What is a .PC file?
A .pc file is pkg-config metadata - it tells the build tool pkg-config which compiler include paths (Cflags) and linker flags (Libs) a library needs, plus its name, version and dependencies. Used across Linux and Unix C/C++ builds.
- Did you know
- A single `pkg-config --cflags --libs gtk+-3.0` reads the installed .pc file and prints every flag a compiler needs, which is why .pc files are the backbone of Unix C build systems.
- Analyser handles .PC alongside related formats such as .C, .H, .CC and more.
- In Analyser's format library, .PC sits in the Data & code category.
- What Analyser reads
- Open and read programming-language source, build and configuration files as text: C, C++ and their headers, C#, Java, Kotlin, Go, Rust, Python, Ruby, PHP, Swift, Scala, Lua, Perl, R, Dart, Groovy and Visual Basic, GPU shaders (GLSL, HLSL), shell scripts (sh, Bash, Zsh, Fish), and the build and tooling files that fill a source repository - CMake, Makefiles, Ninja, Autotools (.in / .ac / .am / .m4), qmake projects, Doxygen configs and the dotfiles that configure Git, Docker, npm, ESLint, Prettier, Cursor and clang-format. Also opens Objective-C++ (.mm / .hmm), more GPU shaders (.fs / .vs / .gs), Boost.Jam and Meson build scripts, Unix manual pages, web stylesheets (Less, Sass/SCSS) and Svelte components, gettext translations (.po / .pot), Apple entitlements and licence/readme text, plus Cython (.pyx), OpenGL shaders (.fsh / .vsh / .geom), Git hook samples, ESLint and Yarn configs and ASP.NET (.aspx) pages. Each opens with a source preview, line count and metadata, entirely in your browser.
- Depth of analysis
- .PC is an identification-grade format: Analyser recognises it from its bytes and decodes the header metadata it carries, rather than opening it in a full viewer. Formats that do get a full viewer are marked "Full" on the formats page.
- Open a .PC file
- Drag a .PC file onto the Analyser home page (or tap to pick one). It is identified entirely in your browser - nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and it works offline once installed.