= Exuberant Ctags =

ctags is a tool for making a file of jump tags from a set of (C) Sources.[[BR]]
A tags aware editor can then use the tags file to jump to another file and position when a tag is activated.[[BR]]
Normally this is configured so that activating a tag on function or method call takes you to the place of its definition.

[http://ctags.sourceforge.net Exuberant ctags] is an implementation and extension of this idea supporting multiple languages.

The following code is a quick and dirty configuration to allow ctags to make tags for cobra files.

Install the following in file $HOME/.ctags
{{{
--langdef=Cobra
--langmap=Cobra:.cobra
--regex-cobra=/^[ \t]*namespace[ \t]*([a-zA-Z0-9_\.]+)/\1/n,namespaces/
--regex-cobra=/^[ \t]*class[ \t]*([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/\1/c,classes/
--regex-cobra=/^[ \t]*struct[ \t]*([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/\1/s,structs/
--regex-cobra=/^[ \t]*interface[ \t]*([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/\1/i,interfaces/
--regex-cobra=/^[ \t]*extend[ \t]*([a-zA-Z0-9_\.]+)/\1/E,extensions/
--regex-cobra=/^[ \t]*enum[ \t]*([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/\1/e,enums/
--regex-cobra=/^[ \t]*sig[ \t]*([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/\1/S,method signatures/
--regex-cobra=/^[ \t]*def[ \t]*([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/\1/m,methods/
--regex-cobra=/^[ \t]*var[ \t]*([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/\1/v,vars/
--regex-cobra=/^[ \t]*(get|set|pro)[ \t]*([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/\2/p,properties/
--sort=no
}}}
You can check that the above is recognized with
{{{
.../wkspace> ctags --list-kinds=Cobra
n  namespaces 
c  classes 
s  structs 
i  interfaces 
e  enums 
S  method signatures 
m  methods 
v  vars 
p  properties 
.../wkspace>
}}}

thereafter running
{{{
ctags -R *.cobra
}}}
in a cobra source tree should generate a file '''tags''' in the cwd containing tags for the cobra classes, methods, vars and properties recognised.

Running a tags aware editor that can find that tags file should give a simple jump navigation capability in that editor.[[BR]]
The ctags website above includes a list of (common) text editors that are ctags aware.

== To Do ==

 * More testing
 * Indexers?
 * Show specific examples of using a ctags-aware editors

== See Also ==

 * http://ctags.sourceforge.net/
 * http://ctags.sourceforge.net/EXTENDING.html
 * EditorSupport
 * [wiki:IDESupport]