ctags: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:04, 11 August 2010

Moodle 1.9.5 and older

The root directory of the Moodle CVS distribution contains a file called tags. This contains information about the location of symbols throughout the moodle code. An editor can make use of this to automatically jump to the place where a function is defined.

Moodle 1.9.6 and newer

As of Moodle 1.9.6 the tags file is no longer included in the Moodle distribution. Instead a file tags.txt is included providing instructions on creating the tag file yourself. The text of this file is as follows:

Generating a tags file
======================

If you need a tags file so that you can jump around Moodle code
easily in your editor (eg vim or emacs), you can generate one:

Exuberant ctags (default on Linux, can be compiled on other platforms):
----------------------------------------------------------------------

ctags -R --languages=php --exclude="CVS" --php-kinds=f \
--regex-PHP='/abstract class ([^ ]*)/\1/c/' \
--regex-PHP='/interface ([^ ]*)/\1/c/' \
--regex-PHP='/(public |static |abstract |protected |private )+function ([^ (]*)/\2/f/'


Downloading the tags file
=========================

If for some reason you can't generate one, you can download a recent one from here:

http://download.moodle.org/tags            (for head)
http://download.moodle.org/stable19/tags   (Moodle 1.9.x)
http://download.moodle.org/stable18/tags   (Moodle 1.8.x)

Using tags with Vim

In order to use the tags file with the Vim editor (on a Unix style system), you should first add the following line to the file .vimrc in your home directory:

   set tags=tags;/

If .vimrc does not exist you should create it. This directive will force Vim to search for the tags file in the directory tree in which you are working (it searches up from where you are) so it will work for multiple versions of the code automatically.

How to jump to a tag with Vim

There are a number of things you can do:

Place the cursor over the tag (e.g., function name) and press CTRL+].
Type the command :tag <tagname>
To open in a new editor window type the command :stag <tagname>
To return to your previous location type CTRL+t

Using tags with Emacs

To create the TAGS file add a -e to the command of tags.txt, like this:

ctags -e -R --languages=php --exclude="CVS" --php-kinds=f \
--regex-PHP='/abstract class ([^ ]*)/\1/c/' \
--regex-PHP='/interface ([^ ]*)/\1/c/' \
--regex-PHP='/(public |static |abstract |protected |private )+function ([^ (]*)/\2/f/'

For instructions about how to use it look to the emacs wiki page EmacsTags

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+== Moodle 1.9.5 and older ==
 The root directory of the Moodle CVS distribution contains a file called '''tags'''. This contains information about the location of symbols throughout the moodle code. An editor can make use of this to automatically jump to the place where a function is defined.
-== Using tags with Vim ==
+== Moodle 1.9.6 and newer ==
-In order to use the tags file with the Vim editor (on a Unix style system), you should first add the following line to the file '''.vimrc''' in your home directory:
-    set tags=tags;/
-If .vimrc does not exist you should create it. This directive will force Vim to search for the tags file in the directory tree in which you are working (it searches up from where you are) so it will work for multiple versions of the code automatically.
-=== How to jump to a tag with Vim ===
-There are a number of things you can do:
-* Place the cursor over the tag (e.g., function name) and press '''CTRL+]'''.
-* Type the command ''':tag <tagname>'''
-* To open in a new editor window type the command ''':stag <tagname>'''
-* To return to your previous location type '''CTRL+t'''
-=== Generating the tags file ===
-If you need to generate your own tags file (perhaps because you are working on optional modules), from the Moodle root directory issue the command:
-    find  . -name "*.php" | xargs ctags
-The file should be of the order of 1MB in size.
-=== Moodle 1.9.6 and newer ===
 As of Moodle 1.9.6 the tags file is no longer included in the Moodle distribution. Instead a file tags.txt is included providing instructions on creating the tag file yourself. The text of this file is as follows:
@@ Line 55: / Line 30: @@
 http://download.moodle.org/stable18/tags  (Moodle 1.8.x)
 </pre>
+== Using tags with Vim ==
+In order to use the tags file with the Vim editor (on a Unix style system), you should first add the following line to the file '''.vimrc''' in your home directory:
+    set tags=tags;/
+If .vimrc does not exist you should create it. This directive will force Vim to search for the tags file in the directory tree in which you are working (it searches up from where you are) so it will work for multiple versions of the code automatically.
+=== How to jump to a tag with Vim ===
+There are a number of things you can do:
+* Place the cursor over the tag (e.g., function name) and press '''CTRL+]'''.
+* Type the command ''':tag <tagname>'''
+* To open in a new editor window type the command ''':stag <tagname>'''
+* To return to your previous location type '''CTRL+t'''
+== Using tags with Emacs ==
+To create the TAGS file add a -e to the command of tags.txt, like this:
+<pre>
+ctags -e -R --languages=php --exclude="CVS" --php-kinds=f \
+--regex-PHP='/abstract class ([^ ]*)/\1/c/' \
+--regex-PHP='/interface ([^ ]*)/\1/c/' \
+--regex-PHP='/(public |static |abstract |protected |private )+function ([^ (]*)/\2/f/'
+</pre>
+For instructions about how to use it look to the emacs wiki page [http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsTags EmacsTags]
 ==See also==

Documentation