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pdfcpu

PDF processing toolkit for the command line

TLDR

Validate a PDF
$ pdfcpu validate [input.pdf]
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Merge PDFs into one file
$ pdfcpu merge [out.pdf] [in1.pdf] [in2.pdf]
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Split a PDF into single pages
$ pdfcpu split [input.pdf] [out_dir]
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Optimize (compress) a PDF
$ pdfcpu optimize [input.pdf] [out.pdf]
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Encrypt a PDF
$ pdfcpu encrypt -upw [user] -opw [owner] [input.pdf]
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Add a watermark string
$ pdfcpu watermark add -mode text -- "[text]" [input.pdf] [out.pdf]
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Extract pages to a new PDF
$ pdfcpu trim -pages [1-3] [input.pdf] [out.pdf]
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SYNOPSIS

pdfcpu *command* [*options*] [*file*...]

DESCRIPTION

pdfcpu is a PDF toolkit written in Go. It provides both a Go API and a rich CLI for validating, merging, splitting, optimizing, encrypting, stamping, watermarking, rotating, cropping, extracting images/fonts, managing bookmarks, and many other PDF operations without requiring Ghostscript or Adobe tools.Each verb (validate, merge, split, optimize, encrypt, watermark, stamp, pages, trim, rotate, extract, etc.) has its own flags. Run pdfcpu *command* help or see https://pdfcpu.io for the full command matrix.

PARAMETERS

validate *file*

Check PDF integrity / compliance related checks.
merge *out* *in*...
Concatenate input PDFs into *out*.
split *file* *out_dir*
Split into page-level PDFs.
optimize *in* [*out*]
Reduce size via resource optimization.
encrypt / decrypt / changeopw / changeupw
Password and permission management (-upw, -opw).
watermark / stamp
Add text or image watermarks/stamps.
trim -pages *range*
Keep selected pages.
rotate, resize, nup, poster, booklet
Page geometry and imposition helpers.
extract
Extract images, fonts, content, pages, and more.
version, help
Version and command help.

INSTALL

sudo apk add pdfcpu
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brew install pdfcpu
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nix profile install nixpkgs#pdfcpu
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CAVEATS

Not all PDF features (especially exotic encryption, signed forms, or proprietary constructs) are fully supported. Always keep originals before bulk transforms. Some operations rewrite structure and may affect advanced interactive features.

SEE ALSO

qpdf(1), pdftk(1), gs(1), mutool(1)

RESOURCES

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