how to edit style to sort on dropping particles?

vonetc
edited September 11, 2021
i have an author with the name "von Richtoffen". my journal's style sorts by ignoring "dropping particles" like "von" or "de". but I don't want the bibliography to sort that way. i want it to sort ON the dropping particle. so "von Richtoffen" is listed under "v" rather than "R".
I tried to edit the journal's style but ran into two problems: (1) i don't quite know where to make this edit in the html code; (2) i made edits to the title, id, and default-locale fields and saved it as a new .csl file. but when i tried to add this new style to my list of styles in zotero, I get an error message: "an unexpected error occurred while installing [my csl file]"
So i'm stumped. please help
  • bwiernik
    Do you want the names to be displayed with the particles before the name too, or drop but for display but keep for sorting?
  • vonetc
    yes, i want the particle to be displayed. in fact, that is already happening. the style displays the particle and family name but sorts on the family name. i want it to display and sort on the particle.

    styles that are labeled as US exhibit the behavior that i want. but the style i am working with (for a particular journal) is labeled as UK english. I don't know whether the appropriate edit to the style is to change the default-locale to US (instead of UK) or to change a different field that controls sort order
  • nickbart
    There are CSL-based solutions, but in particular for individuals known to prefer their names being sorted on the particle, or where it is customary to do so, the best solution is to enclose the string in Zotero’s "Last name" field in quotation marks, e.g., 
    "von Richtoffen"
    This will be parsed as a multi-part last name rather than a particle plus a last name, and will be sorted accordingly.
  • vonetc
    That works! Thank you!! Much easier approach

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