# HG changeset patch # User Eli Zaretskii # Date 1240769249 0 # Node ID ffe7eb45a5374f61532c8611950b0b7d03566253 # Parent 71fd1fed0dfdc28bb8b86235570c97a2ed6b2976 (Tags): Clarify the text some more. diff -r 71fd1fed0dfd -r ffe7eb45a537 doc/emacs/maintaining.texi --- a/doc/emacs/maintaining.texi Sun Apr 26 02:35:48 2009 +0000 +++ b/doc/emacs/maintaining.texi Sun Apr 26 18:07:29 2009 +0000 @@ -1480,34 +1480,34 @@ @section Tags Tables @cindex tags and tag tables - A @dfn{tag} is a named subunit of a program or of a document. In -program source code, tags are syntactic elements of the program: -functions, subroutines, data types, macros, etc. In a document, tags -are chapters, sections, appendices, etc. + A @dfn{tag} is a reference to a subunit in a program or in a +document. In program source code, tags reference syntactic elements +of the program: functions, subroutines, data types, macros, etc. In a +document, tags reference chapters, sections, appendices, etc. Each +tag specifies the file name on which the corresponding subunit is +defined, and the position of the subunit's definition in that file. - A @dfn{tags table} records the names of the tags extracted from the -source code of a certain program or from a certain document. Each tag -is listed together with the file name on which it is defined, and the -position of the tag in that file. Tags extracted from generated files -reference the original file from which they were generated, rather -than the file from which these tags were extracted. Examples of -generated files include C files generated from Cweb source files, from -a Yacc parser, or from Lex scanner definitions; @file{.i} preprocessed -C files; and Fortran files produced by preprocessing @file{.fpp} -source files. + A @dfn{tags table} records the tags extracted by scanning the source +code of a certain program or a certain document. Tags extracted from +generated files reference subunits in the original files, rather than +the generated files that were scanned during tag extraction. Examples +of generated files include C files generated from Cweb source files, +from a Yacc parser, or from Lex scanner definitions; @file{.i} +preprocessed C files; and Fortran files produced by preprocessing +@file{.fpp} source files. - Tags tables are produced by scanning a document or the source code -of a program with a special program called @samp{etags}, and stored in -files called @dfn{tags table files}. The conventional name for a tags -table file is @file{TAGS}. + To produce tags tables, you use the @samp{etags} command, submitting +it a document or the source code of a program. @samp{etags} writes +the tags to files called @dfn{tags table files}, or @dfn{tags file} in +short. The conventional name for a tags file is @file{TAGS}. Emacs uses the information recorded in tags tables in commands that -search or replace through multiple files: these commands use the names -of the source files recorded in the tags table to know which files to -search. Other commands, such as @kbd{M-.}, which finds the definition -of a function, use the recorded information about the function names -and positions to find the source file and the position within that -file where the function is defined. +search or replace through multiple source files: these commands use +the names of the source files recorded in the tags table to know which +files to search. Other commands, such as @kbd{M-.}, which finds the +definition of a function, use the recorded information about the +function names and positions to find the source file and the position +within that file where the function is defined. @cindex C++ class browser, tags @cindex tags, C++