\printbibliography by variable years

Question

This is the system I currently have:

\defbibcheck{yr2016}{
  \iffieldint{year}
  {\ifnumequal{\thefield{year}}{2016}
    {\skipentry}
    {}}
  {\skipentry}
}

This should exclude anything except entries in 2016. I then use it with:

\printbibliography[check=yr2016]

I want to know if it is possible to make variables for the ranges of years I want to list, so I can change the ranges when needed. I wanted to do something in the preamble like:

\defbibcheck{{year-init},{year-final}}{
  \iffieldint{year}
  {\ifnumrange{\thefield{year}}{{year-init},{year-final}}
    {\skipentry}
    {}}
  {\skipentry}
}

And then in the document have:

\printbibliography[check={year-init}={2012},{year-final}={2015}]

So if I want to change my range to:

\printbibliography[check={year-init}={2012},{year-final}={2018}]

I wouldn't have to change or update the code in the preamble.

Answer 1

Bibchecks are not designed to take an argument, even less so in an arbitrary format. You can work around this limitation by using placeholder macros in the definition of the bibcheck and setting these placeholders with a second macro before the application of the check.

\documentclass[british]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage{csquotes}

\usepackage[style=authoryear, backend=biber]{biblatex}

\makeatletter
\def\mblx@yearfrom{-1000}
\def\mblx@yearto{3000}

\newrobustcmd*{\setcheckfromtorange}[2]{%
  \def\mblx@yearfrom{#1}%
  \def\mblx@yearto{#2}%
}

\defbibcheck{fromto}{%
  \iffieldint{year}
    {\ifnumless{\thefield{year}}{\mblx@yearfrom}
       {\skipentry}
       {\ifnumgreater{\thefield{year}}{\mblx@yearto}
          {\skipentry}
          {}}}
    {\skipentry}}
\makeatother

\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@book{appleby0,
  author  = {Humphrey Appleby},
  title   = {On the Importance of the Civil Service},
  date    = {1980},
}
@book{appleby1,
  author  = {Humphrey Appleby},
  title   = {On the Ablative in Greek},
  date    = {1981},
}
@book{appleby2,
  author  = {Humphrey Appleby},
  title   = {On Honours},
  date    = {1982},
}
@book{appleby3,
  author  = {Humphrey Appleby},
  title   = {Theory on Brontosauruses},
  date    = {1983},
}
\end{filecontents}

\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}
\nocite{*}

\begin{document}
\printbibliography[check=fromto,title={All}]

\setcheckfromtorange{1981}{1982}
\printbibliography[check=fromto,title={1981--1982}]
\end{document}

Remember that the fromto settings are not reset automatically, they are simple local assignments.