pxd filesΒΆ

Note

This page uses two different syntax variants:

  • Cython specific cdef syntax, which was designed to make type declarations concise and easily readable from a C/C++ perspective.

  • Pure Python syntax which allows static Cython type declarations in pure Python code, following PEP-484 type hints and PEP 526 variable annotations.

    To make use of C data types in Python syntax, you need to import the special cython module in the Python module that you want to compile, e.g.

    import cython

    If you use the pure Python syntax we strongly recommend you use a recent Cython 3 release, since significant improvements have been made here compared to the 0.29.x releases.

In addition to the .pyx and .py source files, Cython uses .pxd files which work like C header files – they contain Cython declarations (and sometimes code sections) which are only meant for inclusion by Cython modules. A .pxd file is imported into a .pyx module by using the cimport keyword.

.pxd files have many use-cases:

  1. They can be used for sharing external C declarations.

  2. They can contain functions which are well suited for inlining by the C compiler. Such functions should be marked inline, example:

    inline.pxdΒΆ 
    cdef inline int int_min(int a, int b):
 return b if b < a else a

  3. When accompanying an equally named .pyx / .py file, they provide a Cython interface to the Cython module so that other Cython modules can communicate with it using a more efficient protocol than the Python one.

In our integration example, we might break it up into .pxd files like this:

  1. Add a cmath.pxd:

    cmath.pxdΒΆ 
    cdef extern from "math.h":
 cpdef double sin(double x)

    Then one would simply do

    integrate.pyΒΆ 
    from cython.cimports.cmath import sin

    Warning

    The code provided above / on this page uses an external native (non-Python) library through a cimport (cython.cimports). Cython compilation enables this, but there is no support for this from plain Python. Trying to run this code from Python (without compilation) will fail when accessing the external library. This is described in more detail in Calling C functions.

  2. Add a integrate.pxd so that other modules written in Cython can define fast custom functions to integrate:

    integrate.pxdΒΆ 
    cdef class Function:
 cpdef evaluate(self, double x)
cpdef integrate(Function f, double a, double b, int N)

    Note that if you have a cdef class with attributes, the attributes must be declared in the class declaration .pxd file (if you use one), not the .pyx / .py file. The compiler will tell you about this.

__init__.pxdΒΆ

Cython also supports __init__.pxd files for declarations in package’s namespaces, similar to __init__.py files in Python.

Continuing the integration example, we could package the module as follows:

  1. Place the module files in a directory tree as one usually would for Python:

    CyIntegration/
β”œβ”€β”€ __init__.py
β”œβ”€β”€ __init__.pxd
β”œβ”€β”€ integrate.py
└── integrate.pxd

  2. In __init__.pxd, use cimport for any declarations that one would want to be available from the package’s main namespace:

    from cython.cimports.CyIntegration import integrate

    Other modules would then be able to use cimport on the package in order to recursively gain faster, Cython access to the entire package and the data declared in its modules:

    from cython.cimports import CyIntegration
@cython.ccall
def do_integration(f: CyIntegration.integrate.Function):
 return CyIntegration.integrate.integrate(f, 0., 2., 1)

    Warning

    The code provided above / on this page uses an external native (non-Python) library through a cimport (cython.cimports). Cython compilation enables this, but there is no support for this from plain Python. Trying to run this code from Python (without compilation) will fail when accessing the external library. This is described in more detail in Calling C functions.