CSCOPE(1)CSCOPE(1)NAMEcscope - interactively examine a C program
SYNOPSIScscope [ -bCcdehkLlqRTUuV ] [-Fsymfile] [-freffile] [-Iincdir] [-inamefile]
[-numpattern] [-pn] [-sdir]
DESCRIPTIONcscope is an interactive, screen-oriented tool that allows the user to browse
through C source files for specified elements of code.
By default, cscope examines the C (.c and .h), lex (.l), and yacc (.y) source
files in the current directory. cscope may also be invoked for source files
named on the command line. In either case, cscope searches the standard direc‐
tories for #include files that it does not find in the current directory.
cscope uses a symbol cross-reference, cscope.out by default, to locate func‐
tions, function calls, macros, variables, and preprocessor symbols in the
files.
cscope builds the symbol cross-reference the first time it is used on the
source files for the program being browsed. On a subsequent invocation, cscope
rebuilds the cross-reference only if a source file has changed or the list of
source files is different. When the cross-reference is rebuilt, the data for
the unchanged files are copied from the old cross-reference, which makes
rebuilding faster than the initial build.
OPTIONS
The following options can appear in any combination:
-b Build the cross-reference only.
-C Ignore letter case when searching.
-c Use only ASCII characters in the cross-reference file, that is, do not
compress the data.
-d Do not update the cross-reference.
-e Suppress the <Ctrl>-e command prompt between files.
-F symfile
Read symbol reference lines from symfile. (A symbol reference file is
created by > and >>, and can also be read using the < command, described
under ``Issuing Subsequent Requests,'' below.)
-f reffile
Use reffile as the cross-reference file name instead of the default
cscope.out.
-h View the long usage help display.
-I incdir
Look in incdir (before looking in INCDIR, the standard place for header
files, normally /usr/include) for any #include files whose names do not
begin with ``/'' and that are not specified on the command line or in
namefile below. (The #include files may be specified with either double
quotes or angle brackets.) The incdir directory is searched in addition
to the current directory (which is searched first) and the standard list
(which is searched last). If more than one occurrence of -I appears, the
directories are searched in the order they appear on the command line.
-i namefile
Browse through all source files whose names are listed in namefile (file
names separated by spaces, tabs, or new-lines) instead of the default
(cscope.files). If this option is specified, cscope ignores any files
appearing on the command line. The argument namefile can be set to ``-''
to accept a list of files from stdio.
-k ``Kernel Mode'', turns off the use of the default include dir (usually
/usr/include) when building the database, since kernel source trees gen‐
erally do not use it.
-L Do a single search with line-oriented output when used with the -num
pattern option.
-l Line-oriented interface (see ``Line-Oriented Interface'' below).
-num pattern
Go to input field num (counting from 0) and find pattern.
-P path
Prepend path to relative file names in a pre-built cross-reference file
so you do not have to change to the directory where the cross-reference
file was built. This option is only valid with the -d option.
-p n Display the last n file path components instead of the default (1). Use
0 to not display the file name at all.
-q Enable fast symbol lookup via an inverted index. This option causes
cscope to create 2 more files (default names ``cscope.in.out'' and
``cscope.po.out'') in addition to the normal database. This allows a
faster symbol search algorithm that provides noticeably faster lookup
performance for large projects.
-R Recurse subdirectories for source files.
-s dir Look in dir for additional source files. This option is ignored if
source files are given on the command line.
-T Use only the first eight characters to match against C symbols. A regu‐
lar expression containing special characters other than a period (.)
will not match any symbol if its minimum length is greater than eight
characters.
-U Check file time stamps. This option will update the time stamp on the
database even if no files have changed.
-u Unconditionally build the cross-reference file (assume that all files
have changed).
-V Print on the first line of screen the version number of cscope.
The -I, -c, -k, -p, -q, and -T options can also be in the cscope.files file.
Requesting the initial search
After the cross-reference is ready, cscope will display this menu:
Find this C symbol:
Find this function definition:
Find functions called by this function:
Find functions calling this function:
Find this text string:
Change this text string:
Find this egrep pattern:
Find this file:
Find files #including this file:
Press the <Up> or <Down> keys repeatedly to move to the desired input field,
type the text to search for, and then press the <Return> key.
Issuing subsequent requests
If the search is successful, any of these single-character commands can be
used:
0-9a-zA-Z
Edit the file referenced by the given line number.
<Space>
Display next set of matching lines.
<Tab> Alternate between the menu and the list of matching lines
<Up> Move to the previous menu item (if the cursor is in the menu) or move to
the previous matching line (if the cursor is in the matching line list.)
<Down> Move to the next menu item (if the cursor is in the menu) or move to the
next matching line (if the cursor is in the matching line list.)
+ Display next set of matching lines.
- Display previous set of matching lines.
^e Edit displayed files in order.
> Write the displayed list of lines to a file.
>> Append the displayed list of lines to a file.
< Read lines from a file that is in symbol reference format (created by >
or >>), just like the -F option.
^ Filter all lines through a shell command and display the resulting
lines, replacing the lines that were already there.
| Pipe all lines to a shell command and display them without changing
them.
At any time these single-character commands can also be used:
<Return>
Move to next input field.
^n Move to next input field.
^p Move to previous input field.
^y Search with the last text typed.
^b Move to previous input field and search pattern.
^f Move to next input field and search pattern.
^c Toggle ignore/use letter case when searching. (When ignoring letter
case, search for ``FILE'' will match ``File'' and ``file''.)
^r Rebuild the cross-reference.
! Start an interactive shell (type ^d to return to cscope).
^l Redraw the screen.
? Give help information about cscope commands.
^d Exit cscope.
NOTE: If the first character of the text to be searched for matches one of the
above commands, escape it by typing a (backslash) first.
Substituting new text for old text
After the text to be changed has been typed, cscope will prompt for the new
text, and then it will display the lines containing the old text. Select the
lines to be changed with these single-character commands:
0-9a-zA-Z
Mark or unmark the line to be changed.
* Mark or unmark all displayed lines to be changed.
<Space>
Display next set of lines.
+ Display next set of lines.
- Display previous set of lines.
a Mark or unmark all lines to be changed.
^d Change the marked lines and exit.
<Esc> Exit without changing the marked lines.
! Start an interactive shell (type ^d to return to cscope).
^l Redraw the screen.
? Give help information about cscope commands.
Special keys
If your terminal has arrow keys that work in vi, you can use them to move
around the input fields. The up-arrow key is useful to move to the previous
input field instead of using the <Tab> key repeatedly. If you have <CLEAR>,
<NEXT>, or <PREV> keys they will act as the ^l, +, and - commands, respec‐
tively.
Line-Oriented interface
The -l option lets you use cscope where a screen-oriented interface would not
be useful, for example, from another screen-oriented program.
cscope will prompt with >> when it is ready for an input line starting with the
field number (counting from 0) immediately followed by the search pattern, for
example, ``lmain'' finds the definition of the main function.
If you just want a single search, instead of the -l option use the -L and -num
pattern options, and you won't get the >> prompt.
For -l, cscope outputs the number of reference lines cscope: 2 lines
For each reference found, cscope outputs a line consisting of the file name,
function name, line number, and line text, separated by spaces, for example,
main.c main 161 main(argc, argv)
Note that the editor is not called to display a single reference, unlike the
screen-oriented interface.
You can use the c command to toggle ignore/use letter case when searching.
(When ignoring letter case, search for ``FILE'' will match ``File'' and
``file''.)
You can use the r command to rebuild the database.
cscope will quit when it detects end-of-file, or when the first character of an
input line is ``^d'' or ``q''.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
CSCOPE_EDITOR
Overrides the EDITOR and VIEWER variables. Use this if you wish to use a
different editor with cscope than that specified by your EDITOR/VIEWER
variables.
CSCOPE_LINEFLAG
Format of the line number flag for your editor. By default, cscope
invokes your editor via the equivalent of ``editor +N file'', where
``N'' is the line number that the editor should jump to. This format is
used by both emacs and vi. If your editor needs something different,
specify it in this variable, with ``%s'' as a placeholder for the line
number. Ex: if your editor needs to be invoked as ``editor -#103 file''
to go to line 103, set this variable to ``-#%s''.
CSCOPE_LINEFLAG_AFTER_FILE
Set this variable to ``yes'' if your editor needs to be invoked with the
line number option after the filename to be edited. To continue the
example from CSCOPE_LINEFLAG, above: if your editor needs to see ``edi‐
tor file -#number'', set this environment variable. Users of most stan‐
dard editors (vi, emacs) do not need to set this variable.
EDITOR Preferred editor, which defaults to vi.
HOME Home directory, which is automatically set at login.
INCLUDEDIRS
Colon-separated list of directories to search for #include files.
SHELL Preferred shell, which defaults to sh.
SOURCEDIRS
Colon-separated list of directories to search for additional source
files.
TERM Terminal type, which must be a screen terminal.
TERMINFO
Terminal information directory full path name. If your terminal is not
in the standard terminfo directory, see curses and terminfo for how to
make your own terminal description.
TMPDIR Temporary file directory, which defaults to /var/tmp.
VIEWER Preferred file display program (such as less), which overrides EDITOR
(see above).
VPATH A colon-separated list of directories, each of which has the same direc‐
tory structure below it. If VPATH is set, cscope searches for source
files in the directories specified; if it is not set, cscope searches
only in the current directory.
FILES
cscope.files
Default files containing -I, -p, -q, and -T options and the list of
source files (overridden by the -i option).
cscope.out
Symbol cross-reference file (overridden by the -f option), which is put
in the home directory if it cannot be created in the current directory.
cscope.in.out
cscope.po.out
Default files containing the inverted index used for quick symbol
searching (-q option). If you use the -f option to rename the cross-ref‐
erence file (so it's not cscope.out), the names for these inverted index
files will be created by adding
.in and .po to the name you supply with -f. For example, if you indi‐
cated -f xyz, then these files would be named xyz.in and xyz.po.
INCDIR Standard directory for #include files (usually /usr/include).
Noticescscope recognizes function definitions of the form:
fname blank ( args ) white arg_decs white {
where: fname is the function name
blank is zero or more spaces or tabs, not including newlines
args is any string that does not contain a ``"'' or a newline
white is zero or more spaces, tabs, or newlines
arg_decs
are zero or more argument declarations (arg_decs may include comments
and white space)
It is not necessary for a function declaration to start at the beginning of a
line. The return type may precede the function name; cscope will still recog‐
nize the declaration. Function definitions that deviate from this form will not
be recognized by cscope.
The ``Function'' column of the search output for the menu option Find functions
called by this function: input field will only display the first function
called in the line, that is, for this function
e()
{
return (f() + g());
}
the display would be
Functions called by this function: e
File Function Line
a.c f 3 return(f() + g());
Occasionally, a function definition or call may not be recognized because of
braces inside #if statements. Similarly, the use of a variable may be incor‐
rectly recognized as a definition.
A typedef name preceding a preprocessor statement will be incorrectly recog‐
nized as a global definition, for example,
LDFILE *
#if AR16WR
Preprocessor statements can also prevent the recognition of a global defini‐
tion, for example,
char flag
#ifdef ALLOCATE_STORAGE
= -1
#endif
;
A function declaration inside a function is incorrectly recognized as a func‐
tion call, for example,
f()
{
void g();
}
is incorrectly recognized as a call to g.
cscope recognizes C++ classes by looking for the class keyword, but doesn't
recognize that a struct is also a class, so it doesn't recognize inline member
function definitions in a structure. It also doesn't expect the class keyword
in a typedef , so it incorrectly recognizes X as a definition in
typedef class X * Y;
It also doesn't recognize operator function definitions
Bool Feature::operator==(const Feature & other)
{
...
}
Nor does it recognize function definitions with a function pointer argument
ParseTable::Recognize(int startState, char *pattern,
int finishState, void (*FinalAction)(char *))
{
...
}
The Santa Cruz Operation November 2000 CSCOPE(1)
