How do I cite range of references using latex and bibtex

Question

Hello Suppose I have 3 references that goes one after another i.e [1][2][3].

But I want to see [1]-[3].

What should I do.

Thank you.

Amitosis

Answer 1

There are ways to change how bibtex formats your citations. One way is to use the cite package. Another is the natbib package perhaps with the sort&compress option (i.e., \usepackage[sort&compress]{natbib}). Many publications also have their own styles that will accomplish this, I often use the revtex styles even when not writing for APS journals since they work quite well. Try some of these to see if they help.

Warta

so I should install external packages? does there in anyway to do it just with basic tools? – Amitosis

Although they are external packages, they might be installed on your system already, depending on the LaTeX distribution you installed. Many install a large standard library, and most have package managers that make installing more packages very easy. Further one of the \textit{benefits} of LaTeX is the large and mature collection of packages from CTAN, there should be very few things that you cannot find a package to help you for almost any given task. – Warta

+1. The cite package is the right answer, if I recall correctly. – Viewable

Also strongly recommend revtex styles. PS: if you want to put two or more papers in only one citation, try with \cite{ref1,*ref2,*ref3...}. This works great for me. – Extenuatory

Answer 2

If you put more than one tag in your \cite command, such as:

\cite{pugh1, pugh2, barneymcgrew}

these will be listed together within the same square brackets, and look something like [1,4,9] in the final document. If some or all of the references which you cite turn out to have sequential numbers, this will be indicated in the document something like [1,3-6,8-9] and so on.

Note that the way in which you sort your bibliography will make a difference to this: if you choose to list items in the order in which they are first cited in the text, this will largely happen naturally. However, if you sort your bibliography by, say, author's name, your references are much less likely to be consecutive.

Ryswick

I am sorry but it doesn't work I am still get [1][2][3].And there is only items I cite there are other entries in the bib file that I don't cite. – Amitosis

I think you need the cite package as Joel states in his answer. – Viewable

Answer 3

If you're using biblatex, you can use the numeric-comp style (see Section 3.3.1 of the documentation)

\usepackage[style=numeric-comp]{biblatex}

This will sort (and compress) the numbers inside the citation [8, 3, 1, 7, 2], becomes [1–3, 7, 8]

Additionally, if you want the citations to be numbered in the order they appear in the text, you can specify no sorting to biblatex with

\usepackage[style=numeric-comp, sorting=none]{biblatex}

So if the above example was the first citation in the text, it would become [1–5]

Elman

Answer 4

Using \cite package would probably resolve your problem. You could add either of the following lines to your code:

\usepackage{cite}
\usepackage[noadjust]{cite}

Fachini

Answer 5

\usepackage{cite} 
...
\bibliographystyle{unsrt} 

worked well for me!

Klement

Please don't add "thank you" as an answer. Once you have sufficient reputation, you will be able to vote up questions and answers that you found helpful. - From Review – Particularism

@Particularism This is the only answer suggestion \bibliographystyle{unsrt}. Please check for that in the future. – Unweave