- Copyright (c) 2015 Stefan Lehmann
- License: MIT
- Description: Python-based command line tool for manipulating PDFs. It is based on the pypdf package.
Ideally, you should be able to clone this repo and run pip install -e . to install the package locally.
On OSX, I had to go into ~/Library/Python/<python-version>/lib/python/site-packages/easy-install.pth and add the local repo directory.
- add, insert, remove and rotate pages
- split PDF files in multiple documents
- copy specific pages in a new document
- merge or zip PDF files into one document
pdftools adds some scripts to your existing Python installation that can be called via the command line. The description for each script is listed below.
In cases where a bare arguent, like dest or src, follows a switch with an
indefinite number of arguments, like --pages or --sequence, use -- to
separate the bare argument from the switch arguments.
usage: pdftools [-h] [-V] <command> ...
Python-based command line tool for manipulating PDFs. It is based on the
pypdf package.
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-V, --version Print version number and exit (default: False)
Sub-commands:
<command>
add Add pages from a source file to an output PDF file
copy Copy specific pages of a PDF file in a new file
insert Insert pages of one file into another
merge Merge the pages of multiple input files into one output file
remove Remove pages from a PDF file
rotate Rotate the pages of a PDF files by 90 degrees
split Split a PDF file into multiple documents
zip Python-like zipping (interleaving) the pages of two documents
in one output file
usage: pdftools add [-h] [-p PAGES [PAGES ...]] [-o OUTPUT] dest src
Add pages from a source file to an output PDF file
positional arguments:
dest Destination PDF file
src PDF source file
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-p PAGES [PAGES ...], --pages PAGES [PAGES ...]
list of pages to add to the output. Examples: 5; 1-9;
1-; -9 (default: None)
-o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
Name of the output file. If None, the `dest` file will
be overwritten (default: None)
usage: pdftools copy [-h] [-f] [-p PAGES [PAGES ...]] [-o OUTPUT] src
Copy specific pages of a PDF file in a new file
positional arguments:
src Source PDF containing pages to copy
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-f, --force Caution!! Answers "Yes" to all overwrite queries.
(default: False)
-p PAGES [PAGES ...], --pages PAGES [PAGES ...]
list of pages to copy in the new file. Examples: "5 8
10": Pages 5, 8, 10; "1-9": Pages 1 to 9; "5-": Pages
from 5 to last page; "-9": Pages from beginning to 9
(default: 1)
-o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
Name of the output file. If None, the `dest` file will
be overwritten (default: None)
usage: pdftools insert [-h] [-p PAGES [PAGES ...]] [-i INDEX] [-o OUTPUT]
dest src
Insert pages of one file into another
positional arguments:
dest Destination PDF file
src Source PDF file
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-p PAGES [PAGES ...], --pages PAGES [PAGES ...]
List of page numbers (start with 1) which will be
inserted. If None, all pages will be inserted
(default). Examples: 5; 1-9; 1-; -9 (default: None)
-i INDEX, --index INDEX
Page number (1-indexed) of destination file where the
pages will be inserted. If None they will be added at
the end of the file (default: None)
-o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
Name of the output file. If None, the `dest` file will
be overwritten (default: None)
usage: pdftools remove [-h] [-f] [-o OUTPUT] src pages [pages ...]
Remove pages from a PDF file
positional arguments:
src PDF source file
pages List of pages to remove from file. Examples: 5; 1-9;
1-; -9
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-f, --force Caution!! Answers "Yes" to all overwrite queries.
(default: False)
-o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
Name of the output file. If None, the `src` file will
be overwritten (default: None)
usage: pdftools rotate [-h] [-d {90,180,270}] [-c] [-p PAGES [PAGES ...]]
[-o OUTPUT]
src
Rotate the pages of a PDF file by a set number of degrees
positional arguments:
src Source file
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-d {90,180,270}, --degrees {90,180,270}
Specify degrees value to rotate page(s) (default: 90)
-c, --counter-clockwise
Rotate pages counter-clockwise instead of clockwise,
by default (default: False)
-p PAGES [PAGES ...], --pages PAGES [PAGES ...]
List of page numbers which will be rotated. If None,
all pages will be rotated. Examples: 5; 1-9; 1-; -9
(default: None)
-o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
Output filename. If None, the source file will be
overwritten (default: None)
usage: pdftools split [-h] [-s STEPSIZE] [-q SEQUENCE [SEQUENCE ...]]
[-o OUTPUT]
src
Split a PDF file into multiple documents
positional arguments:
src Source file to be split
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-s STEPSIZE, --stepsize STEPSIZE
How many pages are packed in each output file
(default: 1)
-q SEQUENCE [SEQUENCE ...], --sequence SEQUENCE [SEQUENCE ...]
Sequence of numbers describing how many pages to put
in each outputfile (default: None)
-o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
Output filenames. If None, will append page numbers to
the input file name. (default: None)
usage: pdftools merge [-h] [-d] [-o OUTPUT] src [src ...]
Merge the pages of multiple input files into one output file
positional arguments:
src List of input source files
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-d, --delete Delete source files after merge (default: False)
-o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
Output filename (default: merged.pdf)
usage: pdftools zip [-h] [-d] [-r] src1 src2 output
Python-like zipping (interleaving) the pages of two documents in one output
file
positional arguments:
src1 First source file
src2 Second source file
output Name of the output file
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-d, --delete Delete source files after merge (default: False)
-r, --revert Revert the pages of second input file (default: False)