\renewcommand to redefine \cite

Question

I would like to redefine \cite{} so that text like

\cite{blah:1991:pldi}

gets replaced by

\cite{blah:1991:pldi:short}

I tried the following:

\let\oldcite\cite
\renewcommand{\cite}[1]{\oldcite}{#1:short}}

However, this does not work with multiple arguments to \cite{}.

For instance, I would like

\cite{blah1, blah2}  

to be replaced by

\cite{blah1:short, blah2:short}

as well.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Assuming that you do not use packages that redefine \cite (like cite.sty), try this:

\makeatletter
\def\@citex[#1]#2{\leavevmode
  \let\@citea\@empty
  \@cite{\@for\@citeb:=#2\do
    {\@citea\def\@citea{,\penalty\@m\ }%
     \edef\@citeb{\expandafter\@firstofone\@citeb\@empty}%
     \if@filesw\immediate\write\@auxout{\string\citation{\@citeb:short}}\fi
     \@ifundefined{b@\@citeb}{\hbox{\reset@font\bfseries ?}%
       \G@refundefinedtrue
       \@latex@warning
         {Citation `\@citeb' on page \thepage \space undefined}}%
       {\@cite@ofmt{\csname b@\@citeb\endcsname}}}}{#1}}
\makeatother