my ~/.ctags file

.ctags

--recurse=yes
--tag-relative=yes
--exclude=*.git*
--exclude=*.pyc
--exclude=*.pyo
--exclude=.DS_Store
--exclude=*.md
--exclude=*.mkd

--langdef=Clojure
--langmap=Clojure:.clj
--regex-clojure=/\([ \t]*create-ns[ \t]+([-[:alnum:]*+!_:\/.?]+)/\1/n,namespace/
--regex-clojure=/\([ \t]*def[ \t]+([-[:alnum:]*+!_:\/.?]+)/\1/d,definition/
--regex-clojure=/\([ \t]*defn-?[ \t]+([-[:alnum:]*+!_:\/.?]+)/\1/f,function/
--regex-clojure=/\([ \t]*defmacro[ \t]+([-[:alnum:]*+!_:\/.?]+)/\1/m,macro/
--regex-clojure=/\([ \t]*definline[ \t]+([-[:alnum:]*+!_:\/.?]+)/\1/i,inline/
--regex-clojure=/\([ \t]*defmulti[ \t]+([-[:alnum:]*+!_:\/.?]+)/\1/a,multimethod definition/
--regex-clojure=/\([ \t]*defmethod[ \t]+([-[:alnum:]*+!_:\/.?]+)/\1/b,multimethod instance/
--regex-clojure=/\([ \t]*defonce[ \t]+([-[:alnum:]*+!_:\/.?]+)/\1/c,definition (once)/
--regex-clojure=/\([ \t]*defstruct[ \t]+([-[:alnum:]*+!_:\/.?]+)/\1/s,struct/
--regex-clojure=/\([ \t]*intern[ \t]+([-[:alnum:]*+!_:\/.?]+)/\1/v,intern/
--regex-clojure=/\([ \t]*ns[ \t]+([-[:alnum:]*+!_:\/.?]+)/\1/n,namespace/

--langdef=latex
--langmap=latex:.tex
--regex-latex=/^\\tableofcontents/TABLE OF CONTENTS/s,toc/
--regex-latex=/^\\frontmatter/FRONTMATTER/s,frontmatter/
--regex-latex=/^\\mainmatter/MAINMATTER/s,mainmatter/
--regex-latex=/^\\backmatter/BACKMATTER/s,backmatter/
--regex-latex=/^\\bibliography\{/BIBLIOGRAPHY/s,bibliography/
--regex-latex=/^\\part[[:space:]]*(\[[^]]*\])?[[:space:]]*\{([^}]+)\}/PART \2/s,part/
--regex-latex=/^\\part[[:space:]]*\*[[:space:]]*\{([^}]+)\}/PART \1/s,part/
--regex-latex=/^\\chapter[[:space:]]*(\[[^]]*\])?[[:space:]]*\{([^}]+)\}/CHAP \2/s,chapter/
--regex-latex=/^\\chapter[[:space:]]*\*[[:space:]]*\{([^}]+)\}/CHAP \1/s,chapter/
--regex-latex=/^\\section[[:space:]]*(\[[^]]*\])?[[:space:]]*\{([^}]+)\}/\. \2/s,section/
--regex-latex=/^\\section[[:space:]]*\*[[:space:]]*\{([^}]+)\}/\. \1/s,section/
--regex-latex=/^\\subsection[[:space:]]*(\[[^]]*\])?[[:space:]]*\{([^}]+)\}/\.\. \2/s,subsection/
--regex-latex=/^\\subsection[[:space:]]*\*[[:space:]]*\{([^}]+)\}/\.\. \1/s,subsection/
--regex-latex=/^\\subsubsection[[:space:]]*(\[[^]]*\])?[[:space:]]*\{([^}]+)\}/\.\.\. \2/s,subsubsection/
--regex-latex=/^\\subsubsection[[:space:]]*\*[[:space:]]*\{([^}]+)\}/\.\.\. \1/s,subsubsection/
--regex-latex=/^\\includegraphics[[:space:]]*(\[[^]]*\])?[[:space:]]*(\[[^]]*\])?[[:space:]]*\{([^}]+)\}/\3/g,graphic+listing/
--regex-latex=/^\\lstinputlisting[[:space:]]*(\[[^]]*\])?[[:space:]]*(\[[^]]*\])?[[:space:]]*\{([^}]+)\}/\3/g,graphic+listing/
--regex-latex=/\\label[[:space:]]*\{([^}]+)\}/\1/l,label/
--regex-latex=/\\ref[[:space:]]*\{([^}]+)\}/\1/r,ref/
--regex-latex=/\\pageref[[:space:]]*\{([^}]+)\}/\1/p,pageref/

--python-kinds=-i

I have a naive question. How do you let the ctag binary read this file and apply the rules when building tags files for a code base?

I have a naive question. How do you let the ctag binary read this file and apply the rules when building tags files for a code base?

Put it it ~/.config/ctags/*.ctags (where *.ctags is any .ctags file). I have separate .ctags files for different languages

Thank you so much!