2 files changed, 7 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/lisp/ChangeLog b/lisp/ChangeLog
index a763c61124a..8249b0d7773 100644
--- a/lisp/ChangeLog
+++ b/lisp/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 2006-05-22  Stefan Monnier  <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
 
+        * textmodes/bibtex.el (bibtex-format-entry, bibtex-clean-entry):
+        Signal more user-friendly error messages.
+
         * complete.el (PC-do-completion): Undo the addition of implicit
         wildcards if they did not lead to finding any match.
         (read-file-name-internal): Don't add the final > if the completion is
diff --git a/lisp/textmodes/bibtex.el b/lisp/textmodes/bibtex.el
index 044c59d0cae..74ec8beffa2 100644
--- a/lisp/textmodes/bibtex.el
+++ b/lisp/textmodes/bibtex.el
@@ -1803,7 +1803,8 @@ Formats current entry according to variable `bibtex-entry-format'."
 
         ;; identify entry type
         (goto-char (point-min))
-        (re-search-forward bibtex-entry-type)
+        (or (re-search-forward bibtex-entry-type nil t)
+            (error "Not inside a BibTeX entry"))
         (let ((beg-type (1+ (match-beginning 0)))
               (end-type (match-end 0)))
           (setq entry-list (assoc-string (buffer-substring-no-properties
@@ -3879,7 +3880,8 @@ At end of the cleaning process, the functions in
   (interactive "P")
   (let ((case-fold-search t)
         (start (bibtex-beginning-of-entry))
-        (_ (looking-at bibtex-any-entry-maybe-empty-head))
+        (_ (or (looking-at bibtex-any-entry-maybe-empty-head)
+               (error "Not inside a BibTeX entry")))
         (entry-type (bibtex-type-in-head))
         (key (bibtex-key-in-head)))
     ;; formatting