ctags in Vim - Quick Cheatsheet

January 18, 2025 ยท View on GitHub

Consider using modern stuff like LSP over ctags

Setup

  1. Install universal-ctags. Support languages like C/C++, Markdown, HTML, Java, Go, Javascript, Python, Shell scripts 
    # Linux
sudo snap install universal-ctags
# Mac
brew install --HEAD universal-ctags/universal-ctags/universal-ctags
  2. Run the command ctags -R * inside project folder
  3. Optionally Install fzf.vim which offers fuzzy searching over tags available using :Tags command

Usage

  • Ctrl + ]: Jump to tag underneath cursor
  • Ctrl + t: Jump back up in tag stack
  • Ctrl + W Ctrl + ] - Open the definition in a horizontal split