"invalid BibTex key" - warning when bibtex key includes a ":"

[ilippert]

JabRef 5.0-beta.443--2020-02-21--0b90005
Linux 5.4.20-200.fc31.x86_64 amd64
Java 13.0.2

I have a bibtex file with many entries and all are a unique bibtex keys

Jabref shows me the orange warning triangle when the entry includes ":".

[stefan-kolb]

: is considered as an illegal character for the BibTeX key. Therefore, you get the warning.

KEY_ILLEGAL_CHARACTERS = "{}(),\\\"-#~^:'`ʹ";

Maybe some of the other developers or @koppor can comment why this is the case?

[mlep]

Some packages, like babel, do not like the colon character in the entry key (see https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/89016/colon-in-bibliography-keys-incompatible-with-babel-biblatex-and-tex4ht and https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/408530/what-characters-are-allowed-to-use-as-delimiters-for-bibtex-keys).

Note that this is just a warning from JabRef: you may proceed with keys containing colons (as long as it does not cause trouble during compilation!).

[stefan-kolb]

Thanks @mlep for clarification!

[Siedlerchr]

Please note also the settings under options where you can allow/disallow forbidden characters in the bibtexkey

[koppor]

@mlep Could you update https://docs.jabref.org/fields --> "bibtexkey" accordingly? (File: https://github.com/JabRef/user-documentation/blob/master/en/fields/README.md).

Refs #6239

[mlep]

@koppor OK, I will do it.

[mlep]

Oops, I did a direct commit of my changes.
Please review anyway: https://github.com/JabRef/user-documentation/blob/master/en/fields/README.md