cdecl ☆

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Description:
Turn English phrases to C or C++ declarations

Type: Formula | Latest Version: 18.6@0 | Tracked Since: Dec 17, 2025

Links: Homepage | formulae.brew.sh

Category: Developer tools

Tags: c cpp development utilities cli

Install: brew install cdecl

About:
Cdecl is a command-line tool that translates complex C and C++ type declarations into human-readable English descriptions and vice versa. It helps developers understand intricate syntax like pointers to functions and arrays. The tool also provides interactive mode and can read from standard input for scripting.

Key Features:

Translates C/C++ declarations to English and back
Interactive command-line interface
Supports modern C++ features like templates and references
Can explain existing code from source files

Use Cases:

Deciphering complex function pointer declarations in legacy codebases
Learning C/C++ syntax by visualizing how declarations map to English
Generating correct syntax for complex variable or function declarations

Alternatives:

c++filt – Focuses on demangling C++ symbol names rather than translating declarations to English
cdecl-web – Web-based interface for the same functionality, less suitable for terminal workflows

License: GPL-3.0-or-later AND LGPL-2.1-or-later AND LicenseRef-Homebrew-public-domain

Dependencies: readline

Bottles available for: arm64_tahoe, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, sonoma, arm64_linux, x86_64_linux

Version History

Detected	Version	Rev	Change	Commit
Sep 13, 2025 4:14am		0	VERSION_BUMP	e5bc37ff