C API reference#
Note
This is the documentation for metatensor-core version
0.2.0.dev1. For other versions, look in the following pages:
metatensor offers a C API that can be called from any language able to call
C functions (in particular, this includes Python, Fortran with iso_c_env,
C++, and most languages used nowadays). Convenient wrappers of the C API are
also provided for Python users.
The C API is implemented in Rust. You can use these functions in your own code
by installing the corresponding shared library and header,
and then including metatensor.h and linking with -lmetatensor.
Alternatively, we provide a cmake package config file, allowing you to do use
metatensor like this (after installation):
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
project(my-project C)
find_package(metatensor)
# add executables/libraries
add_executable(my-exe exe-source.c)
add_library(my-lib lib-source.c)
# Link to metatensor, this makes the header accessible and link to the right
# libraries.
#
# The `metatensor` target will be an alias for `metatensor::shared`
# or `metatensor::static` depending how you've installed the code.
target_link_libraries(my-exe metatensor)
target_link_libraries(my-lib metatensor)
# alternatively, you can explicitly use the static or shared build of
# metatensor. Unless you have a very specific need for a static build, we
# recommend using the shared version of metatensor: this will allow to pass
# data from your code to any other code using metatensor.
# target_link_libraries(my-exe metatensor::shared)
# target_link_libraries(my-exe metatensor::static)
The functions and types provided in metatensor.h can be grouped in five
main groups: