How can I jump to function when doing C development in Emacs?

Question

I am doing C development in Emacs. If I have a source file open with multiple functions and "the marker" is at a function call e.g. int n = get_number(arg); is there any way I can "jump to" the implementation of that function? e.g. to int get_number(int *arg) { ... }

I have done some Java development in Eclipse and is missing this functionallity, because I'm not that used to Emacs but I would like to learn.

Answer 1

You have to create a tag file.
Under Unix, you have the etags program that understands the syntax of C, C++, Java... and that create a tag file that can be used by Emacs.

This rather old page (2004) provides more information.

To jump to a function use M-. (that’s Meta-Period) and type the name of the function. If you simply press enter Emacs will jump to the function declaration that matches the word under the cursor.

Answer 2

There are several "tags" systems which allows that (there is one bundled with emacs, there is GNU global which isn't bundled with emacs but integrate well with it and has some advantages). Compared with Eclipse, you'll need to build the tags file.

Then there is semantic/EDE which is now bundled with emacs which should provide a solution without needing to build a database explicitly. I've not tried to use it recently. When I did, it has performance problem and I found the set up was painful. (Both possibly due to the fact that I'm working on a big -- several 10's millions lines -- and old -- some things date back to the mid 80's -- project without the possibility of reorganizing it).

Answer 3

I think semantic-mode should do you the same result. Although I haven't tried to jump to another file, but in one file it's very excellent. Go to a variable, issue keystroke C-c,j, it will jump to the definition of the variable. Go back to previous line using C-uC-space. To display reference to the symbol, use keystroke C-c,g

It really helps me. I haven't tried it to jump to another file, because my current project is a modified Java program, where we are using preprocessor (a non standard java process). So I think that is where the problem lies.

Anyone success with semantic-mode???

thanks