diff --git a/tools/toolchain/install_cp2k_toolchain.sh b/tools/toolchain/install_cp2k_toolchain.sh
index 51ec00fb78..92a5904326 100755
--- a/tools/toolchain/install_cp2k_toolchain.sh
+++ b/tools/toolchain/install_cp2k_toolchain.sh
@@ -1084,7 +1084,7 @@ EOF
     local __TMPL=$(cat $__filename)
     eval "printf \"${__TMPL}\n\"" > $__filename
     # pass this to parsers to replace all of the IF_XYZ statements
-    python ${SCRIPTDIR}/parse_if.py $__filename $__flags
+    "${SCRIPTDIR}/parse_if.py" -i -f "${__filename}" $__flags
     echo "Wrote ${INSTALLDIR}/arch/$__filename"
 }
 
diff --git a/tools/toolchain/scripts/parse_if.py b/tools/toolchain/scripts/parse_if.py
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index e02def8eb0..668d86084c
--- a/tools/toolchain/scripts/parse_if.py
+++ b/tools/toolchain/scripts/parse_if.py
@@ -1,21 +1,30 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# -*- coding: utf8 -*-
+
+
 import sys
+import argparse
+
 
 class Parser:
     "Parser for files with IF_XYZ(A|B) constructs"
     def __init__(self, switches):
         self.mSwitches = switches
+
     def Switches(self):
         "outputs the switches used by parser"
         return self.mSwitches
+
     def SetSwitch(self, key, val):
         "Set or add a (key,val) switch"
         self.mSwitches[key] = val
+
     def ParseSingleIf(self, string, switch):
         """
-switch should be a tuple (key, val)
-ParseSingleIf(string, switch) will replace in string the
-first occurance of IF_key(A|B) with A if val = True;
-B if val = False
+        switch should be a tuple (key, val)
+        ParseSingleIf(string, switch) will replace in string the
+        first occurance of IF_key(A|B) with A if val = True;
+        B if val = False
         """
         init = string.find('IF_' + switch[0])
         start = init
@@ -44,6 +53,7 @@ B if val = False
                      string[mark + 1  : end]  + \
                      string[end + 1   : len(string)]
         return result
+
     def ParseIf(self, string, switch):
         """
 ParseIf(string, switch) will replace in string recursively
@@ -54,6 +64,7 @@ B if val = False
         while result.find('IF_' + switch[0]) > -1:
             result = self.ParseSingleIf(result, switch)
         return result
+
     def ParseString(self, string):
         """
 ParseString(string) will parse in string recursively
@@ -64,47 +75,62 @@ in dictionary self.mSwitches
         for switch in self.mSwitches.items():
             result = self.ParseIf(result, switch)
         return result
-    def ParseDocument(self, filename):
+
+    def ParseDocument(self, input_file, output_file):
         """
-ParseDocument(filename) will replace in a file recursively
-all of IF_key(A|B) statements for all (key, val) pairs
-in dictionary self.mSwitches
+        ParseDocument(input_file, output_fiel) will replace recursively
+        all of IF_key(A|B) statements for all (key, val) pairs
+        in dictionary self.mSwitches in the input_file stream and output
+        to the output_file stream.
         """
-        input_file = open(filename, "r")
         output=[]
         for line in input_file:
             output.append(self.ParseString(line))
-        input_file.close()
+
+        if input_file == output_file:
+            output_file.seek(0)
+            output_file.truncate()
+
         # write to the same file
-        output_file = open(filename, "w")
         for line in output:
             output_file.write(line)
-        output_file.close()
 
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # main program
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    argparser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Resolve IF_*() macros based on given tags")
+    argparser.add_argument('-f', '--file', metavar="FILENAME", type=str, help="read from  given file instead of stdin")
+    argparser.add_argument('-i', '--inplace', action="store_true", help="do in-place replacement for the given file instead of echo to stdout")
+    argparser.add_argument('flags', metavar="FLAG", type=str, nargs='*', help="specified flags are set to true")
 
-if (len(sys.argv) < 2) or \
-   ("--help" in sys.argv) or \
-   ("-h" in sys.argv):
-    sys.stderr.write("usage: parse_if <filename> MPI OMP CUDA ...\n")
-    sys.exit()
+    args = argparser.parse_args()
 
-# default list of switches used by the parser
-switches = {"MPI"      : False, \
-            "OMP"      : False, \
-            "CUDA"     : False, \
-            "WARNALL"  : False, \
-            "DEBUG"    : False, \
-            "VALGRIND" : False, \
-            "COVERAGE" : False}
+    # default list of switches used by the parser
+    switches = {
+       "MPI": False,
+       "OMP": False,
+       "CUDA": False,
+       "WARNALL": False,
+       "DEBUG": False,
+       "VALGRIND": False,
+       "COVERAGE": False,
+       }
 
-parser=Parser(switches)
+    parser = Parser(switches)
 
-# set the list of switches given on the command line to True
-for ii in sys.argv[2:]:
-    parser.SetSwitch(ii, True)
+    # set the list of switches given on the command line to True
+    for flag in args.flags:
+        parser.SetSwitch(flag, True)
 
-# do parsing
-parser.ParseDocument(sys.argv[1])
+    # do parsing
+
+    if not args.file:
+       parser.ParseDocument(sys.stdin, sys.stdout)
+    else:
+       if args.inplace:
+          with open(args.file, mode='r+') as fhandle:
+             parser.ParseDocument(fhandle, fhandle)
+       else:
+          with open(args.file, mode='r') as fhandle:
+             parser.ParseDocument(fhandle, sys.stdout)