---
id: cxxheaderparser
version: "1.9.2"
license: BSD-3-Clause
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# cxxheaderparser — Modern C++ header parser

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 365.7K/mo

## What it is and what it does

cxxheaderparser is a pure-Python C++ header parser designed to extract structural information from C++ headers for use in binding generators and code analysis tools. It parses syntactically valid C++ including modern features (C++11 and beyond) and produces either a visitor-style interface for custom processing or a simple data structure containing all parsed elements. The parser does not produce a full AST, does not validate C++ correctness, and requires preprocessed input if macros are present—it trades completeness for practicality, aiming to handle common C++ patterns while acknowledging it may struggle with obscure or overly complex constructs.

The package is a rewrite of CppHeaderParser, designed to provide a cleaner, documented API and better support for modern C++ features. It ships with a command-line interface for dumping parsed headers in multiple formats (pprint, JSON, dataclasses repr) and is actively maintained with support for Python 3.6+.

Use it for:

- Generate language bindings for C++ libraries by extracting function and class signatures from headers
- Analyze C++ codebases to build documentation or dependency graphs without invoking a compiler
- Extract type information and method signatures for IDE integration or code generation tools
- Preprocess and parse C++ headers in build systems where full compilation is not feasible

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Parses C++ header files into Python data structures, extracting class definitions, functions, and modern C++ constructs without requiring a full AST or compiler validation.

Yes, if you need to parse C++ headers for binding generation or code analysis. Low install friction, active maintenance, no security issues, and permissive licensing make it a practical choice. Caveat: not suitable if you need full AST semantics, C++ validation, or comprehensive C++17/20 support—use Clang or a compiler for those cases.

## Install

pip install cxxheaderparser
uv add cxxheaderparser
poetry add cxxheaderparser

## Installing cxxheaderparser

Before you install: Low friction: pure Python wheel with only dataclasses as a runtime dependency (built-in for Python 3.7+). Active maintenance with a release 25 days ago.

License in practice: BSD-3-Clause permissive license allows commercial and private use with attribution; no restrictions on derivative works or distribution.

Quickstart:

pip install cxxheaderparser

from cxxheaderparser import parse_file
header_data = parse_file('myheader.h')
print(header_data.classes, header_data.functions)

Requires a C++ preprocessor if input headers contain macros; use pcpp, GCC, or MSVC preprocessing before parsing, or enable preprocessor support via cxxheaderparser.preprocessor module.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package handles all C++17/20 constructs or only a subset (description notes not all are supported yet)
- Performance characteristics when parsing very large or deeply nested header files
- Accuracy of binding-generator output for complex template specializations

## Package facts

- License: BSD-3-Clause (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 365.7K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

C++ header parser python, parse C++ headers, C++ binding generator, extract C++ declarations, C++ code analysis python, C++ header analysis, C++ to python bindings, c++-parsing, binding-generation, code-analysis

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