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64 lines
4.0 KiB
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How to Search PDF Files from the Terminal with pdfgrep
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======
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Command line utilities such as [grep][1] and [ack-grep][2] are great for searching plain-text files for patterns matching a specified [regular expression][3]. But have you ever tried using these utilities to search for patterns in a PDF file? Well, don't! You will not get any result as these tools cannot read PDF files; they only read plain-text files.
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[pdfgrep][4], as the name suggests, is a small command line utility that makes it possible to search for text in a PDF file without opening the file. It is insanely fast - faster than the search provided by virtually all PDF document viewers. A great distinction between grep and pdfgrep is that pdfgrep operates on pages, whereas grep operates on lines. It also prints a single line multiple times if more than one match is found on that line. Let's look at how exactly to use the tool.
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For Ubuntu and other Linux distros based on Ubuntu, it is pretty simple:
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```
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sudo apt install pdfgrep
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```
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For other distros, just provide `pdfgrep` as input for the [package manager][5], and that should get it installed. You can also check out the project's [GitLab page][6], in case you want to play around with the code.
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Now that you have the tool installed, let's go for a test run. pdfgrep command takes this format:
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```
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pdfgrep [OPTION...] PATTERN [FILE...]
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```
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**OPTION** is a list of extra attributes to give the command such as `-i` or `--ignore-case`, which both ignore the case distinction between the regular pattern specified and the once matching it from the file.
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**PATTERN** is just an extended regular expression.
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**FILE** is just the name of the file, if it is in the same working directory, or the path to the file.
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I ran the command on Python 3.6 official documentation. The following image is the result.
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![pdfgrep search][7]
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![pdfgrep search][7]
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The red highlights indicate all the places the word "queue" was encountered. Passing `-i` as option to the command included matches of the word "Queue." Remember, the case does not matter when `-i` is passed as an option.
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pdfgrep has quite a number of interesting options to use. However, I'll cover only a few here.
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* `-c` or `--count`: this suppresses the normal output of matches. Instead of displaying the long output of the matches, it only displays a value representing the number of times the word was encountered in the file
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* `-p` or `--page-count`: this option prints out the page numbers of matches and the number of occurrences of the pattern on the page
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* `-m` or `--max-count` [number]: specifies the maximum number of matches. That means when the number of matches is reached, the command stops reading the file.
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The full list of supported options can be found in the man pages or in the pdfgrep online [documenation][8]. Don't forget pdfgrep can search multiple files at the same time, in case you're working with some bulk files. The default match highlight color can be changed by altering the GREP_COLORS environment variable.
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The next time you think of opening up a PDF file to search for anything. think of using pdfgrep. The tool comes in handy and will save you time.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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via: https://www.maketecheasier.com/search-pdf-files-pdfgrep/
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作者：[Bruno Edoh][a]
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译者：[译者ID](https://github.com/译者ID)
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校对：[校对者ID](https://github.com/校对者ID)
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本文由 [LCTT](https://github.com/LCTT/TranslateProject) 原创编译，[Linux中国](https://linux.cn/) 荣誉推出
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[a]:https://www.maketecheasier.com
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[1] https://www.maketecheasier.com/what-is-grep-and-uses/
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[2] https://www.maketecheasier.com/ack-a-better-grep/
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[3] https://www.maketecheasier.com/the-beginner-guide-to-regular-expressions/
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[4] https://pdfgrep.org/
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[5] https://www.maketecheasier.com/install-software-in-various-linux-distros/
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[6] https://gitlab.com/pdfgrep/pdfgrep
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[7] https://www.maketecheasier.com/assets/uploads/2017/11/pdfgrep-screenshot.png (pdfgrep search)
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[8] https://pdfgrep.org/doc.html
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