Contents
Despite the wealth of available options, defaults are set so that ctags is most commonly executed without any options (e.g. “ ctags * ”, or “ ctags -R ”), which will create a tag file in the current directory for all recognized source files. The options described below are provided merely to allow custom tailoring to meet special needs.
ctags is capable of generating different kinds of tags for each of many different languages. For a complete list of supported languages, the names by which they are recognized, and the kinds of tags which are generated for each, see the –list-languages and –list-kinds-full options.
When to use symbolic links in ctags 0.3?
If the list of supplied files is empty and no file list is specified with the -L option, then the current directory (i.e. ‘. ’) is assumed. Symbolic links are followed by default (See –links option). If you don’t like these behaviors, either explicitly specify the files or pipe the output of find (1) into “ ctags -L – ” instead.
How does ctags work as a source filter?
Makes ctags behave as a filter, reading source file names from standard input and printing their tags to standard output on a file-by-file basis. If –sort is enabled, tags are sorted only within the source file in which they are defined.
The ctags and etags (see -e option) programs (hereinafter collectively referred to as ctags, except where distinguished) generate an index (or “tag”) file for a variety of language objects found in source file (s). This tag file allows these items to be quickly and easily located by a text editor or other utilities ( client tools ).
Alternatively, ctags can generate a cross reference file which lists, in human readable form, information about the various language objects found in a set of source files.