Quick search by first author name within the library using "^"

[nicoborghi]

It would be very helpful to have a feature that allows to quickly search by first author name (or CitationKey).
That would help especially for large libraries, as the current standard search scans all the available information and can be slow.

For example in ADS (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/) one can do it by using the ^ symbol before the first author name.

[ThiloteE]

Have you tried using the search syntax? e.g. author = xyz? Is it also slow?
See the docs: https://docs.jabref.org/finding-sorting-and-cleaning-entries/search#regular-expressions

Please have a look at issues with the label performance to rule out you are not affected. In particular in JabRef 5.10, search becomes slow, if you sort the main table columns in reverse order, if I am not mistaken.

[koppor]

Refs #8963 (because we update the search there)

[Toro520]

Hi there,
I'm new here. I'm so interested about this issue. Could I got a chance to combined my knowledge and practice together to fix this issue? Could you please assign this issue to me ? Thanks so much.

[ThiloteE]

@Toro520 this issue still needs refinement and the original author is not responding. Please have a look at other good first issues or small university projects from our projects page.

[nicoborghi]

Have you tried using the search syntax? e.g. author = xyz? Is it also slow? See the docs: https://docs.jabref.org/finding-sorting-and-cleaning-entries/search#regular-expressions

Please have a look at issues with the label performance to rule out you are not affected. In particular in JabRef 5.10, search becomes slow, if you sort the main table columns in reverse order, if I am not mistaken.

Thanks. I tried the author = xyz search, but my point is not only performance-related. If one remembers references in the FirstAuthorYear format, when using author = xyz, he/she still has to skim many non-first author search results.

Since FirstAuthorYear is also the default citation key pattern in JabRef, one can use CitationKey = ..., but the simpler ^ symbol might be a better choice.

[koppor]

Hi there, I'm new here. I'm so interested about this issue. Could I got a chance to combined my knowledge and practice together to fix this issue? Could you please assign this issue to me ? Thanks so much.

Your public GitHub profile does not state any knowledge about Apache Lucence. You can show your coding skills in that topic to finish #10193. Afterwards, you can contribute to finish #8963. Then, we can work on this issue.

[koppor]

I think, this is an aspect of JabRef#341 - and can be closed?

@nicoborghi Please try again with the latest development version: https://builds.jabref.org/main/. We switched the syntax to Apache Lucene. User documentation updates to come. -- In short: Use "author = xy". Feedback welcome :)

[ryan-carpenter]

I think, this is an aspect of koppor#341 - and can be closed?

The user need is to support searching for "field begins with ... ", but the ^ regex operator is not supported by Lucene (as far as I know) and I have not found any other means of returning matches only at the beginning of the field. As I understand it, the linked issue would not resolve this.

If the current issue issue is closed, please consider replacing with another one that expresses the broader need for searching "field starts with" (any/all fields, not only author).

@nicoborghi Please try again with the latest development version: https://builds.jabref.org/main/. We switched the syntax to Apache Lucene. User documentation updates to come. -- In short: Use "author = xy". Feedback welcome :)

Did you mean to type author:xy?