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@title Diffusion User Guide: Symbol Indexes
@group userguide
Guide to configuring and using the symbol index.
= Overview =
Phabricator can maintain a symbol index, which keeps track of where classes
and functions are defined in the codebase. Once you set up indexing, you can
use the index to do things like:
- link symbol uses in Differential code reviews to their definitions
- allow you to search for symbols
- let the IRC bot answer questions like "Where is SomeClass?"
NOTE: Symbol indexing is somewhat new, and has broader support for PHP than for
other languages.
= Populating the Index =
To populate the index, you need to write a script which identifies symbols in
your codebase and set up a cronjob which pipes its output to:
./scripts/symbols/import_project_symbols.php
Phabricator includes a script which can identify symbols in PHP projects:
./scripts/symbols/generate_php_symbols.php
Phabricator also includes a script which can identify symbols in any
programming language that has classes and/or functions, and is supported by
Exuberant Ctags (http://ctags.sourceforge.net):
./scripts/symbols/generate_ctags_symbols.php
If you want to identify symbols from another language, you need to write a
script which can export them (for example, maybe by parsing a ##ctags## file).
The output format of the script should be one symbol per line:
<context> <name> <type> <lang> <line> <path>
For example:
ExampleClass exampleMethod function php 13 /src/classes/ExampleClass.php
Context is, broadly speaking, the scope or namespace where the symbol is
defined. For object-oriented languages, this is probably a class name. The
symbols with that context are class constants, methods, properties, nested
classes, etc. When printing symbols without a context (those that are defined
globally, for instance), the ##<context>## field should be empty (that is, the
line should start with a space).
Your script should enumerate all the symbols in your project, and provide paths
from the project root (where ".arcconfig" is) beginning with a "/".
You can look at ##generate_php_symbols.php## for an example of how you might
write such a script, and run this command to see its output:
$ cd phabricator/
$ find . -type f -name '*.php' | ./scripts/symbols/generate_php_symbols.php
To actually build the symbol index, pipe this data to the
##import_project_symbols.php## script, providing the project name:
$ ./scripts/symbols/import_project_symbols.php yourproject < symbols_data
Then just set up a cronjob to run that however often you like.
You can test that the import worked by querying for symbols using the Conduit
method ##differential.findsymbols##. Some features (like that method, and the
IRC bot integration) will start working immediately. Others will require more
configuration.
= Configuring Differential Integration =
To configure Differential integration, you need to tell Phabricator which
projects have symbol indexes you want to use, and which other projects they
should pull symbols from. To do this, go to
##Repositories -> Arcanist Projects -> Edit## as an administrator. You need to
fill out these fields:
- **Repository**: Associate the project with a tracked repository.
- **Indexed Languages**: Fill in all the languages you've built indexes for.
- **Uses Symbols From**: If this project depends on other projects, add the
other projects which symbols should be looked for here. For example,
Phabricator lists "Arcanist" and "libphutil" because it uses classes and
functions from these projects.
Once you've configured a project, new revisions in that project will
automatically link symbols in Differential.
NOTE: Because this feature depends on the syntax highlighter, it will work
better for some languages than others. It currently works fairly well for PHP,
but your mileage may vary for other languages.

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