Vim and Ctags tips and tricks

Question

I have just installed Ctags (to help with C++ development) with my Vim (or rather gVim), and would like to find out your favorite commands, macros, shortcuts, tips that go along with it...

Share your best arsenal. What other Vim add-ons you would recommend for C++ on Vim development?

EDIT What other add-on you would use in conjunction with Ctags?

EDIT2 What version of gVim you use with tags? Does it make a difference?

EDIT3 How do you enhance your programming experience for both big and small projects?

Answer 1

I use ALT-left and ALT-right to pop/push from/to the tag stack.

" Alt-right/left to navigate forward/backward in the tags stack
map <M-Left> <C-T>
map <M-Right> <C-]>

If you use hjkl for movement you can map <M-h> and <M-l> instead.

Answer 2

You can add directories to your ctags lookup. For example, I have a ctags index built for Qt4, and have this in my .vimrc:

set tags+=/usr/local/share/ctags/qt4

Answer 3

The command I am using most is C-] which jumps to the definition of the function under the cursor. You can use it more often to follow more calls. After that, C-o will bring you back one level, C-i goes deeper again.

Answer 4

C-] - go to definition
C-T - Jump back from the definition.
C-W C-] - Open the definition in a horizontal split

Add these lines in vimrc
map <C-\> :tab split<CR>:exec("tag ".expand("<cword>"))<CR>
map <A-]> :vsp <CR>:exec("tag ".expand("<cword>"))<CR>

C-\ - Open the definition in a new tab
A-] - Open the definition in a vertical split

After the tags are generated. You can use the following keys to tag into and tag out of functions:

Ctrl-Left_MouseClick - Go to definition
Ctrl-Right_MouseClick - Jump back from definition

Answer 5

I've encapsulated tags manipulation in an experimental plugin of mine.

Regarding C++ development in vim, I've already answered there: I use my own suite, and a few other plugins.

Answer 6

Another useful plugin for C development is cscope Just as Ctags lets you jump to definitions, Cscope jumps to the calling functions.

If you have cscope in your ~/bin/ directory, add the following to your .vimrc and use g^] to go to the calling function (see :help cscope).

if has("cscope")
    set csprg=~/bin/cscope
    set csto=0
    set cst
    set nocsverb
    " add any database in current directory
    if filereadable("cscope.out")
        cs add cscope.out
        " else add database pointed to by environment
    elseif $CSCOPE_DB != ""
        cs add $CSCOPE_DB
    endif
endif

Almost forgot... Just as ctags - you have to generate (and periodically update) the database. I use the following script

select_files > cscope.files
ctags -L cscope.files
ctags -e -L cscope.files
cscope -ub -i cscope.files

Where 'select_files' is another script that extracts the list of C and header files from the Makefile. This way I index only the files actually used by the project.

Answer 7

I've found the taglist plug-in a must-have. It lists all tags that it knows about (files that you have opened) in a seperate window and makes it very easy to navigate larger files.

I use it mostly for Python development, but it can only be better for C/C++.

Answer 8

I've been adobting my vim plugins for two years to support big enough c++ project. You can take a look at them.

They use ctags and cscsope.

http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1638
http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2507

Answer 9

All of the above and...

code_complete : function parameter complete, code snippets, and much more.

• http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1764

taglist.vim : Source code browser (supports C/C++, java, perl, python, tcl, sql, php, etc)

• http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=273

BR Johan

Answer 10

One line that always goes in my .vimrc:

set tags=tags;/

This will look in the current directory for "tags", and work up the tree towards root until one is found. IOW, you can be anywhere in your source tree instead of just the root of it.

Answer 11

I put the following in my .gvimrc file, which searches up the tree from any point for a tags file when gvim starts:

function SetTags()
    let curdir = getcwd()

    while !filereadable("tags") && getcwd() != "/"
        cd ..
    endwhile

    if filereadable("tags")
        execute "set tags=" . getcwd() . "/tags"
    endif

    execute "cd " . curdir
endfunction

call SetTags()

I then periodically regenerate a tags file at the top of my source tree with a script that looks like:

#!/bin/bash

find . -regex ".*\.\(c\|h\|hpp\|cc\|cpp\)" -print | ctags --totals --recurse --extra="+qf" --fields="+i" -L -

Answer 12

Initially, I have specified tag path names completely and struggled a lot in finding why ctags is not working in gvim.

set tags=./tags,C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\htdocs\tags

Actual problem is that ctags on windows requires the tag path names to be specified in old dos (8.3 notation) style pathnames.

set tags=./tags,C:\PROGRA~1\APACHE~1\Apache2.2\htdocs\tags,C:/PROGRA~1/MIEEF7~1/tags

Although specifying tag path names in dos notation works,any thoughts on some other best workaround for this?

Answer 13

@alanwj,

I do not know why, but with your SetTags function in .vimrc, cscope is going crazy.

I am running 'cscope -d' in foo/bar directory. Then the file opened for editing has a pwd 'foo' instead of 'foo/bar'.

Please fix this up, if you can..

thanks, Mallik

Answer 14

@Naga Kiran: You likely would have needed to quote those space'y pathnames.

Answer 15

Several definitions of the same name

<C-w>g<C-]> open the definition in a split, but also do :tjump which either goes to the definition or, if there are several definitions, presents you with a list of definitions to choose from.