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(emacs)Find Tag

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Finding a Tag
-------------

   The most important thing that a tags table enables you to do is to
find the definition of a specific tag.

`M-. TAG <RET>'
     Find first definition of TAG (`find-tag').

`C-u M-.'
     Find next alternate definition of last tag specified.

`C-u - M-.'
     Go back to previous tag found.

`C-M-. PATTERN <RET>'
     Find a tag whose name matches PATTERN (`find-tag-regexp').

`C-u C-M-.'
     Find the next tag whose name matches the last pattern used.

`C-x 4 . TAG <RET>'
     Find first definition of TAG, but display it in another window
     (`find-tag-other-window').

`C-x 5 . TAG <RET>'
     Find first definition of TAG, and create a new frame to select the
     buffer (`find-tag-other-frame').

`M-*'
     Pop back to where you previously invoked `M-.' and friends.

   `M-.' (`find-tag') is the command to find the definition of a
specified tag.  It searches through the tags table for that tag, as a
string, and then uses the tags table info to determine the file that the
definition is in and the approximate character position in the file of
the definition.  Then `find-tag' visits that file, moves point to the
approximate character position, and searches ever-increasing distances
away to find the tag definition.

   If an empty argument is given (just type <RET>), the balanced
expression in the buffer before or around point is used as the TAG
argument.  Note: Expressions.

   You don't need to give `M-.' the full name of the tag; a part will
do.  This is because `M-.' finds tags in the table which contain TAG as
a substring.  However, it prefers an exact match to a substring match.
To find other tags that match the same substring, give `find-tag' a
numeric argument, as in `C-u M-.'; this does not read a tag name, but
continues searching the tags table's text for another tag containing
the same substring last used.  If you have a real <META> key, `M-0 M-.'
is an easier alternative to `C-u M-.'.

   Like most commands that can switch buffers, `find-tag' has a variant
that displays the new buffer in another window, and one that makes a
new frame for it.  The former is `C-x 4 .', which invokes the command
`find-tag-other-window'.  The latter is `C-x 5 .', which invokes
`find-tag-other-frame'.

   To move back to places you've found tags recently, use `C-u - M-.';
more generally, `M-.' with a negative numeric argument.  This command
can take you to another buffer.  `C-x 4 .' with a negative argument
finds the previous tag location in another window.

   As well as going back to places you've found tags recently, you can
go back to places _from where_ you found them.  Use `M-*', which
invokes the command `pop-tag-mark', for this.  Typically you would find
and study the definition of something with `M-.' and then return to
where you were with `M-*'.

   Both `C-u - M-.' and `M-*' allow you to retrace your steps to a
depth determined by the variable `find-tag-marker-ring-length'.

   The command `C-M-.' (`find-tag-regexp') visits the tags that match a
specified regular expression.  It is just like `M-.' except that it
does regexp matching instead of substring matching.