diff --git a/src/tools/make_ctags b/src/tools/make_ctags
index d8d18d1569..9e952ce916 100755
--- a/src/tools/make_ctags
+++ b/src/tools/make_ctags
@@ -38,11 +38,10 @@ fi
 find `pwd`/ -type f -name '*.[chyl]' -print |
 	xargs ctags -a -f tags "$FLAGS"
 
-# Exuberant tags has a header that we cannot sort in with the other entries
-# so we skip the sort step
-# Why are we sorting this?  I guess some tag implementation need this,
-# particularly for append mode.  bjm 2012-02-24
-if [ ! "$IS_EXUBERANT" ]
+# Sorting non-Exuberant ctags file allows for fast searching of the tags file.
+# Since etags file has a header that we cannot sort in with the other entries
+# we skip the sort step.
+if [ ! "$IS_EXUBERANT" -a ! "$EMACS_MODE" ]
 then	LC_ALL=C
 	export LC_ALL
 	sort tags >/tmp/$$ && mv /tmp/$$ tags