hl7

library0.4.5pypypi✓ verified 50d ago

A simple Python library for parsing HL7 v2.x messages. Provides segment, field, and component-level access to HL7 messages, along with MLLP (Minimal Lower Layer Protocol) client support. Does not handle HL7 FHIR (v4); it is strictly for the pipe-delimited v2.x wire format.

serialization communication

pip install hl7

github ↗package ↗homepage ↗

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v0.4.5 · pip install

no network on importno background threads

Install × environment matrix

Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux

musl

py 3.10–3.950 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 0.0s · import 0.029s · 18MB

glibc

py 3.10–3.950 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 1.5s · import 0.027s · 18MB

16MB installed

● package 16MB

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

hl7

✓ import hl7

✗ import hl7

Message

✓ from hl7 import Message

✗ import hl7

parse

✓ from hl7 import parse

✗ import hl7

Parse an HL7 v2.x message and access segments and fields.

import hl7 raw = 'MSH|^~\\&|SND|SND_FAC|RCV|RCV_FAC|20230101120000||ADT^A01|MSG00001|P|2.3\rPID|||12345^^^MRG||DOE^JOHN||19800101|M\r' message = hl7.parse(raw) # Access fields using segment(field) notation print(message.segment('MSH')) # Full MSH segment print(message['MSH.9']) # Message type: ADT^A01 print(message['PID.5']) # Patient name: DOE^JOHN print(message.segment('PID')[5]) # Same: DOE^JOHN

Debug

Known issues

gotchaHL7 v2.x messages use \r (carriage return) as the segment separator, NOT \n. Messages with \n line endings will not parse correctly.

fix

Ensure raw messages use \r: raw = raw.replace('\n', '\r') before parsing.

affects: all

breakingThe 'mllp' installation extra was removed along with the synchronous MLLPClient class in 0.4.0. MLLP functionality is now async-only and does not require a separate 'mllp' extra. Attempting to install `hl7[mllp]` on versions >= 0.4.0 will result in a warning.

fix

Migrate to async: reader, writer = await open_hl7_connection(host, port). The async MLLP functionality is now part of the base `hl7` package and does not require the `[mllp]` extra.

affects: >= 0.4.0

gotchaThis library only handles HL7 v2.x pipe-delimited messages. It does NOT support HL7 FHIR (v4 JSON/XML). Use fhir.resources or fhirclient for FHIR.

fix

Use the fhir.resources package for FHIR R4/R5 resources.

affects: all

gotchaField indexing is 0-based on the segment object but MSH segment counts the field separator as MSH.1, so MSH[1] returns '|' and MSH[9] returns the message type. This 1-off confusion is common.

fix

Use the string accessor message['MSH.9'] for clarity, or remember segment()[n] is 0-indexed.

affects: all

gotchaAccessing a non-existent segment with message.segment('ZZZ') raises KeyError, not returning None.

fix

Check segments first: if message.segments('ZZZ'): ... or wrap in try/except KeyError.

affects: all

Upgrade

Version history

0.4.5latest on PyPI

Audit

Dependencies

aiorunoptionalRequired for the async MLLP server/client functionality.

Agent activity

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Resources

githubhttps://github.com/johnpaulett/python-hl7 ↗

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/hl7/ ↗

homepagehttp://python-hl7.readthedocs.org ↗