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In general terms, scitopdf is a minimalist program for avid readers of scientific papers (that... I'm not).
More specifically, but not enough, scitopdf quickly leverages Crossref search engine and Sci-Hub's database.
Feed it with some infos about the paper, and 5 seconds later (maybe less... or more) it will pop in front of your eyes 👀.
scitopdf recognizes URL and DOI when given, else it will process any info about the paper to find it : (trunkated) title || authors || journal || DOI || URL || year of publication || ...
If you really care about your disk space, don't install ! And try it like this :
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dougy147/scitopdf/master/bin/scitopdf | bash -s 'your paper'
If 12KB is no problem to you, push your floppy diskette in, and follow those lines :
git clone https://github.com/dougy147/scitopdf
cd scitopdf
sudo make install
-
Arch Linux (AUR) :
yay -S scitopdf-git -
ROSA Linux (official repository) :
sudo dnf install scitopdf
Desired features for
scitopdfare {simplici-compatibili-flexibili}docious.-- Mary Poppins
That goal is obviously not reached (too many OS 🤯, sad country restrictions 😥, coding skills deficit 📉...) but let's start somewhere!
| Flag | Functionality |
|---|---|
-l, --list |
Download references line by line from a bibliography file |
-D, --download-dir |
Store papers in a specified directory (absolute path) |
-u, --url |
Manually set Sci-Hub address |
-p, --no-auto-open |
Pass on auto-opening |
-q, --quiet |
Quiet mode, no echo except for errors |
-h, --help |
Print this help menu |
man scitopdf |
Check the manual for more tweaks |
- Example :
scitopdf -p "protein measurement with the folin" -q -D "$HOME/science"
Papers are automatically saved to $XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR/scitopdf (or ~/Downloads/scitopdf depending on your system). You can change that default directory (pre-install) from the script itself (./bin/scitopdf).
For auto-opening, scitopdf will do whatever it can to use your default PDF reader. But if it fails, don't forget to set a READER environment variable, or to install zathura (a minimalist and lightweight document viewer).
If you're very hungry for papers, you can auto-download multiple ones. Just give scitopdf a list of references (contained in a .txt file, or whatever, as long as references are listed line by line).
So, paste a bibliography in bib.txt, and scitopdf -l bib.txt will process each line and download every paper it finds (no auto-opening).
Go even faster and make your own keyboard shortcut.
Map your favorite keys combination (I use Super+S) to scitopdf $(xclip -o) (or any other clipboard tool).
Now, just highlight any title, DOI or URL you come accross, press your keys, and you're all set for a read.
That's full speed accessing your papers now. Close enough from speed of thought 👍. (why am I selling that dumb script so much?)
If you're a typewriting kind of person and prefer it the old way, well, no judgment.
scitopdf reveals itself pretty cool too in the terminal, or when combined with dmenu.
Map this search=$(printf "" | dmenu -p "Scitopdf") && scitopdf "$search" to your favorite keys combo.
Power is all relative, and this program's is pretty low; even quite harmless. However, I must release myself of any responsibility in the way you will use this program. Indeed, its use might be unappropriate in your country.
As far as I understand (i.e. poorly), imperative programming is like stacking bricks on top of each other. If there's nothing wrong stacking, climbing the pile might. That way, it's unnecessary to say I'm only responsible for sharing a recipe one could find all the ingredients thanks to any search engine.
So, illegality is not contained in that program. It can only be in its user's behavior. Please use that script consciously, with and on your personal goods only.
Don't just pass by, and help improve scitopdf. Pull requests are open
If you (1) are cool enough to know what to do with this 😎 and (2) find this program useful, I'd be glad and thankful :
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