Parso: A Python Parser

0.8.6 · active · verified Sat Apr 11

Parso is a Python parser that supports error recovery and round-trip parsing for different Python versions. It is currently at version 0.8.6, released on February 9, 2026, and follows a regular release cadence with updates approximately every 6 months.

Warnings

breaking Parso dropped support for Python 2.7, 3.4, and 3.5 in version 0.8.0.
Fix: Upgrade to a supported Python version (3.6 or later).
deprecated The 'lib2to3' module is deprecated since Python 3.10 and may be removed in future versions. Parso is a recommended alternative.
Fix: Use Parso for parsing tasks instead of 'lib2to3'.
gotcha A `SyntaxError: invalid syntax` occurred because a single-quoted string literal (`'...'`) contained an unescaped single quote, prematurely terminating the string and leading to invalid syntax at the subsequent characters.
Fix: To resolve, escape the internal single quotes (e.g., `\'World\'`) or enclose the entire string in double quotes (`"..."`) or triple quotes (`'''...'''`) to allow internal single quotes without escaping.
breaking A `SyntaxError` occurred in the test script due to an unescaped quote within a string literal used for code generation, preventing the script from running. This is a fundamental Python syntax issue with string definition.
Fix: Ensure string literals in test scripts are correctly escaped (e.g., `\'World\'`) or use triple quotes (e.g., `'''... 'World' ...'''`) to define multi-line code snippets that contain single or double quotes.

Install

pip install parso Install Parso

Imports

parse
```
from parso import parse
```
The 'parse' function is the main entry point for parsing Python code.

Quickstart

This example demonstrates how to parse a simple Python function definition and call using Parso.

import parso

code = 'def greet(name):\n    return f"Hello, {name}!"\n\ngreet('World')'

# Parse the code
module = parso.parse(code, version='3.9')

# Access the root node
root_node = module.get_root_node()

# Print the parsed code
print(root_node.get_code())

view raw JSON →