Coccinelle vs Comby
Coccinelle
coccinelle.gitlabpages.inria.fr
Comby
comby.devSide by side
| Figure | Coccinelle | Comby |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Code Refactoring Tools | 7.9 (#9) | 7.7 (#12) |
| Purpose | Coccinelle is a program matching and transformation engine that uses SmPL to specify desired matches and transformations in C code. | Comby is a tool for searching and changing code structure using lightweight templates. |
| Support | Questions can be sent to the [email protected] mailing list, which is moderated for non-members; contributions are preferred via the list and may also be submitted on GitHub. | The help page directs users to the Gitter channel for usage questions and pattern-writing help, and to GitHub issues for installation problems. |
| Use cases | The project describes use for automating collateral code changes after library API evolution and for finding and fixing bugs in systems code. | Documented uses include large-scale refactoring, structural code search, fuzzing, editor find-and-replace, and academic research. |
Plans
In their own words
Coccinelle
Coccinelle is a free program matching and transformation engine for working with C code. It uses SmPL to describe code patterns and the transformations to apply when matches are found. A single semantic patch can change code at many sites across hundreds of files while allowing for differences in spacing, variable names, irrelevant code, and coding style. The project describes uses including automating collateral changes after library API evolution and finding and fixing bugs in systems code. Coccinelle semantic patches and bug fixes have been integrated into the official Linux tree, and semantic patches are available in the Linux scripts directory for use with coccicheck. It supports C and C++, with C++ mode invoked using --c++; the project says its C++ support is still being extended, including for high performance computing. The download page lists version 1.3.3, dated September 2, 2026, with source code and precompiled spatch builds. It is available for Linux and macOS as desktop software. Source builds require OCaml, with Python and Menhir needed in specified cases.
Comby
Comby is a free, open-source tool for searching and changing code structure with lightweight templates. It recognizes basic syntax in code, strings, and comments across many languages, with parsers listed for C/C++, C#, Go, Java, JavaScript, Python, Rust, Swift, and TypeScript, plus a generic matcher for other formats. The project targets large refactors and one-off changes, and an interactive review mode lets users inspect proposed edits. Comby can run from its command line, Python bindings, or HTTP requests sent to a server on your machine. Installation instructions cover macOS with Homebrew, Ubuntu, Windows through Ubuntu on WSL, and Docker; building from source is also described. Linked projects include an Emacs package and a prototype VS Code extension. Other uses include structural code search, compiler fuzzing, test-case reduction, editor find and replace, and academic research. Comby matches balanced delimiters while accounting for comments and string literals, and supports regex search. It is self-hosted and available for API, Linux, macOS, and Windows use. The Apache-2.0 license is identified in the public repository.