Multibib reverse label or sort order

Question

I'm using multibib. I manually set the order of the bibliography. I would like the order of the numbered items to be reversed. For example, my document has:

\nociteX{Foo}
\nociteX{Bar}

And the document then shows:

[1] Foo
[2] Bar

I would like the document to show:

[2] Foo
[1] Bar

Can anyone explain what to change in my .bst file, or a flag to multibib that I am missing that will achieve this?

Answer 1

The biblatex package offers features comparable to those of multibib. References from a single bib file can be subdivided using various options of \printbibliography. Examples include type, keyword and category. Refer to the biblatex manual for details. Prefixes to the labelnumber are specified with the prefixnumbers option.

Assuming each sub-bibliography has a unique prefix, descending label numbers can be obtained by altering the labelnumber field format so that it prints the value given by the total prefix-specific entry count, minus the actual labelnumber, plus one.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[style=numeric-comp,sorting=ydnt,defernumbers]{biblatex}

\AtDataInput{%
  \csnumgdef{entrycount:\strfield{prefixnumber}}{%
    \csuse{entrycount:\strfield{prefixnumber}}+1}}

\DeclareFieldFormat{labelnumber}{\mkbibdesc{#1}}    
\newrobustcmd*{\mkbibdesc}[1]{%
  \number\numexpr\csuse{entrycount:\strfield{prefixnumber}}+1-#1\relax}

\addbibresource{biblatex-examples.bib}

\begin{document}
Filler text \cite{aksin,bertram,angenendt}.
Filler text \cite{chiu,padhye,moraux}.
\printbibheading
\printbibliography[prefixnumbers={A},type=article,title={Articles},heading=subbibliography]
\printbibliography[prefixnumbers={R},type=report,title={Reports},heading=subbibliography]
\printbibliography[prefixnumbers={P},type=inproceedings,title={Presentations},
                   heading=subbibliography]
\end{document}

This solution works with either backend, though with biber the "rerun LaTeX" messages in the log may not stabilize. In any case heed the warning; the first time the message disappears after recompiling should give the correct document.

Answer 2

I have a possible answer (possible because my installation crashed before I can test all of the features). It is relying, as mentionned, on biblatex, with biber as a backend.

In the preamble, you mention that you want to use biber as a back end (useful for tweaking the sorting), that you want to use the new sorting scheme you devised, and that you are going to play with the prefix in the bibliography.

\usepackage[defernumbers=true,sorting=reverse,backend=biber]{biblatex}

\addbibresource{Yourbibresource}

\DeclareSortingScheme{reverse}{
\sort[direction=descending]{\citeorder}
}

At the end of the document, you are printing the different bibliographies with the help of keyword to differentiate between them.

\printbibliography[keyword=original,prefixnumbers=F,title=Original sources]

\printbibliography[keyword=known,prefixnumbers=B,title=Other sources]

I successfully managed to get the [F1], [F2] and then [B1] and [B2] behavior, but was not able to test the biber tweak due to crashing. However, I am fairly convinced that this is the way to go, due to previous experiments.

I am aware that this answer is not complete as it is not fully tested, but I wanted to launch it out so that people can play with it until I manage to repair my set-up (at work, where I have huge networking trouble, hence possible long duration before repair).