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Extraction

TextExtract

Sample code in Swift and Obj-C for using Apryse iOS SDK to read a PDF (parse and extract text). If you'd like to search text on PDF pages, see our code sample for text search.

Learn more about our full PDF Data Extraction SDK Capabilities.

To start your free trial, get stated with iOS SDK.

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Copyright (c) 2001-2024 by Apryse Software Inc. All Rights Reserved.
// Consult legal.txt regarding legal and license information.
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#import <OBJC/PDFNetOBJC.h>
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

// This sample illustrates the basic text extraction capabilities of PDFNet.

// A utility method used to dump all text content in the console window.
void DumpAllText(PTElementReader *reader) 
{
    PTElement *element; 
    while ((element = [reader Next]) != NULL)
    {
        switch ([element GetType]) 
        {
        case e_pttext_begin: 
            NSLog(@"--> Text Block Begin");
            break;
        case e_pttext_end:
            NSLog(@"--> Text Block End");
            break;
        case e_pttext:
            {
                PTPDFRect * bbox = [element GetBBox];
                NSLog(@"--> BBox: %f, %f, %f, %f", [bbox GetX1], [bbox GetY1], [bbox GetX2], [bbox GetY2]);

                NSLog(@"%@", [element GetTextString]);
            }
            break;
        case e_pttext_new_line:
            NSLog(@"--> New Line");
            break;
        case e_ptform:                // Process form XObjects
            [reader FormBegin]; 
            DumpAllText(reader);
            [reader End]; 
            break;
        default:
            break;
        }
    }
}

// A helper method for ReadTextFromRect
void RectTextSearch(PTElementReader *reader, PTPDFRect * pos, NSString **srch_str)
{            
    PTElement *element; 
    while ((element = [reader Next]) != NULL)
    {
        switch ([element GetType]) 
        {
        case e_pttext:
            {
                PTPDFRect * bbox = [element GetBBox];
                if([bbox IntersectRect: bbox rect2: pos]) 
                {
                    NSString *arr = [element GetTextString];
                    *srch_str = [*srch_str stringByAppendingString: arr];
                    *srch_str = [*srch_str stringByAppendingString: @"\n"]; // add a new line?
                }
                break;
            }
        case e_pttext_new_line:
            {
                break;
            }
        case e_ptform: // Process form XObjects
            {
                [reader FormBegin]; 
                RectTextSearch(reader, pos, &(*srch_str));
                [reader End]; 
                break; 
            }
        default:
            break;
        }
    }
}

// A utility method used to extract all text content from
// a given selection rectangle. The rectangle coordinates are
// expressed in PDF user/page coordinate system.
NSString* ReadTextFromRect(PTPage *page, PTPDFRect * pos, PTElementReader *reader)
{
    NSString *srch_str = @"";
    [reader Begin: page];
    RectTextSearch(reader, pos, &srch_str);
    [reader End];
    return srch_str;
}


void PrintStyle(PTTextExtractorStyle *s)
{
    NSArray *rgb = [s GetColor];
    NSString * name = [s GetFontName ];
    const char* font_family = [name UTF8String];
    double font_size = [s GetFontSize];
    const char * san_serif = ([s IsSerif]) ? " sans-serif;" : "";
    int R = [rgb[0] intValue];
    int G = [rgb[1] intValue];
    int B = [rgb[2] intValue];
    printf(" style=\"font-family:%s; font-size:%g;%s color:#%02X%02X%02X;\"", font_family, font_size, san_serif, [rgb[0] intValue], [rgb[1] intValue], [rgb[2] intValue]);
}

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    @autoreleasepool {
        int ret = 0;
        [PTPDFNet Initialize: 0];

        bool example1_basic     = false;
        bool example2_xml       = false;
        bool example3_wordlist  = false;
        bool example4_advanced  = true;
        bool example5_low_level = false;

        // Sample code showing how to use high-level text extraction APIs.
        @try
        {
            PTPDFDoc *doc = [[PTPDFDoc alloc] initWithFilepath: @"../../TestFiles/newsletter.pdf"];
            [doc InitSecurityHandler];

            PTPage *page = [doc GetPage: 1];
            if (![page IsValid]){
                NSLog(@"Page not found.");
                return 1;
            }

            PTTextExtractor *txt = [[PTTextExtractor alloc] init];
            [txt Begin: page clip_ptr: 0 flags: 0]; // Read the page.
            // Other options you may want to consider...
            // txt.Begin(*itr, 0, TextExtractor::e_no_dup_remove);
            // txt.Begin(*itr, 0, TextExtractor::e_remove_hidden_text);


            // Example 1. Get all text on the page in a single string.
            // Words will be separated with space or new line characters.
            if (example1_basic) 
            {
                // Get the word count.
                NSLog(@"Word Count: %d", [txt GetWordCount]);

                NSString *text = [txt GetAsText: YES];
                NSLog(@"\n\n- GetAsText --------------------------\n%@", text);
                NSLog(@"-----------------------------------------------------------");
            }

            // Example 2. Get XML logical structure for the page.
            if (example2_xml) 
            {
                NSString *text = [txt GetAsXML: e_ptwords_as_elements | e_ptoutput_bbox | e_ptoutput_style_info];
                NSLog(@"\n\n- GetAsXML  --------------------------\n %@", text);
                NSLog(@"-----------------------------------------------------------");
            }

            // Example 3. Extract words one by one.
            if (example3_wordlist) 
            {
                PTTextExtractorLine *line = [txt GetFirstLine];
                PTWord *word;
                for (; [line IsValid]; line=[line GetNextLine])    {
                    for (word=[line GetFirstWord]; [word IsValid]; word=[word GetNextWord]) {
                        NSLog(@"%@", [word GetString]);
                    }
                }
                NSLog(@"-----------------------------------------------------------");
            }

            // Example 4. A more advanced text extraction example. 
            // The output is XML structure containing paragraphs, lines, words, 
            // as well as style and positioning information.
            if (example4_advanced) 
            {
                PTPDFRect * b, *q;
                int cur_flow_id=-1, cur_para_id=-1;

                NSString *uni_str;
                PTTextExtractorLine *line;
                PTWord *word;
                PTTextExtractorStyle *s, *line_style;

                printf("<PDFText>\n");
                // For each line on the page...
                for (line=[txt GetFirstLine]; [line IsValid]; line=[line GetNextLine])
                {
                    if ( [line GetNumWords] == 0 )
                    {
                        continue;
                    }
                    
                    if (cur_flow_id != [line GetFlowID]) {
                        if (cur_flow_id != -1) {
                            if (cur_para_id != -1) {
                                cur_para_id = -1;
                                printf("</Para>\n");
                            }
                            printf("</Flow>\n");
                        }
                        cur_flow_id = [line GetFlowID];
                        printf("<Flow id=\"%d\">\n", cur_flow_id);
                    }

                    if (cur_para_id != [line GetParagraphID]) {
                        if (cur_para_id != -1)
                            printf("</Para>\n");
                        cur_para_id = [line GetParagraphID];
                        printf("<Para id=\"%d\">\n", cur_para_id);
                    }    

                    b = [line GetBBox];
                    line_style = [line GetStyle];
                    printf("<Line box=\"%.2f, %.2f, %.2f, %.2f\"", [b GetX1], [b GetY1], [b GetX2], [b GetY2]);
                    PrintStyle(line_style);
                    printf(" cur_num=\"%d\"", [line GetCurrentNum]);
                    printf(">\n");

                    // For each word in the line...
                    for (word=[line GetFirstWord]; [word IsValid]; word=[word GetNextWord])
                    {
                        // Output the bounding box for the word.
                        q = [word GetBBox];
                        printf("<Word box=\"%.2f, %.2f, %.2f, %.2f\"", [q GetX1], [q GetY1], [q GetX2], [q GetY2]);
                        printf(" cur_num=\"%d\"", [word GetCurrentNum]);
                        
                        int sz = [word GetStringLen];
                        if (sz == 0) continue;

                        // If the word style is different from the parent style, output the new style.
                    
                        s = [word GetStyle];    
                        if(![s isEqualTo:line_style]){
                            PrintStyle(s);
                        }

                        uni_str = [word GetString];
                        printf(">%s", [uni_str UTF8String]);
                        printf("</Word>\n");
                    }
                    printf("</Line>\n");
                }

                if (cur_flow_id != -1) {
                    if (cur_para_id != -1) {
                        cur_para_id = -1;
                        printf("</Para>\n");
                    }
                    printf("</Flow>\n");
                }
                printf("</PDFText>\n");
            }
        }
        @catch(NSException *e)
        {
            NSLog(@"%@", e.reason);
            ret = 1;
        }

        if(example5_low_level)
        {
            @try
            {
                PTPDFDoc *doc = [[PTPDFDoc alloc] initWithFilepath: @"../../TestFiles/newsletter.pdf"];
                [doc InitSecurityHandler];

                // Example 1. Extract all text content from the document

                PTElementReader *reader = [[PTElementReader alloc] init];
                //  Read every page
                PTPageIterator *itr;
                for (itr=[doc GetPageIterator: 1]; [itr HasNext]; [itr Next]) 
                {                
                    [reader Begin: [itr Current]];
                    DumpAllText(reader);
                    [reader End];
                }

                // Example 2. Extract text content based on the 
                // selection rectangle.
                NSLog(@"\n----------------------------------------------------");
                NSLog(@"\nExtract text based on the selection rectangle.");
                NSLog(@"\n----------------------------------------------------\n");

                PTPage *first_page = [doc GetPage: 1];
                PTPDFRect * rect1 = [[PTPDFRect alloc] initWithX1: 27 y1: 392 x2: 563 y2: 534];
                NSString *s1 = ReadTextFromRect(first_page, rect1, reader);
                NSLog(@"\nField 1: %@", s1);

                PTPDFRect * rect2 = [[PTPDFRect alloc] initWithX1: 28 y1: 551 x2: 106 y2: 623];
                s1 = ReadTextFromRect(first_page, rect2, reader);
                NSLog(@"\nField 2: %@", s1);

                PTPDFRect * rect3 = [[PTPDFRect alloc] initWithX1: 208 y1: 550 x2: 387 y2: 621];
                s1 = ReadTextFromRect(first_page, rect3, reader);
                NSLog(@"\nField 3: %@", s1);

                // ... 
                NSLog(@"Done.");
            }
            @catch(NSException *e)
            {
                NSLog(@"%@", e.reason);
                ret = 1;
            }
        }
        [PTPDFNet Terminate: 0];
        return ret;
    }
}