[biblio] Bibtex internal bytes

[Peter Selinger]

Hi Kathryn,

BiBTeX files are source files that are created by people using text editors, not created by software. As such, they cannot be guaranteed to contain any particular byte signature.

The file format is described in "LaTeX: A Document Preparation System" by Leslie Lamport, 2nd edition, Addison Wesley, 1994, Chapter B.1, ISBN 0201529831.

-- Peter

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From: biblio <biblio-bounces+selinger=mathstat.dal.ca at tug.org> on behalf of Phelps, Kathryn via biblio <biblio at tug.org>
Sent: November 7, 2023 8:04 AM
To: biblio at tug.org <biblio at tug.org>
Subject: [biblio] Bibtex internal bytes

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Hello,



I work on the file format registry PRONOM, and we’re trying to refine our signature for the Bibtex file, because at present it clashes with some other widely used file formats. We’ve noticed that some files contain the bytes for ‘BiBTeX’ or  BiBTeX Database for’, and I wonder if anyone knows if these are produced by certain iterations of Bibtex only? Basically, when the bytes for ‘Bibtex’ will and won’t be present in a Bibtex file.



Any advice would be much appreciated. Best wishes,



Kathryn Phelps

Digital Archivist (working days Monday- Thursday)

The National Archives
+44 (0)20 8876 3444

kathryn.phelps at nationalarchives.gov.uk<mailto:kathryn.phelps at nationalarchives.gov.uk>

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/



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