Autocmd to update ctags file

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Tip 1299 Printable Monobook Previous Next

created August 9, 2006 · complexity basic · author kilgore trout · version n/a

To automatically update the ctags file when a file is written, I have added this to my vimrc:

function! UPDATE_TAGS()
  let _f_ = expand("%:p")
  let _cmd_ = '"ctags -a -f /dvr/tags --c++-kinds=+p --fields=+iaS --extra=+q " ' . '"' . _f_ . '"'
  let _resp = system(_cmd_)
  unlet _cmd_
  unlet _f_
  unlet _resp
endfunction
autocmd BufWrite *.cpp,*.h,*.c call UPDATE_TAGS()

Comments

To run a command in the background you may try script script#1582.

Since I wrote it, I prefer script#1343.

The big advantage, that I see, is that simply running ctags -a on a written file leaves behind in the tags file tags for items you've just deleted before writing the file. script#1343 removes all entries for the file you've just written and then runs ctags -a.