etags

Generate TAGS file

$ etags [*.c] [*.h]

$ etags -a [newfile.c]

$ etags -o [MYTAGS] [*.c]

$ etags - < [filelist.txt]

$ etags --language=[c++] [*.cpp]

$ find . -name "*.py" | etags -

etags [options] files...

etags generates tag files for Emacs. Tags enable jumping to function definitions, variable declarations, and other symbols across source files.
The tool parses source files and creates a TAGS file containing symbol locations. Emacs uses this for code navigation with M-. (find-tag) and related commands.

-a, --append

Append to existing TAGS file.

Output to specified file.

Force language for following files.

Include another tags file.

Tag lines matching regex.

Read file names from stdin.

Display help.

C, C++, Java, Python, Perl, Ruby, Lisp, Scheme, Fortran, Pascal, PHP, Lua, Erlang, and many more.

Different from ctags (Vim tags). TAGS file can grow large. Needs regeneration after code changes. Some languages have limited support.

etags has been part of GNU Emacs since its early versions. It provides the Emacs counterpart to ctags. The tool has evolved to support many programming languages while maintaining compatibility with Emacs tag navigation.

ctags(1), emacs(1), cscope(1), global(1)