Unwanted space between last author and followed comma in reference

Question

I built a .bst file using makebst and I want to add a comma before el al.. I chose the correct option but it doesn't work. The option in .dbj is as followed

%--------------------
%COMMA BEFORE `ET AL':
    %: (def) Comma before `et al'
% etal-xc,%: No comma before `et al'
%--------------------

So I modified the generated .bst directly by change

FUNCTION {bbl.etal}
{ "et~al." }

to

FUNCTION {bbl.etal}
{ ",~et~al." }

However, a unexpected space appeared between last author and comma like

Mosser B, Michel E, Appourchaux T , et al. A&A, 2009. 506: 33

and what I want is

Mosser B, Michel E, Appourchaux T, et al. A&A, 2009. 506: 33

So, how can I modified the .bst file to fit the request.

moewe · Answer

Your .bst file contains three instances of

" " * bbl.etal

which will print a space followed by "et al."

If you want a comma before the "et al.", replace all three occurences of " " * bbl.etal with

", " * bbl.etal

With the file thus modified (you can get it at https://gist.github.com/moewew/22e8046e747cb39fca28935630ea50c7, there is also a diff so you can see the changes more easily)

documentclass[british]{article}
usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
usepackage{babel}

begin{filecontents}{jobname.bib}
@book{appleby,
  author  = {Humphrey Appleby and Mosser, B. and Michel, E. and Appourchaux, T.},
  title   = {On the Importance of the Civil Service},
  year    = {1980},
}
end{filecontents}

begin{document}
cite{appleby}
bibliographystyle{twxb}
bibliography{jobname}
end{document}

produces

as desired.

Since you have generated your .bst file with the option and-xcom (which suppresses the comma before "and") it is understandable that you don't get a comma before the "et al." (after all, "et" means "and").

As far as I can see the option etal-xc only does something when and-xcom, and-com and xand are not selected.

Unwanted space between last author and followed comma in reference

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