Clang

Clang
Original authorChris Lattner
DeveloperLLVM Developer Group
Initial releaseSeptember 26, 2007 (2007-09-26)
Stable release
22.1.1  / 11 March 2026 (11 March 2026)
Written inC++
Operating systemUnix-like
PlatformAArch64, ARMv7, IA-32, x86-64, ppc64le
TypeCompiler front end
LicenseApache 2.0 with LLVM Exceptions
Websiteclang.llvm.org 
Repository

Clang (/ˈklæŋ/) is a compiler front end for the programming languages C, C++, Objective-C, Objective-C++, and the software frameworks OpenMP, OpenCL, RenderScript, CUDA, SYCL, and HIP. It acts as a drop-in replacement for the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), supporting most of its compiling flags and unofficial language extensions. It includes a static analyzer, and several code analysis tools.

Clang operates in tandem with the LLVM compiler back end and has been a subproject of LLVM 2.6 and later. As with LLVM, it is free and open-source software under the Apache 2.0 software license. Its contributors include Apple, IBM, Microsoft, Google, ARM, Sony, Intel and AMD.

Clang 17 has full support for all published C++ standards up to C++17, implements most features of C++20, and has initial support for the C++23 standard. Since v16.0.0, Clang compiles C++ using the GNU++17 dialect by default, which includes features from the C++17 standard and conforming GNU extensions.