Delphi ActiveX Requires Chilkat v11.7.0+

Search a PDF with a Regular Expression

See more PDF Text Extraction Examples

Demonstrates searching a PDF with a regular expression (regex: true), limiting the number of results (maxResults), and matching whole words only (wholeWord). Delphi ActiveX

var
success: Integer;
pdf: TChilkatPdf;
json: TChilkatJsonObject;
jsonOut: TChilkatJsonObject;
i: Integer;
count_i: Integer;

begin
success := 0;

//  This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
//  See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

//  The PDF used in this example is available at order_records.pdf

pdf := TChilkatPdf.Create(Self);
success := pdf.LoadFile('qa_data/pdf/order_records.pdf');
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(pdf.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

json := TChilkatJsonObject.Create(Self);
jsonOut := TChilkatJsonObject.Create(Self);

//  Find every order number.  With regex set to true, the query is a regular expression.
json.UpdateString('query','ORD-[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{4}');
json.UpdateBool('regex',1);
//  We only want the matched text, so no context is needed.
json.UpdateInt('context',0);

success := pdf.ExtractText('search',json.ControlInterface,jsonOut.ControlInterface);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(pdf.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

Memo1.Lines.Add('Order numbers found: ' + IntToStr(jsonOut.IntOf('count')));
i := 0;
count_i := jsonOut.SizeOfArray('matches');
while i < count_i do
  begin
    jsonOut.I := i;
    Memo1.Lines.Add(jsonOut.StringOf('matches[i].text'));
    i := i + 1;
  end;

//  Find the e-mail addresses, but stop after the first three.
json.UpdateString('query','[a-z0-9._]+@[a-z]+[.][a-z]+');
json.UpdateInt('maxResults',3);
success := pdf.ExtractText('search',json.ControlInterface,jsonOut.ControlInterface);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(pdf.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

Memo1.Lines.Add('First three e-mail addresses:');
i := 0;
count_i := jsonOut.SizeOfArray('matches');
while i < count_i do
  begin
    jsonOut.I := i;
    Memo1.Lines.Add(jsonOut.StringOf('matches[i].text'));
    i := i + 1;
  end;

//  wholeWord: true matches only whole words.  The word "cat" appears once in the PDF,
//  but it is also inside "catalog" and "category".
json.Delete('maxResults');
json.UpdateBool('regex',0);
json.UpdateString('query','cat');
success := pdf.ExtractText('search',json.ControlInterface,jsonOut.ControlInterface);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(pdf.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;
Memo1.Lines.Add('Occurrences of cat (any): ' + IntToStr(jsonOut.IntOf('count')));

json.UpdateBool('wholeWord',1);
success := pdf.ExtractText('search',json.ControlInterface,jsonOut.ControlInterface);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(pdf.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;
Memo1.Lines.Add('Occurrences of cat (whole word): ' + IntToStr(jsonOut.IntOf('count')));

//  Sample output:

//  Order numbers found: 9
//  ORD-2026-0301
//  ORD-2026-0302
//  ORD-2026-0303
//  ORD-2026-0304
//  ORD-2026-0305
//  ORD-2026-0306
//  ORD-2026-0307
//  ORD-2026-0308
//  ORD-2026-0307
//  First three e-mail addresses:
//  alice.moore@example.com
//  bkumar@example.org
//  carla@example.net
//  Occurrences of cat (any): 3
//  Occurrences of cat (whole word): 1