Problem with vi "tags" file

[boykin at custom.UUCP]

>I'd like to use the "tags" feature of "vi", but I can't get it to work with my
>own tags file.
> 	...
>But if I do ":se tags=/usr1/jerryp/.lib/vi_tagfile" and store the following two
>lines in "vi_tagfile":
>
>p	/usr1/jerryp/.profile	1
>tags	/usr1/jerryp/.lib/vi_tagfile	1
>
>...the command ":ta p" gives the error "p: no such tag".  And ":ta tags"
>doesn't work, either.

I'm not sure why VI gave you the "no such tag" message, from the example
you provided it should have worked.  Note two things about
your tags file which may cause you trouble: 1) the third field is usually
a pattern to find the specified tag.  If you provide a number, you will
go to that line number within the file.  It's not an error, but if you
change the file you won't be positioned where you thought you would be.
and 2) the name of your tags file is semi-long.  UNIX VI has a limit of 31
characters for the file name, you're getting close to that.

Joe Boykin
Custom Software Systems