xref: /dragonfly/usr.bin/ctags/ctags.1 (revision aeaecd48)
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28.\"     @(#)ctags.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
29.\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.bin/ctags/ctags.1,v 1.5.2.6 2002/07/30 01:06:31 tjr Exp $
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31.Dd June 6, 1993
32.Dt CTAGS 1
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm ctags
36.Nd create a
37.Pa tags
38file
39.Sh SYNOPSIS
40.Nm
41.Op Fl BFadtuwvx
42.Op Fl f Ar tagsfile
43.Ar name ...
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45The
46.Nm
47utility makes a
48.Pa tags
49file for
50.Xr ex 1
51from the specified C,
52Pascal, Fortran,
53.Xr yacc 1 ,
54.Xr lex 1 ,
55and Lisp sources.
56A tags file gives the locations of specified objects in a group of files.
57Each line of the tags file contains the object name, the file in which it
58is defined, and a search pattern for the object definition, separated by
59white-space.
60Using the
61.Pa tags
62file,
63.Xr ex 1
64can quickly locate these object definitions.
65Depending upon the options provided to
66.Nm ,
67objects will consist of subroutines, typedefs, defines, structs,
68enums and unions.
69.Pp
70The following options are available:
71.Bl -tag -width indent
72.It Fl B
73Use backward searching patterns
74.Pq Li ?...? .
75.It Fl F
76Use forward searching patterns
77.Pq Li /.../
78(the default).
79.It Fl a
80Append to
81.Pa tags
82file.
83.It Fl d
84Create tags for
85.Li #defines
86that do not take arguments;
87.Li #defines
88that take arguments are tagged automatically.
89.It Fl f
90Place the tag descriptions in a file called
91.Ar tagsfile .
92The default behaviour is to place them in a file called
93.Pa tags .
94.It Fl t
95Create tags for typedefs, structs, unions, and enums.
96.It Fl u
97Update the specified files in the
98.Pa tags
99file, that is, all
100references to them are deleted, and the new values are appended to the
101file.
102(Beware: this option is implemented in a way which is rather
103slow; it is usually faster to simply rebuild the
104.Pa tags
105file.)
106.It Fl v
107An index of the form expected by
108.Xr vgrind 1
109is produced on the standard output.
110This listing
111contains the object name, file name, and page number (assuming 64
112line pages).
113Since the output will be sorted into lexicographic order,
114it may be desired to run the output through
115.Xr sort 1 .
116Sample use:
117.Bd -literal -offset indent
118ctags -v files | sort -f > index
119vgrind -x index
120.Ed
121.It Fl w
122Suppress warning diagnostics.
123.It Fl x
124.Nm
125produces a list of object
126names, the line number and file name on which each is defined, as well
127as the text of that line and prints this on the standard output.
128This
129is a simple index which can be printed out as an off-line readable
130function index.
131.El
132.Pp
133Files whose names end in
134.Pa .c
135or
136.Pa .h
137are assumed to be C
138source files and are searched for C style routine and macro definitions.
139Files whose names end in
140.Pa .y
141are assumed to be
142.Xr yacc 1
143source files.
144Files whose names end in
145.Pa .l
146are assumed to be Lisp files if their
147first non-blank character is
148.Ql \&; ,
149.Ql \&( ,
150or
151.Ql \&[ ,
152otherwise, they are
153treated as
154.Xr lex 1
155files.
156Other files are first examined to see if they
157contain any Pascal or Fortran routine definitions, and, if not, are
158searched for C style definitions.
159.Pp
160The tag
161.Dq Li main
162is treated specially in C programs.
163The tag formed
164is created by prepending
165.Ql M
166to the name of the file, with the
167trailing
168.Pa .c
169and any leading pathname components removed.
170This makes use of
171.Nm
172practical in directories with more than one
173program.
174.Pp
175.Xr yacc 1
176and
177.Xr lex 1
178files each have a special tag.
179.Dq Li yyparse
180is the start
181of the second section of the
182.Xr yacc 1
183file, and
184.Dq Li yylex
185is the start of
186the second section of the
187.Xr lex 1
188file.
189.Sh FILES
190.Bl -tag -width ".Pa tags" -compact
191.It Pa tags
192default output tags file
193.El
194.Sh EXIT STATUS
195.Ex -std
196Duplicate objects are not considered errors.
197.Sh SEE ALSO
198.Xr ex 1 ,
199.Xr vi 1
200.Sh HISTORY
201The
202.Nm
203utility appeared in
204.Bx 3.0 .
205.Sh BUGS
206Recognition of functions, subroutines and procedures
207for Fortran and Pascal is done in a very simpleminded way.
208No attempt
209is made to deal with block structure; if you have two Pascal procedures
210in different blocks with the same name you lose.
211The
212.Nm
213utility does not
214understand about Pascal types.
215.Pp
216The method of deciding whether to look for C, Pascal or
217Fortran
218functions is a hack.
219.Pp
220The
221.Nm
222utility relies on the input being well formed, and any syntactical
223errors will completely confuse it.
224It also finds some legal syntax
225confusing; for example, since it does not understand
226.Li #ifdef Ns 's
227(incidentally, that is a feature, not a bug), any code with unbalanced
228braces inside
229.Li #ifdef Ns 's
230will cause it to become somewhat disoriented.
231In a similar fashion, multiple line changes within a definition will
232cause it to enter the last line of the object, rather than the first, as
233the searching pattern.
234The last line of multiple line
235.Li typedef Ns 's
236will similarly be noted.
237