A validating CIF parser:: PyCIFRW

PyCIFRW is a general-purpose Python package providing a simple, powerful interface for working with CIF files. Objects and methods are available for reading, writing and manipulating CIF files and dictionaries. Comprehensive validation of CIF files and dictionaries against DDL1 or DDL2 dictionaries is also possible. PyCIFRW is easily included in larger projects and is portable across a large number of platforms. Although written in an interpreted language, parsing and validation times are acceptable for most applications.