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CTAGS(1)                  BSD General Commands Manual                 CTAGS(1)

NAME
     ctags -- create a tags file

SYNOPSIS
     ctags [-BFadtuwvx] [-f tagsfile] name ...

DESCRIPTION
     ctags makes a tags file for ex(1) from the specified C, Pascal, Fortran,
     YACC, lex, and lisp sources.  A tags file gives the locations of
     specified objects in a group of files.  Each line of the tags file
     contains the object name, the file in which it is defined, and a search
     pattern for the object definition, separated by white-space.  Using the
     tags file, ex(1) can quickly locate these object definitions.  Depending
     upon the options provided to ctags, objects will consist of subroutines,
     typedefs, defines, structs, enums and unions.

     -B      use backward searching patterns (?...?).

     -F      use forward searching patterns (/.../) (the default).

     -a      append to tags file.

     -d      create tags for #defines that don't take arguments; #defines that
             take arguments are tagged automatically.

     -f      Places the tag descriptions in a file called tagsfile.  The
             default behaviour is to place them in a file called tags.

     -t      create tags for typedefs, structs, unions, and enums.

     -u      update the specified files in the tags file, that is, all
             references to them are deleted, and the new values are appended
             to the file.  (Beware: this option is implemented in a way which
             is rather slow; it is usually faster to simply rebuild the tags
             file.)

     -v      An index of the form expected by vgrind(1) is produced on the
             standard output.  This listing contains the object name, file
             name, and page number (assuming 64 line pages).  Since the output
             will be sorted into lexicographic order, it may be desired to run
             the output through sort(1).  Sample use:

                   ctags -v files | sort -f > index
                   vgrind -x index

     -w      suppress warning diagnostics.

     -x      ctags produces a list of object names, the line number and file
             name on which each is defined, as well as the text of that line
             and prints this on the standard output.  This is a simple index
             which can be printed out as an off-line readable function index.

     Files whose names end in '.c' or '.h' are assumed to be C source files
     and are searched for C style routine and macro definitions.  Files whose
     names end in '.y' are assumed to be YACC source files.  Files whose names
     end in '.l' are assumed to be lisp files if their first non-blank
     character is ';', '(', or '[', otherwise, they are treated as lex files.
     Other files are first examined to see if they contain any Pascal or
     Fortran routine definitions, and, if not, are searched for C style
     definitions.

     The tag main is treated specially in C programs.  The tag formed is
     created by prepending M to the name of the file, with the trailing '.c'
     and any leading pathname components removed.  This makes use of ctags
     practical in directories with more than one program.

     Yacc and lex files each have a special tag.  Yyparse is the start of the
     second section of the yacc file, and yylex is the start of the second
     section of the lex file.

FILES
     tags  default output tags file

EXIT STATUS
     ctags exits with a value of 1 if an error occurred, 0 otherwise.
     Duplicate objects are not considered errors.

SEE ALSO
     ex(1), vi(1)

HISTORY
     The ctags command appeared in 3.0BSD.

BUGS
     Recognition of functions, subroutines and procedures for FORTRAN and
     Pascal is done in a very simpleminded way.  No attempt is made to deal
     with block structure; if you have two Pascal procedures in different
     blocks with the same name you lose.  ctags doesn't understand about
     Pascal types.

     The method of deciding whether to look for C, Pascal or FORTRAN functions
     is a hack.

     ctags relies on the input being well formed, and any syntactical errors
     will completely confuse it.  It also finds some legal syntax confusing;
     for example, since it doesn't understand #ifdef's (incidentally, that's a
     feature, not a bug), any code with unbalanced braces inside #ifdef's will
     cause it to become somewhat disoriented.  In a similar fashion, multiple
     line changes within a definition will cause it to enter the last line of
     the object, rather than the first, as the searching pattern.  The last
     line of multiple line typedef's will similarly be noted.

BSD                              June 6, 1993                              BSD
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | FILES | EXIT STATUS | SEE ALSO | HISTORY | BUGS