Perl Requires Chilkat v11.7.0+

Search for Text in a PDF

See more PDF Text Extraction Examples

Demonstrates the "search" operation, which finds every occurrence of a string in a PDF and returns each match with its page number and the text around it. Matching ignores case unless caseSensitive is true. Perl

use chilkat();

$success = 0;

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

#  The three-page PDF used in this example is available at search_context.pdf

$pdf = chilkat::CkPdf->new();
$success = $pdf->LoadFile("qa_data/pdf/search_context.pdf");
if ($success == 0) {
    print $pdf->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
    exit;
}

$json = chilkat::CkJsonObject->new();
$jsonOut = chilkat::CkJsonObject->new();

#  The string to find.
$json->UpdateString("query","chilkat");

#  The number of characters returned before and after each match.  The default is 40.
$json->UpdateInt("context",30);

$success = $pdf->ExtractText("search",$json,$jsonOut);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $pdf->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
    exit;
}

#  "count" is the number of matches.  Each match has the page, the matched text as it appears
#  in the PDF, and the text before and after it.
print "Matches: " . $jsonOut->IntOf("count") . "\r\n";

$i = 0;
$count_i = $jsonOut->SizeOfArray("matches");
while ($i < $count_i) {
    $jsonOut->put_I($i);
    print "page " . $jsonOut->IntOf("matches[i].page") . ": ..." . $jsonOut->stringOf("matches[i].before") . "[" . $jsonOut->stringOf("matches[i].text") . "]" . $jsonOut->stringOf("matches[i].after")
         . "..." . "\r\n";
    $i = $i + 1;
}

#  The search ignores case by default.  Set caseSensitive to find only the exact spelling.
$json->UpdateBool("caseSensitive",1);
$json->UpdateString("query","Chilkat");
$success = $pdf->ExtractText("search",$json,$jsonOut);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $pdf->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
    exit;
}

print "Case-sensitive matches for Chilkat: " . $jsonOut->IntOf("count") . "\r\n";

#  Sample output:

#  Matches: 5
#  page 1: ...[Chilkat] River Field Notes The Chilkat...
#  page 1: ...Chilkat River Field Notes The [Chilkat] River runs for about fifty mi...
#  page 2: ...DAY ONE: UPPER [CHILKAT] FLATS Clear and cold, minus e...
#  page 2: ...he river is sometimes spelled [chilkat] in older records, and the val...
#  page 3: ...y because the fish run on the [Chilkat] was thinning. Two tagged bird...
#  Case-sensitive matches for Chilkat: 3