--- /dev/null
+#ifndef __SAM_HEADER_H__
+#define __SAM_HEADER_H__
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+ void *sam_header_parse2(const char *headerText);
+ void *sam_header_merge(int n, const void **dicts);
+ void sam_header_free(void *header);
+ char *sam_header_write(const void *headerDict); // returns a newly allocated string
+
+ char **sam_header2list(const void *_dict, char type[2], char key_tag[2], int *_n);
+
+ void *sam_header2tbl(const void *dict, char type[2], char key_tag[2], char value_tag[2]);
+ const char *sam_tbl_get(void *h, const char *key);
+ int sam_tbl_size(void *h);
+ void sam_tbl_destroy(void *h);
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+}
+#endif
+
+#endif