pdf to text

I know this question comes up a lot, so here goes again. I want to read
text from a PDF file, run re searches on the text, etc. I do not care
about layout, fonts, borders, etc. I just want the text. I've been
reading Adobe's PDF Reference Guide and I'm beginning to develop a
better understanding of PDF in general, but I need a bit of help... this
seems like it should be easier than it is. Here's some code:
>
import zlib
>
fp = open('test.pdf', 'rb')
bytes = []
while 1:
byte = fp.read(1)
#print byte
bytes.append(byte)
if not byte:
break
>
for byte in bytes:
>
op = open('pdf.txt', 'a')
>
dco = zlib.decompressobj()
>
try:
s = dco.decompress(byte)
#print >op, s
print s
except Exception, e:
print e
>
op.close()
>
fp.close()
>
I know the text is compressed... that it would have stream and endstream
makers and BT (Begin Text) and ET (End Text) and that the uncompressed
text is enclosed in parenthesis (this is my text). Has anyone here done
this in a simple fashion? I've played with the pyPdf library some, but
it seems overly complex for my needs (merge PDFs, write PDFs, etc). I
just want a simple PDF text extractor.
>
Thanks

I know this question comes up a lot, so here goes again. I want to read
text from a PDF file, run re searches on the text, etc. I do not care
about layout, fonts, borders, etc. I just want the text. I've been
reading Adobe's PDF Reference Guide and I'm beginning to develop a
better understanding of PDF in general, but I need a bit of help... this
seems like it should be easier than it is.

I know the text is compressed... that it would have stream and endstream
makers and BT (Begin Text) and ET (End Text) and that the uncompressed
text is enclosed in parenthesis (this is my text). Has anyone here done
this in a simple fashion? I've played with the pyPdf library some, but
it seems overly complex for my needs (merge PDFs, write PDFs, etc). I
just want a simple PDF text extractor.

The pdftotext tool may do what you want:
>
http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/download.html
>
Let us know how you get on with it.

The pdftotext tool may do what you want:
>
http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/download.html
>
Let us know how you get on with it.
>
David

Perhaps I'm just using pdftotext wrong? Here's how I was using it:
>

sout = os.popen('pdftotext "%s" - ' %f)

David Boddie wrote:
>>
Perhaps I'm just using pdftotext wrong? Here's how I was using it:
>
f = filename
>
try:
sout = os.popen('pdftotext "%s" - ' %f)
data = sout.read().strip()
print data
sout.close()
>
except Exception, e:
print e

Your program above should read:
>
sout = os.popen('pdftotext "%s" - ' % (f,))

Dieter Deyke wrote:>>
What is the significance of doing it this way?