tree-sitter-c C Grammar

0.24.1 · active · verified Thu Apr 09

tree-sitter-c is a Python package that provides the C language grammar for the Tree-sitter parsing library. It enables Python applications to parse C code into concrete syntax trees for advanced analysis, tooling, and transformation. The library is actively maintained, with frequent minor releases ensuring ongoing compatibility with the latest `tree-sitter` core and C language specifications.

Warnings

breaking The `Language.build_library` method, previously used to compile grammars from source, has been removed from the `tree-sitter` Python bindings (around version 0.21.x).
Fix: Instead of compiling from source, install pre-compiled language grammars directly via pip (e.g., `pip install tree-sitter-c`). Grammars are then loaded using `Language(tree_sitter_c.language())`.
gotcha Incompatibility between the installed `tree-sitter` core library version and the `tree-sitter-c` grammar package version can lead to runtime errors (e.g., 'version-mismatch').
Fix: Ensure both `tree-sitter` and `tree-sitter-c` are up-to-date and compatible. If issues persist, try reinstalling both or checking the GitHub repositories for known compatibility matrices or specific version requirements.
gotcha The `tree-sitter` parser expects source code to be provided as `bytes` objects, typically UTF-8 encoded.
Fix: Always encode your string input to bytes using `.encode('utf8')` before passing it to `parser.parse()`. For example, `my_c_code_string.encode('utf8')`.

Install

pip install tree-sitter tree-sitter-c Install core library and C grammar

Imports

Language
```
from tree_sitter import Language, Parser
```
The core classes are directly importable from the top-level `tree_sitter` package.
language
```
import tree_sitter_c as tsc
C_LANGUAGE = Language(tsc.language())
```
As of `tree-sitter` version ~0.21.x, `Language.build_library` has been removed. Pre-compiled grammars are now distributed as separate Python packages (e.g., `tree-sitter-c`) and loaded via `Language(tree_sitter_c.language())`.

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to import the `tree-sitter-c` grammar, initialize a `tree_sitter.Parser`, and parse a simple C code snippet. It then shows how to access the root node of the generated Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) and inspect its properties.

import tree_sitter_c as tsc
from tree_sitter import Language, Parser

# Load the C language grammar
C_LANGUAGE = Language(tsc.language())

# Create a parser and set its language
parser = Parser()
parser.set_language(C_LANGUAGE)

# C code to parse
c_code = b"""
int main() {
    printf("Hello, Tree-sitter C!");
    return 0;
}
"""

# Parse the code
tree = parser.parse(c_code)

# Get the root node and print its type
root_node = tree.root_node
print(f"Root node type: {root_node.type}")
print(f"Root node text: {root_node.text.decode('utf8')}")

# Example of traversing a child node
if root_node.children:
    first_child = root_node.children[0]
    print(f"First child type: {first_child.type}")

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