`sysconfig`

The Python sysconfig module provides access to Python’s configuration information, which includes details about the installation paths, the build environment, and platform-specific settings.

This module is beneficial for determining the environment in which your Python code is running and for making decisions based on that information.

Here’s a quick example:

Python
      
>>> import sysconfig
>>> sysconfig.get_platform()
'macosx-15.3-arm64'

Key Features

Retrieves Python’s installation paths
Provides details about the build environment
Provides access to platform-specific configuration data
Retrieves compiler and linker flags used to build Python
Lists available installation schemes for customization

Frequently Used Classes and Functions

Object	Type	Description
`sysconfig.get_platform()`	Function	Returns a string identifying the current platform
`sysconfig.get_paths()`	Function	Returns a dictionary of standard paths
`sysconfig.get_path()`	Function	Returns the path for a specific scheme key
`sysconfig.get_config_var()`	Function	Retrieves the value of a single configuration variable
`sysconfig.get_path_names()`	Function	Returns a list of available path scheme keys

Examples

Get standard installation paths:

Python
      
        
      
    
>>> import sysconfig

>>> sysconfig.get_paths()
{
    'stdlib': '/usr/local/lib/python3.13',
    'platstdlib': '/usr/local/lib/python3.13',
    ...
}

Access a specific configuration variable:

Python
      
>>> sysconfig.get_config_var("LIBDIR")
'/usr/local/lib'

List available path names:

Python
      
        
      
    
>>> sysconfig.get_path_names()
[
    'stdlib',
    'platstdlib',
    'purelib',
    'platlib',
    'include',
    'platinclude',
    'scripts',
    'data'
]

Common Use Cases

Determining the platform for platform-specific logic
Locating Python’s installation paths for custom installations or deployments
Accessing build-time configuration variables for extensions or tools
Integrating with packaging tools to install files in the correct environment
Querying or overriding install schemes for advanced deployment scenarios

Real-World Example

If you need to compile a C extension or interface with Python’s C API, you’ll want to locate include/ and library/ directories for your current Python installation:

Python
      
    
import sysconfig
from pathlib import Path

# Get Python's include directory (for compiling C extensions)
include_dir = Path(sysconfig.get_path("include"))
plat_include_dir = Path(sysconfig.get_path("platinclude"))

# Get library and platform information
library_dir = sysconfig.get_config_var("LIBDIR")
python_lib = sysconfig.get_config_var("LIBRARY")

print("Include directory:", include_dir)
print("Platform-specific include directory:", plat_include_dir)
print("Library directory:", library_dir)
print("Python library:", python_lib)

This example uses sysconfig to extract the include paths and library information needed when compiling a C extension against the current Python installation.

Tutorial

Building a Python C Extension Module

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to write Python interfaces in C. Find out how to invoke C functions from within Python and build Python C extension modules. You'll learn how to parse arguments, return values, and raise custom exceptions using the Python API.

advanced python

By Leodanis Pozo Ramos • Updated July 23, 2025

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sysconfig