl, 342, L71

%Y (%X)

or

%Y %(X)

If there is no comment field available, the first format will print:

1998 ()

whereas the second format will print:

1998

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