etc/etags.1

   1 .\" Copyright (c) 1992, 2001 Free Software Foundation
   2 .\" See section COPYING for conditions for redistribution
   3 .TH etags 1 "08apr2001" "GNU Tools" "GNU Tools"
   4 .de BP
   5 .sp
   6 .ti -.2i
   7 \(**
   8 ..
   9
  10 .SH NAME
  11 etags, ctags \- generate tag file for Emacs, vi
  12 .SH SYNOPSIS
  13 .hy 0
  14 .na
  15 \fBetags\fP [\|\-aCDGImRVh\|] [\|\-i \fIfile\fP\|] [\|\-l \fIlanguage\fP\|]
  16 .if n .br
  17 [\|\-o \fItagfile\fP\|] [\|\-r \fIregexp\fP\|]
  18 .br
  19 [\|\-\-append\|] [\|\-\-no\-defines\|]
  20 [\|\-\-no\-globals\|] [\|\-\-include=\fIfile\fP\|]
  21 [\|\-\-ignore\-indentation\|] [\|\-\-language=\fIlanguage\fP\|]
  22 [\|\-\-members\|] [\|\-\-output=\fItagfile\fP\|]
  23 [\|\-\-regex=\fIregexp\fP\|] [\|\-\-no\-regex\|]
  24 [\|\-\-ignore\-case\-regex=\fIregexp\fP\|]
  25 [\|\-\-help\|] [\|\-\-version\|]
  26 \fIfile\fP .\|.\|.
  27
  28 \fBctags\fP [\|\-aCdgImRVh\|] [\|\-BtTuvwx\|] [\|\-l \fIlanguage\fP\|]
  29 .if n .br
  30 [\|\-o \fItagfile\fP\|] [\|\-r \fIregexp\fP\|]
  31 .br
  32 [\|\-\-append\|] [\|\-\-backward\-search\|]
  33 [\|\-\-cxref\|] [\|\-\-defines\|] [\|\-\-forward\-search\|]
  34 [\|\-\-globals\|] [\|\-\-ignore\-indentation\|]
  35 [\|\-\-language=\fIlanguage\fP\|] [\|\-\-members\|]
  36 [\|\-\-output=\fItagfile\fP\|] [\|\-\-regex=\fIregexp\fP\|]
  37 [\|\-\-ignore\-case\-regex=\fIregexp\fP\|]
  38 [\|\-\-typedefs\|] [\|\-\-typedefs\-and\-c++\|]
  39 [\|\-\-update\|] [\|\-\-no\-warn\|]
  40 [\|\-\-help\|] [\|\-\-version\|]
  41 \fIfile\fP .\|.\|.
  42 .ad b
  43 .hy 1
  44 .SH DESCRIPTION
  45 The \|\fBetags\fP\| program is used to create a tag table file, in a format
  46 understood by
  47 .BR emacs ( 1 )\c
  48 \&; the \|\fBctags\fP\| program is used to create a similar table in a
  49 format understood by
  50 .BR vi ( 1 )\c
  51 \&.  Both forms of the program understand
  52 the syntax of C, Objective C, C++, Java, Fortran, Ada, Cobol, Erlang,
  53 LaTeX, Emacs Lisp/Common Lisp, makefiles, Pascal, Perl, Postscript,
  54 Python, Prolog, Scheme and
  55 most assembler\-like syntaxes.
  56 Both forms read the files specified on the command line, and write a tag
  57 table (defaults: \fBTAGS\fP for \fBetags\fP, \fBtags\fP for
  58 \fBctags\fP) in the current working directory.
  59 Files specified with relative file names will be recorded in the tag
  60 table with file names relative to the directory where the tag table
  61 resides.  Files specified with absolute file names will be recorded
  62 with absolute file names.
  63 The programs recognize the language used in an input file based on its
  64 file name and contents.  The \fB\-\-language\fP switch can be used to force
  65 parsing of the file names following the switch according to the given
  66 language, overriding guesses based on filename extensions.
  67 .SH OPTIONS
  68 Some options make sense only for the \fBvi\fP style tag files produced
  69 by ctags;
  70 \fBetags\fP does not recognize them.
  71 The programs accept unambiguous abbreviations for long option names.
  72 .TP
  73 .B \-a, \-\-append
  74 Append to existing tag file.  (For \fBvi\fP-format tag files, see also
  75 \fB\-\-update\fP.)
  76 .TP
  77 .B \-B, \-\-backward\-search
  78 Tag files written in the format expected by \fBvi\fP contain regular
  79 expression search instructions; the \fB\-B\fP option writes them using
  80 the delimiter `\|\fB?\fP\|', to search \fIbackwards\fP through files.
  81 The default is to use the delimiter `\|\fB/\fP\|', to search \fIforwards\fP
  82 through files.
  83 Only \fBctags\fP accepts this option.
  84 .TP
  85 .B \-\-declarations
  86 In C and derived languages, create tags for function declarations,
  87 and create tags for extern variables unless \-\-no\-globals is used.
  88 .TP
  89 .B \-d, \-\-defines
  90 Create tag entries for C preprocessor constant definitions
  91 and enum constants, too.  This is the
  92 default behavior for \fBetags\fP.
  93 .TP
  94 .B \-D, \-\-no\-defines
  95 Do not create tag entries for C preprocessor constant definitions
  96 and enum constants.
  97 This may make the tags file much smaller if many header files are tagged.
  98 This is the default behavior for \fBctags\fP.
  99 .TP
 100 .B \-g, \-\-globals
 101 Create tag entries for global variables in C, C++, Objective C, Java,
 102 and Perl.
 103 This is the default behavior for \fBetags\fP.
 104 .TP
 105 .B \-G, \-\-no\-globals
 106 Do not tag global variables.  Typically this reduces the file size by
 107 one fourth.  This is the default behavior for \fBctags\fP.
 108 .TP
 109 \fB\-i\fP \fIfile\fP, \fB\-\-include=\fIfile\fP
 110 Include a note in the tag file indicating that, when searching for a
 111 tag, one should also consult the tags file \fIfile\fP after checking the
 112 current file.  This options is only accepted by \fBetags\fP.
 113 .TP
 114 .B \-I, \-\-ignore\-indentation
 115 Don't rely on indentation as much as we normally do.  Currently, this
 116 means not to assume that a closing brace in the first column is the
 117 final brace of a function or structure definition in C and C++.
 118 .TP
 119 \fB\-l\fP \fIlanguage\fP, \fB\-\-language=\fIlanguage\fP
 120 Parse the following files according to the given language.  More than
 121 one such options may be intermixed with filenames.  Use \fB\-\-help\fP
 122 to get a list of the available languages and their default filename
 123 extensions.  The `auto' language can be used to restore automatic
 124 detection of language based on the file name.  The `none'
 125 language may be used to disable language parsing altogether; only
 126 regexp matching is done in this case (see the \fB\-\-regex\fP option).
 127 .TP
 128 .B \-m, \-\-members
 129 Create tag entries for variables that are members of structure-like
 130 constructs in C++, Objective C, Java.
 131 .TP
 132 .B \-M, \-\-no\-members
 133 Do not tag member variables.  This is the default behavior.
 134 .TP
 135 .B \-\-packages\-only
 136 Only tag packages in Ada files.
 137 .TP
 138 \fB\-o\fP \fItagfile\fP, \fB\-\-output=\fItagfile\fP
 139 Explicit name of file for tag table; overrides default \fBTAGS\fP or
 140 \fBtags\fP.   (But ignored with \fB\-v\fP or \fB\-x\fP.)
 141 .TP
 142 \fB\-r\fP \fIregexp\fP, \fB\-\-regex=\fIregexp\fP
 143 .TP
 144 \fB\-\-ignore\-case\-regex=\fIregexp\fP
 145 Make tags based on regexp matching for each line of the files
 146 following this option, in addition to the tags made with the standard
 147 parsing based on language.  When using \fB\-\-regex\fP, case is
 148 significant, while it is not with \fB\-\-ignore\-case\-regex\fP. May
 149 be freely intermixed with filenames and the \fB\-R\fP option.  The
 150 regexps are cumulative, i.e. each option will add to the previous
 151 ones.  The regexps are of the form:
 152 .br
 153         \fB/\fP\fItagregexp\fP[\fB/\fP\fInameregexp\fP]\fB/\fP
 154 .br
 155
 156 where \fItagregexp\fP is used to match the lines that must be tagged.
 157 It should not match useless characters.  If the match is
 158 such that more characters than needed are unavoidably matched by
 159 \fItagregexp\fP, it may be useful to add a \fInameregexp\fP, to
 160 narrow down the tag scope.  \fBctags\fP ignores regexps without a
 161 \fInameregexp\fP.  The syntax of regexps is the same as in emacs,
 162 augmented with intervals of the form \\{m,n\\}, as in \fBed\fP or
 163 \fBgrep\fP.
 164 .br
 165 Here are some examples.  All the regexps are quoted to protect them
 166 from shell interpretation.
 167 .br
 168
 169 Tag the DEFVAR macros in the emacs source files:
 170 .br
 171 \fI\-\-regex\='/[ \\t]*DEFVAR_[A-Z_ \\t(]+"\\([^"]+\\)"\/'\fP
 172 .br
 173
 174 Tag VHDL files (this example is a single long line, broken here for
 175 formatting reasons):
 176 .br
 177 \fI\-\-language\=none\ \-\-regex='/[\ \\t]*\\(ARCHITECTURE\\|\\
 178 CONFIGURATION\\)\ +[^\ ]*\ +OF/'\ \-\-regex\='/[\ \\t]*\\
 179 \\(ATTRIBUTE\\|ENTITY\\|FUNCTION\\|PACKAGE\\(\ BODY\\)?\\
 180 \\|PROCEDURE\\|PROCESS\\|TYPE\\)[\ \\t]+\\([^\ \\t(]+\\)/\\3/'\fP
 181 .br
 182
 183 Tag TCL files (this last example shows the usage of a \fItagregexp\fP):
 184 .br
 185 \fI\-\-lang\=none \-\-regex\='/proc[\ \\t]+\\([^\ \\t]+\\)/\\1/'\fP
 186
 187 .br
 188 A regexp can be preceded by {\fIlang\fP}, thus restricting it to match
 189 lines of files of the specified language.  Use \fBetags --help\fP to obtain
 190 a list of the recognised languages.  This feature is particularly useful inside
 191 \fBregex files\fP.  A regex file contains one regex per line.  Empty lines,
 192 and those lines beginning with space or tab are ignored.  Lines beginning
 193 with @ are references to regex files whose name follows the @ sign.  Other
 194 lines are considered regular expressions like those following \fB\-\-regex\fP.
 195 .br
 196 For example, the command
 197 .br
 198 \fIetags \-\-regex=@regex.file *.c\fP
 199 .br
 200 reads the regexes contained in the file regex.file.
 201 .TP
 202 .B \-R, \-\-no\-regex
 203 Don't do any more regexp matching on the following files.  May be
 204 freely intermixed with filenames and the \fB\-\-regex\fP option.
 205 .TP
 206 .B \-t, \-\-typedefs
 207 Record typedefs in C code as tags.  Since this is the default behaviour
 208 of \fBetags\fP, only \fBctags\fP accepts this option.
 209 .TP
 210 .B \-T, \-\-typedefs\-and\-c++
 211 Generate tag entries for typedefs, struct, enum, and union tags, and
 212 C++ member functions.  Since this is the default behaviour
 213 of \fBetags\fP, only \fBctags\fP accepts this option.
 214 .TP
 215 .B \-u, \-\-update
 216 Update tag entries for \fIfiles\fP specified on command line, leaving
 217 tag entries for other files in place.  Currently, this is implemented
 218 by deleting the existing entries for the given files and then
 219 rewriting the new entries at the end of the tags file.  It is often
 220 faster to simply rebuild the entire tag file than to use this.
 221 Only \fBctags\fP accepts this option.
 222 .TP
 223 .B \-v, \-\-vgrind
 224 Instead of generating a tag file, write index (in \fBvgrind\fP format)
 225 to standard output.  Only \fBctags\fP accepts this option.
 226 .TP
 227 .B \-w, \-\-no\-warn
 228 Suppress warning messages about duplicate entries.  The \fBetags\fP
 229 program does not check for duplicate entries, so this option is not
 230 allowed with it.
 231 .TP
 232 .B \-x, \-\-cxref
 233 Instead of generating a tag file, write a cross reference (in
 234 \fBcxref\fP format) to standard output.  Only \fBctags\fP accepts this option.
 235 .TP
 236 .B \-h, \-H, \-\-help
 237 Print usage information.
 238 .TP
 239 .B \-V, \-\-version
 240 Print the current version of the program (same as the version of the
 241 emacs \fBetags\fP is shipped with).
 242
 243 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 244 `\|\fBemacs\fP\|' entry in \fBinfo\fP; \fIGNU Emacs Manual\fP, Richard
 245 Stallman.
 246 .br
 247 .BR cxref ( 1 ),
 248 .BR emacs ( 1 ),
 249 .BR vgrind ( 1 ),
 250 .BR vi ( 1 ).
 251
 252 .SH COPYING
 253 Copyright
 254 .if t \(co
 255 .if n (c)
 256 1999, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 257 .PP
 258 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
 259 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1
 260 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
 261 with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and no
 262 Back-Cover Texts.
 263 .PP
 264 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
 265 Documentation License.  If you want to distribute this document
 266 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
 267 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
 268 A copy of the license is included in the
 269 .BR gfdl ( 1 )
 270 man page, and in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation
 271 License" in the Emacs manual.