<!DOCTYPE html> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8" /> <title>Python/C API Reference Manual — Python 3.7.4 documentation</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/pydoctheme.css" type="text/css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/pygments.css" type="text/css" /> <script type="text/javascript" id="documentation_options" data-url_root="../" src="../_static/documentation_options.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/jquery.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/underscore.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/doctools.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/language_data.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/sidebar.js"></script> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="Search within Python 3.7.4 documentation" href="../_static/opensearch.xml"/> <link rel="author" title="About these documents" href="../about.html" /> <link rel="index" title="Index" href="../genindex.html" /> <link rel="search" title="Search" href="../search.html" /> <link rel="copyright" title="Copyright" href="../copyright.html" /> <link rel="next" title="Introduction" href="intro.html" /> <link rel="prev" title="1. Embedding Python in Another Application" href="../extending/embedding.html" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="../_static/py.png" /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://docs.python.org/3/c-api/index.html" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/copybutton.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/switchers.js"></script> <style> @media only screen { table.full-width-table { width: 100%; } } </style> </head><body> <div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation"> <h3>Navigation</h3> <ul> <li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px"> <a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index" accesskey="I">index</a></li> <li class="right" > <a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index" >modules</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="intro.html" title="Introduction" accesskey="N">next</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="../extending/embedding.html" title="1. Embedding Python in Another Application" accesskey="P">previous</a> |</li> <li><img src="../_static/py.png" alt="" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li> <li><a href="https://www.python.org/">Python</a> »</li> <li> <span class="language_switcher_placeholder">en</span> <span class="version_switcher_placeholder">3.7.4</span> <a href="../index.html">Documentation </a> » </li> <li class="right"> <div class="inline-search" style="display: none" role="search"> <form class="inline-search" action="../search.html" method="get"> <input placeholder="Quick search" type="text" name="q" /> <input type="submit" value="Go" /> <input type="hidden" name="check_keywords" value="yes" /> <input type="hidden" name="area" value="default" /> </form> </div> <script type="text/javascript">$('.inline-search').show(0);</script> | </li> </ul> </div> <div class="document"> <div class="documentwrapper"> <div class="bodywrapper"> <div class="body" role="main"> <div class="section" id="python-c-api-reference-manual"> <span id="c-api-index"></span><h1>Python/C API Reference Manual<a class="headerlink" href="#python-c-api-reference-manual" title="Permalink to this headline">ΒΆ</a></h1> <p>This manual documents the API used by C and C++ programmers who want to write extension modules or embed Python. It is a companion to <a class="reference internal" href="../extending/index.html#extending-index"><span class="std std-ref">Extending and Embedding the Python Interpreter</span></a>, which describes the general principles of extension writing but does not document the API functions in detail.</p> <div class="toctree-wrapper compound"> <ul> <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="intro.html">Introduction</a><ul> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="intro.html#coding-standards">Coding standards</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="intro.html#include-files">Include Files</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="intro.html#useful-macros">Useful macros</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="intro.html#objects-types-and-reference-counts">Objects, Types and Reference Counts</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="intro.html#exceptions">Exceptions</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="intro.html#embedding-python">Embedding Python</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="intro.html#debugging-builds">Debugging Builds</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="stable.html">Stable Application Binary Interface</a></li> <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="veryhigh.html">The Very High Level Layer</a></li> <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="refcounting.html">Reference Counting</a></li> <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html">Exception Handling</a><ul> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#printing-and-clearing">Printing and clearing</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#raising-exceptions">Raising exceptions</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#issuing-warnings">Issuing warnings</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#querying-the-error-indicator">Querying the error indicator</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#signal-handling">Signal Handling</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#exception-classes">Exception Classes</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#exception-objects">Exception Objects</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#unicode-exception-objects">Unicode Exception Objects</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#recursion-control">Recursion Control</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#standard-exceptions">Standard Exceptions</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#standard-warning-categories">Standard Warning Categories</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="utilities.html">Utilities</a><ul> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="sys.html">Operating System Utilities</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="sys.html#system-functions">System Functions</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="sys.html#process-control">Process Control</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="import.html">Importing Modules</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="marshal.html">Data marshalling support</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="arg.html">Parsing arguments and building values</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="conversion.html">String conversion and formatting</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="reflection.html">Reflection</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="codec.html">Codec registry and support functions</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="abstract.html">Abstract Objects Layer</a><ul> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="object.html">Object Protocol</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="number.html">Number Protocol</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="sequence.html">Sequence Protocol</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="mapping.html">Mapping Protocol</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="iter.html">Iterator Protocol</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="buffer.html">Buffer Protocol</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="objbuffer.html">Old Buffer Protocol</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="concrete.html">Concrete Objects Layer</a><ul> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="concrete.html#fundamental-objects">Fundamental Objects</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="concrete.html#numeric-objects">Numeric Objects</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="concrete.html#sequence-objects">Sequence Objects</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="concrete.html#container-objects">Container Objects</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="concrete.html#function-objects">Function Objects</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="concrete.html#other-objects">Other Objects</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="init.html">Initialization, Finalization, and Threads</a><ul> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="init.html#before-python-initialization">Before Python Initialization</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="init.html#global-configuration-variables">Global configuration variables</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="init.html#initializing-and-finalizing-the-interpreter">Initializing and finalizing the interpreter</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="init.html#process-wide-parameters">Process-wide parameters</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="init.html#thread-state-and-the-global-interpreter-lock">Thread State and the Global Interpreter Lock</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="init.html#sub-interpreter-support">Sub-interpreter support</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="init.html#asynchronous-notifications">Asynchronous Notifications</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="init.html#profiling-and-tracing">Profiling and Tracing</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="init.html#advanced-debugger-support">Advanced Debugger Support</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="init.html#thread-local-storage-support">Thread Local Storage Support</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="memory.html">Memory Management</a><ul> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="memory.html#overview">Overview</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="memory.html#raw-memory-interface">Raw Memory Interface</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="memory.html#memory-interface">Memory Interface</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="memory.html#object-allocators">Object allocators</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="memory.html#default-memory-allocators">Default Memory Allocators</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="memory.html#customize-memory-allocators">Customize Memory Allocators</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="memory.html#the-pymalloc-allocator">The pymalloc allocator</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="memory.html#tracemalloc-c-api">tracemalloc C API</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="memory.html#examples">Examples</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="objimpl.html">Object Implementation Support</a><ul> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="allocation.html">Allocating Objects on the Heap</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="structures.html">Common Object Structures</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="typeobj.html">Type Objects</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="typeobj.html#number-object-structures">Number Object Structures</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="typeobj.html#mapping-object-structures">Mapping Object Structures</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="typeobj.html#sequence-object-structures">Sequence Object Structures</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="typeobj.html#buffer-object-structures">Buffer Object Structures</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="typeobj.html#async-object-structures">Async Object Structures</a></li> <li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="gcsupport.html">Supporting Cyclic Garbage Collection</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="apiabiversion.html">API and ABI Versioning</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> 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