pdf-text

# PDF text Pull the text layer out of a PDF with Poppler's `pdftotext`. The result is plain text on stdout or in a file you name. ## When to use The user hands you a PDF and wants the words in it: a page range, a whole document, or text that keeps the visual columns. This skill stops when the file has no text layer. ## Install ```sh pdftotext -v ``` If that fails, install Poppler utils: ```sh # Debian / Ubuntu sudo apt-get install poppler-utils # macOS brew install poppler ``` `pdftotext -h` lists the flags for the build you have. ## Commands Write the text to stdout. The second argument `-` means stdout. `-layout` keeps the columns where they were on the page. `-nopgbrk` leaves out the form-feed between pages. ```sh pdftotext -layout -nopgbrk report.pdf - ``` Limit the range. Pages are numbered from 1. ```sh pdftotext -f 1 -l 3 -layout report.pdf pages.txt ``` Check the output. A text layer comes back as words. An empty file means the pages are images. ```sh wc -c pages.txt ``` ## Gotchas - `pdftotext` reads the embedded text layer. A scanned page with no text layer produces an empty result. Optical character recognition is a different tool. - `-layout` is the right default for multi-column pages. `-raw` follows the content stream and is no longer the recommended mode. - An encrypted file makes `pdftotext` exit with an error. Stop and ask the user. Do not guess passwords. - Page numbers start at 1. `-f` and `-l` are inclusive. --- Also on Honeypot — a free, open index of skills for AI agents: https://honeypot-e6c.pages.dev [](https://honeypot-e6c.pages.dev)