[texhax] white space problem

[Donald Arseneau]

Tom Schneider <toms at ncifcrf.gov> writes:

> I've often been puzzled when bibtex objects to having white space in
> between references.  

*\cite* objectes to having white-space.

> It turns out that this happens for some journal
> styles and not for others.

The bad ones are broken, but regular latex used to choke
on such spaces a long time ago.

>  In particular, it happens with Cell:
> 
> http://www.ccrnp.ncifcrf.gov/~toms/ftp/cell.sty

Are you in a position to fix it?  If not, then it is
best to bite the bullet and type no spaces.  Also,
suggest to the maintainer, if any, that the cite code
could be updated to a more recent version of latex.

> % white space problem comes from this code:
> \def\@citex[#1]#2{\if at filesw\immediate\write\@auxout{\string\citation{#2}}\fi
>   \def\@citea{}\@cite{\@for\@citeb:=#2\do
>     {\@citea\def\@citea{; }\@ifundefined

Another suggestion...

\usepackage{cite}
\renewcommand\citepunct{;\penalty5000\ }
or
\renewcommand\citepunct{;~}


> This is BibTeX, Version 0.99c (Web2C 7.5.5)

And if bibtex were anything but apparent abandonware, it would have
been changed to ignore spaces after commas many years ago.


-- 
Donald Arseneau                          asnd at triumf.ca