Pycpdflib: PDF document manipulator¶

Pycpdflib is a library providing a huge range of tools for manipulating PDF files. It is based on cpdf, the command line tool for PDF manipulation. It requires Python 3.8 or above.

License¶

Pycpdflib itself is licensed under the BSD 3-clause license. See the file LICENSE in the distribution.

However, using pycpdf requires the DLLs libpycpdf and libcpdf which are free for non-commercial use only. See the license file.

Commercial licenses may be purchased from Coherent Graphics Ltd.

Enquires to contact@coherentgraphics.co.uk

Documentation¶

This documentation should be read alongside the PDF manual pycpdflibmanual.pdf which describes the command line tools upon which pycpdflib is based, together with the Python interface.

There are some examples in the project’s GitHub repository.

Obtaining the libpycpdf and libcpdf DLLs¶

The DLLs required are available to download in binary form for most major platforms from here. For other platforms, please write to contact@coherentgraphics.co.uk.

Loading the libpypcdf and libcpdf DLLs¶

Before using the library, you must load the libpycpdf and libcpdf DLLs. This is achieved with the pycpdflib.loadDLL function, given the filename or full path of the libpycpdf DLL.

On Windows, you may have to call os.add_dll_directory first. On MacOS, you may need to give the full path, and you may need to install libcpdf.so in a standard location /usr/local/lib/, or use the install_name_tool command to tell libpycpdf.so where to find libcpdf.so.

Conventions¶

Any function may raise the exception CPDFError, carrying a string describing the error.

A ‘range’ is a list of integers specifying page numbers. Page numbers start at 1. Range arguments are called r.

Text arguments and results are in UTF8. Data is of type ‘bytes’.

Units are in PDF points (1/72 inch).

Angles are in degrees.

Built-in values¶

Paper sizes

a0portrait a1portrait a2portrait a3portrait a4portrait a5portrait a0landscape a1landscape a2landscape a3landscape a4landscape a5landscape usletterportrait usletterlandscape uslegalportrait uslegallandscape

Permissions

noEdit noPrint noCopy noAnnot noForms noExtract noAssemble noHqPrint

Encryption methods

pdf40bit pdf128bit aes128bitfalse aes128bittrue aes256bitfalse aes256bittrue aes256bitisofalse aes256bitisotrue

Positions

Positions with two numbers in a tuple e.g (posLeft, 10.0, 20.0)

posCentre posLeft posRight

Positions with one number in a tuple e.g (top, 5.0)

top topLeft topRight left bottomLeft bottomRight right

Positions with no numbers e.g diagonal

diagonal reverseDiagonal

Fonts

timesRoman timesBold timesItalic timesBoldItalic helvetica helveticaBold helveticaOblique helveticaBoldOblique courier courierBold courierOblique courierBoldOblique

Justification

leftJustify centreJustify rightJustify

Page layouts

singlePage oneColumn twoColumnLeft twoColumnRight twoPageLeft twoPageRight

Page modes

useNone useOutlines useThumbs useOC useAttachments

Page label styles

decimalArabic uppercaseRoman lowercaseRoman uppercaseLetters lowercaseLetters

Chapter 0. Preliminaries¶

class pycpdflib.Pdf(pdfnum)¶: The type of PDF documents.

pycpdflib.loadDLL(f)¶: Load the libpycpdf DLL from a given file, and set up pycpdflib. Must be called prior to using any other function in the library.

exception pycpdflib.CPDFError(message)¶: Any function may raise an exception CPDFError, carrying a string describing what went wrong.

pycpdflib.lastError()¶: Return the last error. Not usually used directly, since pycpdflib functions raise exceptions.

pycpdflib.lastErrorString()¶: Return the last error string. Not usually used directly, since pycpdflib functions raise exceptions.

pycpdflib.checkerror()¶: Raise an exception if the last function call resulted in an error. Not used directly, since pycpdflib functions will raise the exception directly.

pycpdflib.version()¶: Return the version number of the pycpdflib library.

pycpdflib.setFast()¶: Set fast mode. Some operations have a fast mode. The default is ‘slow’ mode, which works even on old-fashioned files. For more details, see section 1.13 of the CPDF manual. This function sets the mode globally.

pycpdflib.setSlow()¶: Set slow mode. Some operations have a fast mode. The default is ‘slow’ mode, which works even on old-fashioned files. For more details, see section 1.13 of the CPDF manual. This function sets the mode globally.

pycpdflib.clearError()¶: Clear the current error state.

pycpdflib.onExit()¶: A debug function which prints some information about resource usage. This can be used to detect if PDFs or ranges are being deallocated properly.

Chapter 1. Basics¶

pycpdflib.fromFile(filename, userpw)¶: Load a PDF file from a given file. Supply a user password (possibly blank) in case the file is encrypted. It won’t be decrypted, but sometimes the password is needed just to load the file.

pycpdflib.fromFileLazy(filename, userpw)¶: Loads a PDF from a file, doing only minimal parsing. The objects will be read and parsed when they are actually needed. Use this when the whole file won’t be required. Also supply a user password (possibly blank) in case the file is encrypted. It won’t be decrypted, but sometimes the password is needed just to load the file.

pycpdflib.fromMemory(data, userpw)¶: Load a file from a byte array and the user password (blank if none).

pycpdflib.fromMemoryLazy(data, userpw)¶: Load a file from from a byte array and the user password (blank if none), but lazily like fromFileLazy.

pycpdflib.ptOfCm(i)¶: Convert a figure in centimetres to points (72 points to 1 inch).

pycpdflib.ptOfMm(i)¶: Convert a figure in millimetres to points (72 points to 1 inch).

pycpdflib.ptOfIn(i)¶: Convert a figure in inches to points (72 points to 1 inch).

pycpdflib.cmOfPt(i)¶: Convert a figure in points to centimetres (72 points to 1 inch).

pycpdflib.mmOfPt(i)¶: Convert a figure in points to millimetres (72 points to 1 inch).

pycpdflib.inOfPt(i)¶: Convert a figure in points to inches (72 points to 1 inch).

pycpdflib.parsePagespec(pdf, pagespec)¶: Parse a page specification such as “1-3,8-end” to a range with reference to a given PDF (the PDF is supplied so that page ranges which reference pages which do not exist are rejected).

pycpdflib.validatePagespec(pagespec)¶: Validate a page specification, returning True or False, so far as is possible in the absence of the actual document.

pycpdflib.stringOfPagespec(pdf, r)¶: Build a page specification from a page range. For example, the range containing 1,2,3,6,7,8 in a document of 8 pages might yield “1-3,6-end”

pycpdflib.blankRange()¶: Create a range with no pages in.

pycpdflib.pageRange(f, t)¶: Nuild a range from one page to another inclusive. For example, pageRange(3,7) gives the range 3,4,5,6,7.

pycpdflib.all(pdf)¶: The range containing all the pages in a given document.

pycpdflib.even(r)¶: A range which contains just the even pages of another range.

pycpdflib.odd(r)¶: A range which contains just the odd pages of another range.

pycpdflib.rangeUnion(a, b)¶: The union of two ranges giving a range containing the pages in range a and range b.

pycpdflib.difference(a, b)¶: The difference of two ranges, giving a range containing all the pages in a except for those which are also in b.

pycpdflib.removeDuplicates(r)¶: Deduplicates a range, returning a new one.

pycpdflib.rangeLength(r)¶: The number of pages in a range.

pycpdflib.rangeGet(r, n)¶: Get the page number at position n in a range, where n runs from 0 to rangeLength - 1.

pycpdflib.rangeAdd(r, p)¶: Add the page to a range, if it is not already there.

pycpdflib.isInRange(r, p)¶: Returns True if the page p is in the range r, False otherwise.

pycpdflib.pages(pdf)¶: Return the number of pages in a PDF.

pycpdflib.pagesFast(userpw, filename)¶: Return the number of pages in a given PDF, with given user password. It tries to do this as fast as possible, without loading the whole file.

pycpdflib.toFile(pdf, filename, linearize, make_id)¶: Write the file to a given filename. If linearize is True, it will be linearized, if supported by libcpdf. If make_id is True, it will be given a new ID.

pycpdflib.toFileExt(pdf, filename, linearize, make_id, preserve_objstm, generate_objstm, compress_objstm)¶: Write the file to a given filename. If linearize is True, it will be linearized, if supported by libcpdf. If make_id is True, it will be given a new ID. If preserve_objstm is True, existing object streams will be preserved. If generate_objstm is True, object streams will be generated even if not originally present. If compress_objstm is True, object streams will be compressed (what we usually want). WARNING: the pdf argument will be invalid after this call and should not be used again.

pycpdflib.toMemory(pdf, linearize, make_id)¶: Write a file to memory, returning the buffer as a byte array of type bytes.

pycpdflib.isEncrypted(pdf)¶: Returns True if a documented is encrypted, False otherwise.

pycpdflib.toFileEncrypted(pdf, method, permissions, ownerpw, userpw, linearize, makeid, filename)¶: Write the file to a given filename encrypted with the given encryption method, permissions list, and owener and user passwords. If linearize is True, it will be linearized, if supported by libcpdf. If make_id is True, it will be given a new ID.

pycpdflib.toFileEncryptedExt(pdf, method, permissions, ownerpw, userpw, linearize, makeid, preserve_objstm, generate_objstm, compress_objstm, filename)¶: Write the file to a given filename encrypted with the given encryption method, permissions list, and owener and user passwords. If linearize is True, it will be linearized, if supported by libcpdf. If make_id is True, it will be given a new ID. If preserve_objstm is True, existing object streams will be preserved. If generate_objstm is True, object streams will be generated even if not originally present. If compress_objstm is True, object streams will be compressed (what we usually want). WARNING: the pdf argument will be invalid after this call and should not be used again.

pycpdflib.decryptPdf(pdf, userpw)¶: Attempts to decrypt a PDF using the given user password. An exception is raised in the event of a bad password.

pycpdflib.decryptPdfOwner(pdf, ownerpw)¶: Attempts to decrypt a PDF using the given owner password. An exception is raised in the event of a bad password.

pycpdflib.hasPermission(pdf, perm)¶: Returns True if the given permission (restriction) is present.

pycpdflib.encryptionKind(pdf)¶: Return the encryption method currently in use on a document.

Chapter 2. Merging and Splitting¶

pycpdflib.mergeSimple(pdfs)¶: Given a list of PDFs, merges the documents into a new PDF, which is returned.

pycpdflib.merge(pdfs, retain_numbering, remove_duplicate_fonts)¶: Merges the list of PDFs. If retain_numbering is True page labels are not rewritten. If remove_duplicate_fonts is True, duplicate fonts are merged. This is useful when the source documents for merging originate from the same source.

pycpdflib.mergeSame(pdfs, retain_numbering, remove_duplicate_fonts, ranges)¶: The same as merge, except that it has an additional argument - a list of page ranges. This is used to select the pages to pick from each PDF. This avoids duplication of information when multiple discrete parts of a single source PDF are included.

pycpdflib.selectPages(pdf, r)¶: Returns a new document which just those pages in the page range.

Chapter 3. Pages¶

pycpdflib.scalePages(pdf, r, sx, sy)¶: Scale the page dimensions and content of the given range of pages by the given scale (sx, sy), about (0, 0). Other boxes (crop etc. are altered as appropriate).

pycpdflib.scaleToFit(pdf, r, w, h, scale_to_fit_scale)¶: Scales the pages in the range to fit new page dimensions (w and h) multiplied by scale_to_fit_scale (typically 1.0). Other boxes (crop etc.) are altered as appropriate.

pycpdflib.scaleToFitPaper(pdf, r, papersize, scale_to_fit_scale)¶: Scales the given pages to fit the given page size, possibly multiplied by scale_to_fit_scale (typically 1.0)

pycpdflib.scaleContents(pdf, r, pos, scale)¶: Scales the contents of the pages in the range about the point given by the position, by the scale given.

pycpdflib.shiftContents(pdf, r, dx, dy)¶: Shift the content of the pages in the range by (dx, dy).

pycpdflib.rotate(pdf, r, rotation)¶: Change the viewing rotation of the pages in the range to an absolute value. Appropriate rotations are 0, 90, 180, 270.

pycpdflib.rotateBy(pdf, r, rotation)¶: Change the viewing rotation of the pages in the range by a given number of degrees. Appropriate values are 90, 180, 270.

pycpdflib.rotateContents(pdf, r, rotation)¶: Rotate the content about the centre of the page by the given number of degrees, in a clockwise direction.

pycpdflib.upright(pdf, r)¶: Change the viewing rotation of the pages in the range, counter-rotating the dimensions and content such that there is no visual change.

pycpdflib.hFlip(pdf, r)¶: Flip horizontally the pages in the range.

pycpdflib.vFlip(pdf, r)¶: Flip vertically the pages in the range.

pycpdflib.crop(pdf, r, x, y, w, h)¶: Crop a page to the box defined by (x, y, w, h), replacing any existing crop box.

pycpdflib.removeCrop(pdf, r)¶: Remove any crop box from pages in the range.

pycpdflib.removeTrim(pdf, r)¶: Remove any trim box from pages in the range.

pycpdflib.removeArt(pdf, r)¶: Remove any art box from pages in the range.

pycpdflib.removeBleed(pdf, r)¶: Remove any bleed box from pages in the range.

pycpdflib.trimMarks(pdf, r)¶: Add trim marks to the given pages, if the trimbox exists.

pycpdflib.showBoxes(pdf, r)¶: Show the boxes on the given pages, for debug.

pycpdflib.hardBox(pdf, r, boxname)¶: Make a given box a ‘hard box’ i.e clip it explicitly. Boxname could be, for example “/TrimBox”.

Chapter 4. Encryption¶

Encryption covered under Chapter 1 in pycpdflib.

Chapter 5. Compression¶

pycpdflib.compress(pdf)¶: Compress any uncompressed streams in the given PDF using the Flate algorithm.

pycpdflib.decompress(pdf)¶: Decompress any streams in the given PDF, so long as the compression method is supported.

pycpdflib.squeezeInMemory(pdf)¶: squeezeToMemory(pdf) squeezes a pdf in memory. Squeezing is a lossless compression method which works be rearrangement of a PDFs internal structure.

Chapter 6. Bookmarks¶

pycpdflib.getBookmarks(pdf)¶: Get the bookmarks for a PDF as a list of tuples of the form: (level : int, page : int, text : string, openstatus : bool)

pycpdflib.setBookmarks(pdf, marks)¶: Set the bookmarks for a PDF as a list of tuples of the form: (level : int, page : int, text : string, openstatus : bool)

pycpdflib.getBookmarksJSON(pdf)¶: Get the bookmarks in JSON format.

pycpdflib.setBookmarksJSON(pdf, data)¶: setBookmarksJSON(pdf, data) sets the bookmarks from JSON bookmark data.

pycpdflib.tableOfContents(pdf, font, fontsize, title, bookmark)¶: tableOfContents(pdf, font, fontsize, title, bookmark) typesets a table of contents from existing bookmarks and prepends it to the document. If bookmark is set, the table of contents gets its own bookmark.

Chapter 7. Presentations¶

Not included in the library version.

Chapter 8. Logos, Watermarks and Stamps¶

pycpdflib.stampOn(pdf, pdf2, r)¶: Stamps pdf on top of all the pages in pdf2 which are in the range. The stamp is placed with its origin at the origin of the target document.

pycpdflib.stampUnder(pdf, pdf2, r)¶: Stamps pdf under under all the pages in pdf2 which are in the range. The stamp is placed with its origin at the origin of the target document.

pycpdflib.stampExtended(pdf, pdf2, r, isover, scale_stamp_to_fit, pos, relative_to_cropbox)¶

A stamping function with extra features:

isover True, pdf goes over pdf2, isover False, pdf goes under pdf2
scale_stamp_to_fit scales the stamp to fit the page
pos gives the position to put the stamp
relative_to_cropbox: if True, pos is relative to crop box not media box

pycpdflib.combinePages(pdf, pdf2)¶: Combines the PDFs page-by-page, putting each page of pdf2 over each page of pdf.

pycpdflib.addText(metrics, pdf, r, text, p, line_spacing, bates, font, size, red, green, blue, underneath, relative_to_cropbox, outline, opacity, justification, midline, topline, filename, line_width, embed_fonts)¶

Adding text. Adds text to a PDF, if the characters exist in the font.

metrics: If True, don’t actually add text but collect metrics.

pdf: Document

r: Page Range

text: The text to add

p: Position to add text at

line_spacing: Linespacing, 1.0 = normal

bates: Starting Bates number

font: Font

size: Font size in points

red: Red component of colour, 0.0 - 1.0

green: Green component of colour, 0.0 - 1.0

blue: Blue component of colour, 0.0 - 1.0

underneath: If True, text is added underneath rather than on top

relative_to_cropbox: If True, position is relative to crop box not media box

outline: If True, text is outline rather than filled

opacity: Opacity, 1.0 = opaque, 0.0 = wholly transparent

justification: Justification

midline: If True, position is relative to midline of text, not baseline

topline: If True, position is relative to topline of text, not baseline

filename: filename that this document was read from (optional)

line_width: line width

embed_fonts: embed fonts

Special codes

%Page Page number in arabic notation (1, 2, 3…)

%roman Page number in lower-case roman notation (i, ii, iii…)

%Roman Page number in upper-case roman notation (I, II, III…)

%EndPage Last page of document in arabic notation

%Label The page label of the page

%EndLabel The page label of the last page

%filename The full file name of the input document

%a Abbreviated weekday name (Sun, Mon etc.)

%A Full weekday name (Sunday, Monday etc.)

%b Abbreviated month name (Jan, Feb etc.)

%B Full month name (January, February etc.)

%d Day of the month (01-31)

%e Day of the month (1-31)

%H Hour in 24-hour clock (00-23)

%I Hour in 12-hour clock (01-12)

%j Day of the year (001-366)

%m Month of the year (01-12)

%M Minute of the hour (00-59)

%p “a.m” or “p.m”

%S Second of the minute (00-61)

%T Same as %H:%M:%S

%u Weekday (1-7, 1 = Monday)

%w Weekday (0-6, 0 = Monday)

%Y Year (0000-9999)

%% The % character

pycpdflib.addTextSimple(pdf, r, text, p, font, size)¶

like addText, but with most parameters default

pdf = the document
r = the range
text = the text
p = the position
font = the font
size = the font size

pycpdflib.removeText(pdf, r)¶: Remove any text added by libcpdf from the given pages.

pycpdflib.textWidth(font, string)¶: Return the width of a given string in the given font in thousandths of a point.

pycpdflib.addContent(content, before, pdf, r)¶: Add page content before (if True) or after (if False) the existing content to pages in the given range in the given PDF. Warning: this a low level function requiring understanding of the PDF format.

pycpdflib.stampAsXObject(pdf, r, stamp_pdf)¶: Stamps stamp_pdf onto the pages in the given range in pdf as a shared Form XObject. The name of the newly-created XObject is returned, for use with addContent.

Chapter 9. Multipage facilities¶

pycpdflib.twoUp(pdf)¶: Impose a document two up by retaining the existing page size, scaling pages down.

pycpdflib.twoUpStack(pdf)¶: Impose a document two up by doubling the page size, to fit two pages on one.

pycpdflib.impose(pdf, x, y, fit, columns, rtl, btt, center, margin, spacing, linewidth)¶: impose(pdf, x, y, fit, columns, rtl, btt, center, margin, spacing, linewidth) imposes a PDF. There are two modes: imposing x * y, or imposing to fit a page of size x * y. This is controlled by fit. Columns imposes by columns rather than rows. rtl is right-to-left, btt bottom-to-top. Center is unused for now. Margin is the margin around the output, spacing the spacing between imposed inputs.

pycpdflib.padBefore(pdf, r)¶: Adds a blank page before each page in the given range.

pycpdflib.padAfter(pdf, r)¶: Adds a blank page after each page in the given range.

pycpdflib.padEvery(pdf, n)¶: Adds a blank page after every n pages.

pycpdflib.padMultiple(pdf, n)¶: Adds pages at the end to pad the file to a multiple of n pages in length.

pycpdflib.padMultipleBefore(pdf, n)¶: Adds pages at the beginning to pad the file to a multiple of n pages in length.

Chapter 10. Annotations¶

Not in the library version.

Chapter 11. Document Information and Metadata¶

pycpdflib.isLinearized(filename)¶: Finds out if a document is linearized as quickly as possible without loading it.

pycpdflib.getVersion(pdf)¶: Return the minor version number of a document.

pycpdflib.getMajorVersion(pdf)¶: Return the minor version number of a document.

pycpdflib.getTitle(pdf)¶: Return the title of a document.

pycpdflib.getAuthor(pdf)¶: Return the subject of a document.

pycpdflib.getSubject(pdf)¶: Return the subject of a document.

pycpdflib.getKeywords(pdf)¶: Return the keywords of a document.

pycpdflib.getCreator(pdf)¶: Return the creator of a document.

pycpdflib.getCreationDate(pdf)¶: Return the creation date of a document.

pycpdflib.getModificationDate(pdf)¶: Return the modification date of a document.

pycpdflib.getTitleXMP(pdf)¶: Return the XMP title of a document.

pycpdflib.getAuthorXMP(pdf)¶: Return the XMP author of a document.

pycpdflib.getSubjectXMP(pdf)¶: Return the XMP subject of a document.

pycpdflib.getKeywordsXMP(pdf)¶: Return the XMP keywords of a document.

pycpdflib.getCreatorXMP(pdf)¶: Return the XMP creator of a document.

pycpdflib.getCreationDateXMP(pdf)¶: Return the XMP creation date of a document.

pycpdflib.getModificationDateXMP(pdf)¶: Return the XMP modification date of a document.

pycpdflib.setTitle(pdf, s)¶: Set the title of a document.

pycpdflib.setAuthor(pdf, s)¶: Set the author of a document.

pycpdflib.setSubject(pdf, s)¶: Set the subject of a document.

pycpdflib.setKeywords(pdf, s)¶: Set the keywords of a document.

pycpdflib.setCreator(pdf, s)¶: Set the creator of a document.

pycpdflib.setProducer(pdf, s)¶: Set the producer of a document.

pycpdflib.setCreationDate(pdf, s)¶: Set the creation date of a document.

pycpdflib.setModificationDate(pdf, s)¶: Set the modifcation date of a document.

pycpdflib.setTitleXMP(pdf, s)¶: Set the XMP title of a document.

pycpdflib.setAuthorXMP(pdf, s)¶: Set the XMP author of a document.

pycpdflib.setSubjectXMP(pdf, s)¶: Set the XMP subject of a document.

pycpdflib.setKeywordsXMP(pdf, s)¶: Set the XMP keywords of a document.

pycpdflib.setCreatorXMP(pdf, s)¶: Set the XMP creator of a document.

pycpdflib.setProducerXMP(pdf, s)¶: Set the XMP producer of a document.

pycpdflib.setCreationDateXMP(pdf, s)¶: Set the XMP creation date of a document.

pycpdflib.setModificationDateXMP(pdf, s)¶: Set the XMP modification date of a document.

pycpdflib.getDateComponents(string)¶

Return the components (year, month, day, hour, minute, second, hour_offset, minute_offset) from a PDF date string.

Month 1-31, day 1-31, hours (0-23), minutes (0-59), seconds (0-59), hour_offset is the offset from UT in hours (-23 to 23); minute_offset is the offset from UT in minutes (-59 to 59).

pycpdflib.dateStringOfComponents(cs)¶

Build a PDF date string a (year, month, day, hour, minute, second, hour_offset, minute_offset) tuple.

Dates: Month 1-31, day 1-31, hours (0-23), minutes (0-59), seconds (0-59), hour_offset is the offset from UT in hours (-23 to 23); minute_offset is the offset from UT in minutes (-59 to 59).

pycpdflib.getPageRotation(pdf, pagenumber)¶: Get the viewing rotation for a given page.

pycpdflib.hasBox(pdf, pagenumber, boxname)¶: Returns True, if the page has the given box. E.g “/CropBox”

pycpdflib.getMediaBox(pdf, pagenumber)¶: Get a mediabox box given the document, page range, min x, max x, min y, max y in points. Only suceeds if such a box exists, as checked by hasBox

pycpdflib.getCropBox(pdf, pagenumber)¶: Get a crop box given the document, page range, min x, max x, min y, max y in points. Only suceeds if such a box exists, as checked by hasBox

pycpdflib.getTrimBox(pdf, pagenumber)¶: Get a trim box given the document, page range, min x, max x, min y, max y in points. Only suceeds if such a box exists, as checked by hasBox

pycpdflib.getArtBox(pdf, pagenumber)¶: Get an art box given the document, page range, min x, max x, min y, max y in points. Only suceeds if such a box exists, as checked by hasBox

pycpdflib.getBleedBox(pdf, pagenumber)¶: Get a bleed box given the document, page range, min x, max x, min y, max y in points. Only suceeds if such a box exists, as checked by hasBox

pycpdflib.setMediaBox(pdf, r, minx, maxx, miny, maxy)¶: Set the media box given the document, page range, min x, max x, min y, max y in points.

pycpdflib.setCropBox(pdf, r, minx, maxx, miny, maxy)¶: Set the crop box given the document, page range, min x, max x, min y, max y in points.

pycpdflib.setTrimBox(pdf, r, minx, maxx, miny, maxy)¶: Set the trim box given the document, page range, min x, max x, min y, max y in points.

pycpdflib.setArtBox(pdf, r, minx, maxx, miny, maxy)¶: Set the art box given the document, page range, min x, max x, min y, max y in points.

pycpdflib.setBleedBox(pdf, r, minx, maxx, miny, maxy)¶: Set the bleed box given the document, page range, min x, max x, min y, max y in points.

pycpdflib.markTrapped(pdf)¶: Mark a document as trapped.

pycpdflib.markUntrapped(pdf)¶: Mark a document as untrapped.

pycpdflib.markTrappedXMP(pdf)¶: Mark a document as trapped in XMP metadata.

pycpdflib.markUntrappedXMP(pdf)¶: Mark a document as untrapped in XMP metadata.

pycpdflib.setPageLayout(pdf, layout)¶: Set the page layout for a document.

pycpdflib.setPageMode(pdf, mode)¶: Set the page mode for a document.

pycpdflib.hideToolbar(pdf, flag)¶: Sets the hide toolbar flag.

pycpdflib.hideMenubar(pdf, flag)¶: Set the hide menu bar flag.

pycpdflib.hideWindowUi(pdf, flag)¶: Set the hide window UI flag.

pycpdflib.fitWindow(pdf, flag)¶: Set the fit window flag.

pycpdflib.centerWindow(pdf, flag)¶: Set the center window flag.

pycpdflib.displayDocTitle(pdf, flag)¶: Set the display document title flag.

pycpdflib.openAtPage(pdf, fitflag, pagenumber)¶: Set the PDF to open, possibly with zoom-to-fit, at the given page number.

pycpdflib.setMetadataFromFile(pdf, filename)¶: Set the XMP metadata of a document, given a file name.

pycpdflib.setMetadataFromByteArray(pdf, data)¶: Set the XMP metadata from an array of bytes.

pycpdflib.getMetadata(pdf)¶: Return the XMP metadata as a byte array of type bytes

pycpdflib.removeMetadata(pdf)¶: Remove the XMP metadata from a document

pycpdflib.createMetadata(pdf)¶: Builds fresh XMP metadata as good as possible from existing metadata in the document.

pycpdflib.setMetadataDate(pdf, date)¶: Set the metadata date for a PDF. The date is given in PDF date format – cpdf will convert it to XMP format. The date ‘now’ means now.

pycpdflib.getPageLabels(pdf)¶

Get page labels as a list of tuples (style, prefix, offset, startvalue)

For example, a document might have five pages of introduction with roman numerals, followed by the rest of the pages in decimal arabic, numbered from one. First label:

labelstyle = LowercaseRoman
labelprefix = “”
startpage = 1
startvalue = 1

Second label:

labelstyle = DecimalArabic
labelprefix = “”
startpage = 6
startvalue = 1

pycpdflib.addPageLabels(pdf, label, progress)¶

Add one group of page labels from a tuple (style, prefix, offset, range).

The prefix is prefix text for each label. The range is the page range the labels apply to. Offset can be used to shift the numbering up or down.

pycpdflib.getPageLabelStringForPage(pdf, pagenumber)¶: Calculate the full label string for a given page, and return it.

Chapter 12. File Attachments¶

pycpdflib.attachFile(filename, pdf)¶: Attach a file to the pdf. It is attached at document level.

pycpdflib.attachFileToPage(filename, pdf, pagenumber)¶: Attach a file, given its file name, pdf, and the page number to which it should be attached.

pycpdflib.attachFileFromMemory(data, filename, pdf)¶: Attach a file from a byte array. It is attached at document level.

pycpdflib.attachFileToPageFromMemory(data, filename, pdf, pagenumber)¶: Attach a file to a given pag from a byte array. It is attached at document level.

pycpdflib.getAttachments(pdf)¶: List information about attachements. Returns a list of tuples (name, page number, byte array of data). Page 0 = document-level attachment.

Chapter 13. Images¶

pycpdflib.getImageResolution(pdf, min_required_resolution)¶: Return a list of all uses of images in the PDF which do not meet the minimum required resolution in dpi as tuples of: (pagenumber, name, x pixels, y pixels, x resolution, y resolution).

Chapter 14. Fonts¶

pycpdflib.getFontInfo(pdf)¶: Get a list of (pagenumber, fontname, fonttype, fontencoding) tuples, showing each font used on each page.

pycpdflib.removeFonts(pdf)¶: Remove all font data from a file.

pycpdflib.copyFont(pdf, pdf2, r, pagenumber, fontname)¶: Copy the given font from the given page in the pdf PDF to every page in the pdf2 PDF. The new font is stored under its font name.

Chapter 15. PDF and JSON¶

pycpdflib.outputJSON(filename, parse_content, no_stream_data, decompress_streams, pdf)¶: Output a PDF in JSON format to the given filename. If parse_content is True, page content is parsed. If decompress_streams is True, streams are decompressed. If no_stream_data is True, all stream data is suppressed entirely.

pycpdflib.outputJSONMemory(pdf, parse_content, no_stream_data, decompress_stream)¶: is like outputJSON, but it write to a buffer in memory).

pycpdflib.fromJSON(filename)¶: Load a PDF from a JSON file given its filename.

pycpdflib.fromJSONMemory(data)¶: Load a PDF from JSON data in memory.

Chapter 16. Optional Content Groups¶

pycpdflib.getOCGList(pdf)¶: Return a list of Optional Content Groups in the given pdf as strings.

pycpdflib.OCGRename(pdf, n_from, n_to)¶: Rename an optional content group.

pycpdflib.OCGOrderAll(pdf)¶: Ensure that every optional content group appears in the OCG order list.

pycpdflib.OCGCoalesce(pdf)¶: Coalesce optional content groups. For example, if we merge or stamp two files both with an OCG called “Layer 1”, we will have two different optional content groups. This function will merge the two into a single optional content group.

Chapter 17. Making New PDFs¶

pycpdflib.blankDocument(w, h, pages)¶: Create a blank document with pages of the given width (in points), height (in points), and number of pages.

pycpdflib.blankDocumentPaper(papersize, pages)¶: Create a blank document with pages of the given paper size, and number of pages.

pycpdflib.textToPDF(w, h, font, fontsize, filename)¶: textToPDF(w, h, font, fontsize, filename) typesets a UTF8 text file ragged right on a page of size w * h in points in the given font and font size.

pycpdflib.textToPDFPaper(papersize, font, fontsize, filename)¶: textToPDF(papersize font, fontsize, filename) typesets a UTF8 text file ragged right on a page of the given size in the given font and font size.

Chapter 18. Miscellaneous¶

pycpdflib.draft(pdf, r, boxes)¶: Remove images on the given pages, replacing them with crossed boxes if ‘boxes’ is True.

pycpdflib.removeAllText(pdf, r)¶: Remove all text from the given pages in a document.

pycpdflib.blackText(pdf, r)¶: Blacken all text on the given pages.

pycpdflib.blackLines(pdf, r)¶: Blacken all lines on the given pages.

pycpdflib.blackFills(pdf, r)¶: Blacken all fills on the given pages.

pycpdflib.thinLines(pdf, r, linewidth)¶: Thicken every line less than linewidth to linewidth. Thickness given in points.

pycpdflib.copyId(pdf, pdf2)¶: Copy the /ID from one pdf to pdf2.

pycpdflib.removeId(pdf)¶: Remove a document’s /ID

pycpdflib.setVersion(pdf, version)¶: Set the minor version number of a document.

pycpdflib.setFullVersion(pdf, major, minor)¶: Set the major and minor version number of a document.

pycpdflib.removeDictEntry(pdf, key)¶: Remove any dictionary entry with the given key anywhere in the document.

pycpdflib.removeDictEntrySearch(pdf, key, searchterm)¶: Remove any dictionary entry with the given key anywhere in the document, if its value matches the given search term.

pycpdflib.replaceDictEntry(pdf, key, newvalue)¶: Replace any dictionary entry with the given key anywhere in the document using the new value given.

pycpdflib.replaceDictEntrySearch(pdf, key, newvalue, searchterm)¶: Replace any dictionary entry with the given key anywhere in the document, if its value matches the given search term, with the new value given.

pycpdflib.getDictEntries(pdf, key)¶: Return JSON of any dict entries with the given key.

pycpdflib.removeClipping(pdf, r)¶: Remove all clipping from pages in the given range