The multi-letter initial trick {\relax Ch}arles doesn't work in biblatex with biber anymore

Question

The code below used to trick biblatex into assuming that the name Charles should be abbreviated as Ch (and not as one letter C.). It still happily works if I replace the backend from biber to bibtex, but emits C. if it's used as it is.

I've tested it on more or less up-to date TeXLive 2020. On the latest TeXLive 2019 it segfaults biber (!). On fairly old TeXLive 2015 it works as supposed to.

Is there any way to create multi-letter initials using the currrent TeXLive and biber?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@article{key,
  author={Doe, {\relax Ch}arles},
  title={Some Article Title},
  journal={Some Journal},
  volume={1},
  year={2020}
}
\end{filecontents}
\usepackage[backend=biber,style=authoryear,firstinits=true]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}
\begin{document}
\nocite{*}
\printbibliography
\end{document}

See also https://tex.stackexchange.com/q/422938/35864. This hasn't worked for a long time. — moewe, Sep 01 '20 at 17:23
Right! I've overlooked that question. So, I can create a sourcemap which would process {\relax Ch}arles by biber, and it'll be happily ignored by bibtex. Thank you! — Sergei Golovan, Sep 01 '20 at 17:37

Ulrike Fischer · Accepted Answer · 2020-09-01T17:03:17.530

6

You can use the extended input method:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{filecontents}[overwrite]{ch-init.bib}
@article{key,
  author={given=Charles, given-i={Ch}, family=Doe},
  title={Some Article Title},
  journal={Some Journal},
  volume={1},
  year={2020}
}
\end{filecontents}
\usepackage[backend=biber,style=authoryear,uniquename=init,giveninits=true]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{ch-init.bib}
\begin{document}
\nocite{*}
\printbibliography
\end{document}

edited Sep 01 '20 at 17:03

answered Sep 01 '20 at 17:00

Ulrike Fischer

327,261

\usepackage{filecontents} is redundant; also uniquename=init is needed to avoid a warning (biblatex will set it anyway). – egreg Sep 01 '20 at 17:02
@egreg thanks, I still overlook filecontents ;-). – Ulrike Fischer Sep 01 '20 at 17:03
Nice! But totally not compatible with bibtex. So I can't use the same bib database with different backends... – Sergei Golovan Sep 01 '20 at 17:34
The bib files aren't completely compatible anyway. – Ulrike Fischer Sep 01 '20 at 17:35
True, but so far I've managed to use only common fields. – Sergei Golovan Sep 01 '20 at 17:40
you could add both fields to the entry: author-biblatex={family=Doe, given=Charles,given-i={Ch}}, author={Doe, {\relax Ch}arles}, and then use a sourcemap that maps author-biblatex to author. – Ulrike Fischer Sep 01 '20 at 20:50

The multi-letter initial trick {\relax Ch}arles doesn't work in biblatex with biber anymore

1 Answers1