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28 .\" @(#)ctags.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
56 A tags file gives the locations of specified objects in a group of files.
57 Each line of the tags file contains the object name, the file in which it
58 is defined, and a search pattern for the object definition, separated by
64 can quickly locate these object definitions.
65 Depending upon the options provided to
67 objects will consist of subroutines, typedefs, defines, structs,
70 The following options are available:
71 .Bl -tag -width indent
73 Use backward searching patterns
76 Use forward searching patterns
80 Do not create tags for typedefs, structs, unions, and enums.
88 that do not take arguments;
90 that take arguments are tagged automatically.
92 Place the tag descriptions in a file called
94 The default behaviour is to place them in a file called
100 the tags will be written to standard output instead.
102 Update the specified files in the
105 references to them are deleted, and the new values are appended to the
107 This is ignored if the tags file does not exist or is not a regular
110 was used to write to standard output).
112 Beware: this option is implemented in a way which is rather
113 slow; it is usually faster to simply rebuild the
117 An index of the form expected by
119 is produced on the standard output.
121 contains the object name, file name, and page number (assuming 64
123 Since the output will be sorted into lexicographic order,
124 it may be desired to run the output through
127 .Bd -literal -offset indent
128 ctags -v files | sort -f > index
132 Suppress warning diagnostics.
135 produces a list of object
136 names, the line number and file name on which each is defined, as well
137 as the text of that line and prints this on the standard output.
139 is a simple index which can be printed out as an off-line readable
143 Files whose names end in
148 source files and are searched for C style routine and macro definitions.
149 Files whose names end in
154 Files whose names end in
156 are assumed to be Lisp files if their
157 first non-blank character is
166 Other files are first examined to see if they
167 contain any Pascal or Fortran routine definitions, and, if not, are
168 searched for C style definitions.
172 is treated specially in C programs.
174 is created by prepending
176 to the name of the file, with the
179 and any leading pathname components removed.
182 practical in directories with more than one
189 files each have a special tag.
192 of the second section of the
197 the second section of the
201 .Bl -tag -width ".Pa tags" -compact
203 default output tags file
208 utility exits with a value of 1 if an error occurred, 0 otherwise.
209 Duplicate objects are not considered errors.
213 option is a no-op for compatibility with previous versions of
215 that did not create tags for typedefs, enums, structs and unions
231 Recognition of functions, subroutines and procedures
232 for Fortran and Pascal is done in a very simpleminded way.
234 is made to deal with block structure; if you have two Pascal procedures
235 in different blocks with the same name you lose.
239 understand about Pascal types.
241 The method of deciding whether to look for C, Pascal or
247 utility relies on the input being well formed, and any syntactical
248 errors will completely confuse it.
249 It also finds some legal syntax
250 confusing; for example, since it does not understand
252 (incidentally, that is a feature, not a bug), any code with unbalanced
255 will cause it to become somewhat disoriented.
256 In a similar fashion, multiple line changes within a definition will
257 cause it to enter the last line of the object, rather than the first, as
258 the searching pattern.
259 The last line of multiple line
261 will similarly be noted.