Extending and Embedding the Python Interpreter¶

This document describes how to write modules in C or C++ to extend the Python interpreter with new modules. Those modules can do what Python code does – define functions, object types and methods – but also interact with native libraries or achieve better performance by avoiding the overhead of an interpreter. The document also describes how to embed the Python interpreter in another application, for use as an extension language. Finally, it shows how to compile and link extension modules so that they can be loaded dynamically (at run time) into the interpreter, if the underlying operating system supports this feature.

This document assumes basic knowledge about C and Python. For an informal introduction to Python, see The Python Tutorial. The Python Language Reference gives a more formal definition of the language. Python built-ins reference documents the built-in functions and object types, and The Python standard library documents the modules (both built-in and written in Python) that give the language its wide application range.

For a detailed description of the whole Python/C API, see the separate Python/C API reference manual.

To support extensions, Python’s C API (Application Programmers Interface) defines a set of functions, macros and variables that provide access to most aspects of the Python run-time system. The Python API is incorporated in a C source file by including the header "Python.h".