Using F2PY#

This page contains a reference to all command-line options for the f2py command, as well as a reference to internal functions of the numpy.f2py module.

Using f2py as a command-line tool#

When used as a command-line tool, f2py has three major modes, distinguished by the usage of -c and -h switches.

1. Signature file generation#

To scan Fortran sources and generate a signature file, use

f2py -h <filename.pyf> <options> <fortran files>   \
  [[ only: <fortran functions>  : ]                \
    [ skip: <fortran functions>  : ]]...           \
  [<fortran files> ...]

Note

A Fortran source file can contain many routines, and it is often not necessary to allow all routines to be usable from Python. In such cases, either specify which routines should be wrapped (in the only: .. : part) or which routines F2PY should ignore (in the skip: .. : part).

If <filename.pyf> is specified as stdout, then signatures are written to standard output instead of a file.

Among other options (see below), the following can be used in this mode:

--overwrite-signature

Overwrites an existing signature file.

2. Extension module construction#

To construct an extension module, use

f2py -m <modulename> <options> <fortran files>   \
  [[ only: <fortran functions>  : ]              \
    [ skip: <fortran functions>  : ]]...          \
  [<fortran files> ...]

The constructed extension module is saved as <modulename>module.c to the current directory.

Here <fortran files> may also contain signature files. Among other options (see below), the following options can be used in this mode:

--debug-capi

Adds debugging hooks to the extension module. When using this extension module, various diagnostic information about the wrapper is written to the standard output, for example, the values of variables, the steps taken, etc.

-include'<includefile>'

Add a CPP #include statement to the extension module source. <includefile> should be given in one of the following forms

"filename.ext"
<filename.ext>

The include statement is inserted just before the wrapper functions. This feature enables using arbitrary C functions (defined in <includefile>) in F2PY generated wrappers.

Note

This option is deprecated. Use usercode statement to specify C code snippets directly in signature files.

--[no-]wrap-functions

Create Fortran subroutine wrappers to Fortran functions. --wrap-functions is default because it ensures maximum portability and compiler independence.

--include-paths <path1>:<path2>:..

Search include files from given directories.

--help-link [<list of resources names>]

List system resources found by numpy_distutils/system_info.py. For example, try f2py --help-link lapack_opt.

3. Building a module#

To build an extension module, use

f2py -c <options> <fortran files>       \
  [[ only: <fortran functions>  : ]     \
    [ skip: <fortran functions>  : ]]... \
  [ <fortran/c source files> ] [ <.o, .a, .so files> ]

If <fortran files> contains a signature file, then the source for an extension module is constructed, all Fortran and C sources are compiled, and finally all object and library files are linked to the extension module <modulename>.so which is saved into the current directory.

If <fortran files> does not contain a signature file, then an extension module is constructed by scanning all Fortran source codes for routine signatures, before proceeding to build the extension module.

Among other options (see below) and options described for previous modes, the following options can be used in this mode:

--help-fcompiler

List the available Fortran compilers.

--help-compiler [depreciated]

List the available Fortran compilers.

--fcompiler=<Vendor>

Specify a Fortran compiler type by vendor.

--f77exec=<path>

Specify the path to a F77 compiler

--fcompiler-exec=<path> [depreciated]

Specify the path to a F77 compiler

--f90exec=<path>

Specify the path to a F90 compiler

--f90compiler-exec=<path> [depreciated]

Specify the path to a F90 compiler

--f77flags=<string>

Specify F77 compiler flags

--f90flags=<string>

Specify F90 compiler flags

--opt=<string>

Specify optimization flags

--arch=<string>

Specify architecture specific optimization flags

--noopt

Compile without optimization flags

--noarch

Compile without arch-dependent optimization flags

--debug

Compile with debugging information

-l<libname>

Use the library <libname> when linking.

-D<macro>[=<defn=1>]

Define macro <macro> as <defn>.

-U<macro>

Define macro <macro>

-I<dir>

Append directory <dir> to the list of directories searched for include files.

-L<dir>

Add directory <dir> to the list of directories to be searched for -l.

link-<resource>

Link the extension module with <resource> as defined by numpy_distutils/system_info.py. E.g. to link with optimized LAPACK libraries (vecLib on MacOSX, ATLAS elsewhere), use --link-lapack_opt. See also --help-link switch.

Note

The f2py -c option must be applied either to an existing .pyf file (plus the source/object/library files) or one must specify the -m <modulename> option (plus the sources/object/library files). Use one of the following options:

f2py -c -m fib1 fib1.f

or

f2py -m fib1 fib1.f -h fib1.pyf
f2py -c fib1.pyf fib1.f

For more information, see the Building C and C++ Extensions Python documentation for details.

When building an extension module, a combination of the following macros may be required for non-gcc Fortran compilers:

-DPREPEND_FORTRAN
-DNO_APPEND_FORTRAN
-DUPPERCASE_FORTRAN

To test the performance of F2PY generated interfaces, use -DF2PY_REPORT_ATEXIT. Then a report of various timings is printed out at the exit of Python. This feature may not work on all platforms, and currently only Linux is supported.

To see whether F2PY generated interface performs copies of array arguments, use -DF2PY_REPORT_ON_ARRAY_COPY=<int>. When the size of an array argument is larger than <int>, a message about the copying is sent to stderr.

Other options#

-m <modulename>

Name of an extension module. Default is untitled.

Warning

Don’t use this option if a signature file (*.pyf) is used.

--[no-]lower

Do [not] lower the cases in <fortran files>. By default, --lower is assumed with -h switch, and --no-lower without the -h switch.

-include<header>

Writes additional headers in the C wrapper, can be passed multiple times, generates #include <header> each time. Note that this is meant to be passed in single quotes and without spaces, for example '-include<stdbool.h>'

--build-dir <dirname>

All F2PY generated files are created in <dirname>. Default is tempfile.mkdtemp().

--quiet

Run quietly.

--verbose

Run with extra verbosity.

--skip-empty-wrappers

Do not generate wrapper files unless required by the inputs. This is a backwards compatibility flag to restore pre 1.22.4 behavior.

-v

Print the F2PY version and exit.

Execute f2py without any options to get an up-to-date list of available options.

Python module numpy.f2py#

The f2py program is written in Python and can be run from inside your code to compile Fortran code at runtime, as follows:

from numpy import f2py
with open("add.f") as sourcefile:
    sourcecode = sourcefile.read()
f2py.compile(sourcecode, modulename='add')
import add

The source string can be any valid Fortran code. If you want to save the extension-module source code then a suitable file-name can be provided by the source_fn keyword to the compile function.

When using numpy.f2py as a module, the following functions can be invoked.

Warning

The current Python interface to the f2py module is not mature and may change in the future.

Fortran to Python Interface Generator.

numpy.f2py.compile(source, modulename='untitled', extra_args='', verbose=True, source_fn=None, extension='.f', full_output=False)[source]#

Build extension module from a Fortran 77 source string with f2py.

Parameters
sourcestr or bytes

Fortran source of module / subroutine to compile

Changed in version 1.16.0: Accept str as well as bytes

modulenamestr, optional

The name of the compiled python module

extra_argsstr or list, optional

Additional parameters passed to f2py

Changed in version 1.16.0: A list of args may also be provided.

verbosebool, optional

Print f2py output to screen

source_fnstr, optional

Name of the file where the fortran source is written. The default is to use a temporary file with the extension provided by the extension parameter

extension{'.f', '.f90'}, optional

Filename extension if source_fn is not provided. The extension tells which fortran standard is used. The default is .f, which implies F77 standard.

New in version 1.11.0.

full_outputbool, optional

If True, return a subprocess.CompletedProcess containing the stdout and stderr of the compile process, instead of just the status code.

New in version 1.20.0.

Returns
resultint or subprocess.CompletedProcess

0 on success, or a subprocess.CompletedProcess if full_output=True

Examples

>>> import numpy.f2py
>>> fsource = '''
...       subroutine foo
...       print*, "Hello world!"
...       end 
... '''
>>> numpy.f2py.compile(fsource, modulename='hello', verbose=0)
0
>>> import hello
>>> hello.foo()
 Hello world!
numpy.f2py.get_include()[source]#

Return the directory that contains the fortranobject.c and .h files.

Note

This function is not needed when building an extension with numpy.distutils directly from .f and/or .pyf files in one go.

Python extension modules built with f2py-generated code need to use fortranobject.c as a source file, and include the fortranobject.h header. This function can be used to obtain the directory containing both of these files.

Returns
include_pathstr

Absolute path to the directory containing fortranobject.c and fortranobject.h.

See also

numpy.get_include

function that returns the numpy include directory

Notes

New in version 1.21.1.

Unless the build system you are using has specific support for f2py, building a Python extension using a .pyf signature file is a two-step process. For a module mymod:

  • Step 1: run python -m numpy.f2py mymod.pyf --quiet. This generates _mymodmodule.c and (if needed) _fblas-f2pywrappers.f files next to mymod.pyf.

  • Step 2: build your Python extension module. This requires the following source files:

    • _mymodmodule.c

    • _mymod-f2pywrappers.f (if it was generated in Step 1)

    • fortranobject.c

numpy.f2py.run_main(comline_list)[source]#

Equivalent to running:

f2py <args>

where <args>=string.join(<list>,' '), but in Python. Unless -h is used, this function returns a dictionary containing information on generated modules and their dependencies on source files.

You cannot build extension modules with this function, that is, using -c is not allowed. Use the compile command instead.

Examples

The command f2py -m scalar scalar.f can be executed from Python as follows.

>>> import numpy.f2py
>>> r = numpy.f2py.run_main(['-m','scalar','doc/source/f2py/scalar.f'])
Reading fortran codes...
        Reading file 'doc/source/f2py/scalar.f' (format:fix,strict)
Post-processing...
        Block: scalar
                        Block: FOO
Building modules...
        Building module "scalar"...
        Wrote C/API module "scalar" to file "./scalarmodule.c"
>>> print(r)
{'scalar': {'h': ['/home/users/pearu/src_cvs/f2py/src/fortranobject.h'],
	 'csrc': ['./scalarmodule.c', 
                  '/home/users/pearu/src_cvs/f2py/src/fortranobject.c']}}

Automatic extension module generation#

If you want to distribute your f2py extension module, then you only need to include the .pyf file and the Fortran code. The distutils extensions in NumPy allow you to define an extension module entirely in terms of this interface file. A valid setup.py file allowing distribution of the add.f module (as part of the package f2py_examples so that it would be loaded as f2py_examples.add) is:

def configuration(parent_package='', top_path=None)
    from numpy.distutils.misc_util import Configuration
    config = Configuration('f2py_examples',parent_package, top_path)
    config.add_extension('add', sources=['add.pyf','add.f'])
    return config

if __name__ == '__main__':
    from numpy.distutils.core import setup
    setup(**configuration(top_path='').todict())

Installation of the new package is easy using:

pip install .

assuming you have the proper permissions to write to the main site- packages directory for the version of Python you are using. For the resulting package to work, you need to create a file named __init__.py (in the same directory as add.pyf). Notice the extension module is defined entirely in terms of the add.pyf and add.f files. The conversion of the .pyf file to a .c file is handled by numpy.distutils.

previous

F2PY user guide

next

F2PY examples