ctags(1) User Commands ctags(1)NAMEctags - create a tags file for use with ex and vi
SYNOPSIS
/usr/bin/ctags [-aBFtuvwx] [-f tagsfile] file...
/usr/xpg4/bin/ctags [-aBFuvwx] [-f tagsfile] file...
DESCRIPTION
The ctags utility makes a tags file for ex(1) from the specified C,
C++, Pascal, FORTRAN, yacc(1), and lex(1) sources. A tags file gives
the locations of specified objects (in this case functions and type‐
defs) in a group of files. Each line of the tags file contains the
object name, the file in which it is defined, and an address specifica‐
tion for the object definition. Functions are searched with a pattern,
typedefs with a line number. Specifiers are given in separate fields on
the line, separated by <SPACE> or <TAB> characters. Using the tags
file, ex can quickly find these objects' definitions.
Normally, ctags places the tag descriptions in a file called tags;
this may be overridden with the -f option.
Files with names ending in .c or .h are assumed to be either C or C++
source files and are searched for C/C++ routine and macro definitions.
Files with names ending in .cc, .C, or .cxx, are assumed to be C++
source files. Files with names ending in .y are assumed to be yacc
source files. Files with names ending in .l are assumed to be lex
files. Others are first examined to see if they contain any Pascal or
FORTRAN routine definitions; if not, they are processed again looking
for C definitions.
The tag main is treated specially in C or C++ programs. The tag formed
is created by prepending M to file, with a trailing .c , .cc .C, or
.cxx removed, if any, and leading path name components also removed.
This makes use of ctags practical in directories with more than one
program.
OPTIONS
The precedence of the options that pertain to printing is -x, -v, then
the remaining options. The following options are supported:
-a Appends output to an existing tags file.
-B Uses backward searching patterns (?...?).
-f tagsfile Places the tag descriptions in a file called tagsfile
instead of tags.
-F Uses forward searching patterns (/.../) (default).
-t Creates tags for typedefs. /usr/xpg4/bin/ctags creates
tags for typedefs by default.
-u Updates the specified files in tags, that is, all ref‐
erences to them are deleted, and the new values are
appended to the file. Beware: this option is imple‐
mented in a way that is rather slow; it is usually
faster to simply rebuild the tags file.
-v Produces on the standard output an index listing the
function name, file name, and page number (assuming 64
line pages). Since the output will be sorted into lexi‐
cographic order, it may be desired to run the output
through sort -f.
-w Suppresses warning diagnostics.
-x 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.
OPERANDS
The following file operands are supported:
file.c Files with basenames ending with the .c suffix are
treated as C-language source code.
file.h Files with basenames ending with the .h suffix are
treated as C-language source code.
file.f Files with basenames ending with the .f suffix are
treated as FORTRAN-language source code.
USAGE
The -v option is mainly used with vgrind which will be part of the
optional BSD Compatibility Package.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Producing entries in alphabetical order
Using ctags with the -v option produces entries in an order which may
not always be appropriate for vgrind. To produce results in alphabeti‐
cal order, you may want to run the output through sort -f.
example% ctags-v filename.c filename.h | sort -f > index
example% vgrind -x index
Example 2: Building a tags file
To build a tags file for C sources in a directory hierarchy rooted at
sourcedir, first create an empty tags file, and then run find(1)
example% cd sourcedir ; rm -f tags ; touch tags
example% find . \( -name SCCS -prune -name \\
'*.c' -o -name '*.h' \) -execctags-u {} \;
Notice that spaces must be entered exactly as shown.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
that affect the execution of ctags: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE, LC_CTYPE,
LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
FILES
tags output tags file
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
/usr/bin/ctags
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Availability │SUNWtoo │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
/usr/xpg4/bin/ctags
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Availability │SUNWxcu4 │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Interface Stability │Standard │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSOex(1), lex(1), vgrind(1), vi(1), yacc(1), attributes(5), environ(5),
standards(5)NOTES
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.
The method of deciding whether to look for C or Pascal and FORTRAN
functions is a hack.
The ctags utility does not know about #ifdefs.
The ctags utility should know about Pascal types. Relies on the input
being well formed to detect typedefs. Use of -tx shows only the last
line of typedefs.
SunOS 5.10 18 Mar 1997 ctags(1)