---
myst:
  html_meta:
    description: Recurrent layers in PyTorch C++ — RNN, LSTM, and GRU modules for sequence modeling.
    keywords: PyTorch, C++, RNN, LSTM, GRU, recurrent, sequence, hidden state
---

# Recurrent Layers

Recurrent layers process sequential data by maintaining hidden state across time steps.
They are essential for tasks involving sequences: language modeling, speech recognition,
time series prediction, and more.

- **RNN**: Basic recurrent layer (simple but prone to vanishing gradients)
- **LSTM**: Long Short-Term Memory (gated architecture, handles long-range dependencies)
- **GRU**: Gated Recurrent Unit (simpler than LSTM, often similar performance)
- **Cell variants**: Single-step versions for custom loop implementations

**Key parameters:**

- `input_size`: Number of features in input
- `hidden_size`: Number of features in hidden state
- `num_layers`: Number of stacked recurrent layers
- `batch_first`: If true, input shape is `[batch, seq, features]`
- `bidirectional`: Process sequence in both directions

## RNN

```{doxygenclass} torch::nn::RNN
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:undoc-members:
```

```{doxygenclass} torch::nn::RNNImpl
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:undoc-members:
```

**Example:**

```cpp
auto rnn = torch::nn::RNN(
    torch::nn::RNNOptions(128, 256)  // input_size, hidden_size
        .num_layers(2)
        .batch_first(true)
        .bidirectional(false));

auto input = torch::randn({32, 10, 128});  // [batch, seq_len, input_size]
auto [output, hidden] = rnn->forward(input);
```

## LSTM

```{doxygenclass} torch::nn::LSTM
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:undoc-members:
```

```{doxygenclass} torch::nn::LSTMImpl
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:undoc-members:
```

**Example:**

```cpp
auto lstm = torch::nn::LSTM(
    torch::nn::LSTMOptions(128, 256)
        .num_layers(2)
        .batch_first(true)
        .dropout(0.1)
        .bidirectional(true));

auto input = torch::randn({32, 10, 128});
auto [output, state] = lstm->forward(input);
auto [h_n, c_n] = state;  // hidden state, cell state
```

## GRU

```{doxygenclass} torch::nn::GRU
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:undoc-members:
```

```{doxygenclass} torch::nn::GRUImpl
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:undoc-members:
```

## RNNCell

```{doxygenclass} torch::nn::RNNCell
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:undoc-members:
```

```{doxygenclass} torch::nn::RNNCellImpl
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:undoc-members:
```

## LSTMCell

```{doxygenclass} torch::nn::LSTMCell
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:undoc-members:
```

```{doxygenclass} torch::nn::LSTMCellImpl
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:undoc-members:
```

## GRUCell

```{doxygenclass} torch::nn::GRUCell
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:undoc-members:
```

```{doxygenclass} torch::nn::GRUCellImpl
:members:
:undoc-members:
```