Re: Any scriptable apps to get text from pdfs under X 10.1?
Re: Any scriptable apps to get text from pdfs under X 10.1?
- Subject: Re: Any scriptable apps to get text from pdfs under X 10.1?
- From: Shane Stanley <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 21:29:25 +1100
On 10/11/01 5:41 PM +1000, Timothy Bates, email@hidden, wrote:
>
I would like to be able to grab a line of text from a pdf file (in order to
>
change the name of a file to something reflecting its content).
>
>
While X imaging is closely linked to pdf, the TextEdit app can't open pdfs,
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and the preview app has no dictionary. Anyone know of a scriptable app that
>
allow access to pdf text (i.e., "get word 3 of line 1 of <my pdf> ")?
PDFs just don't have the sort of structure that can be reliably translated
to an object model like that. Even a line of text is likely to appear as
several discrete items if there's kerning involved.
The nearest I can think of would be to use Adobe Illustrator, and use the
position of the text art items to make an educated guess at the first line.
Probably a lot more work than you had in mind.
--
Shane Stanley, email@hidden