How do I create my own tag files with Vim for interconnected non-code text?
:help tags-file-format
will give you some pointers on how to write a tags file. But you basically need lines like:
tagname TAB tagfile TAB location
The location can any Ex command; it could be a line number, but is usually a search pattern like /\<foo\>/ or /^Where is foo?$/ so that the tags don't need to be regenerated each time you edit your files.
If I understood right (and that's a capital IF) what you are looking for is basic vim help functionality. You define a tag (some_word) a lot of jumppoints (|jumppoint|) and that's it.
Without going into the details I'd really recommend you glance through the
:help tags
help file. It will explain a lot. I haven't done this in a while, but basically it comes down to this. You need to define tags (**), and then introduce them into vim's tag system via :helptags command. After that, don't move them, and when using jumppoints it will lead you to them via already mentioned Ctrl-] and T.
ctags and the like should not worry you ... this is completely vim's functionality, and they have nothing to do with it (they only come into the story when code comes into it ... and even then, in some cases, if you're willing to do some manual labour they can be avoided).
I have been wanting to write some docs with the tag features found in vim help but I couldn't find anything online that had a simple and specific solution. So for anyone who may currently be looking for a quick solution to this, I will share what I have found.
The quickest way to get up and running:
Lets say you are working in an empty folder.
If you create a file such as this test.txt:
|topic1|
*topic1*
Then run:
:helptags ./
Vim will generate a file (tags) in the current dir (./) that will let you jump (ctrl+]) from |topic1| to *topic1*
If you open up the tags file you can see its simplicity:
topic1 test.txt /*topic1*
Format:
[key word][TAB][file][TAB][command]
You can add other tags to this file and they will work right away.
Of course the best part of tags is the ability to jump to definitions in other files which can be accomplished by changing the [file] argument in the tags file. Again, you will need to have a |tag| in the parent file and a *tag* in the child file for it to work.
Writing the tags file from scratch also seems to work without issue if it is named "tags" and you run :helptags ./ in vim afterwards.
Note:
As others have mentioned in this post, :help is your friend. If you enjoy vim, you should spend some time flipping through the manual, everything is very well documented. If you don't enjoy vim, you can still use the manual for quick searches. In my experience, I can usually get to a solution through the man pages faster than I can searching online. Just remember the following:
/
ctrl+]
to jump to file / definition
ctrl+o
to jump back
These basic navigation commands are also displayed as soon as you open :help