vi includes a tag file capability that, when used in synergy with
ctags (see ctags(1) for more), simplifies random
editing of code segments in large programs. Functionality is provided
only for Fortran, Pascal and C codes. ctags
reads the specified files and creates the tag file with file name tags.
File tags describes the routine dependencies and is used by vi
to move around source code files using matching criteria stated by file
tags.
| Creating Tag Files | |
ctags prog* |
create tag file for all prog* source code |
ctags *io*.c |
create tag file for all *io*.c files |
ctags *.c |
create tag file for all C files |
ctags *.f |
create tag file for all Fortran files |
ctags *.[fc] |
create tag file for all C/Fortran files |
Note that vi cannot handle variable names for the tag file, therefore
it is advisable to create a dedicated directory for each program on which
editing should use vi tagging facility. vi searches file tags when
called with the -t option. tags is the default name of
ctags output.