pdfgrep

TLDR

Search for pattern in PDF

$ pdfgrep "[pattern]" [file.pdf]

Search recursively in directory

$ pdfgrep -r "[pattern]" [/path/to/pdfs/]

Case-insensitive search

$ pdfgrep -i "[pattern]" [file.pdf]

Show page numbers

$ pdfgrep -n "[pattern]" [file.pdf]

Show context lines

$ pdfgrep -C [2] "[pattern]" [file.pdf]

Count matches

$ pdfgrep -c "[pattern]" [file.pdf]

Search with extended regex

$ pdfgrep -E "[pattern1|pattern2]" [file.pdf]

Print only filenames with matches

$ pdfgrep -l "[pattern]" [*.pdf]

SYNOPSIS

pdfgrep [-inrcl] [-C num] [-p pages] [pattern] files

pdfgrep searches for text patterns in PDF files, similar to grep but for PDFs. It extracts text from PDF content and applies regular expression matching.
The tool handles the complexity of PDF text extraction transparently. Text from multiple columns, pages, and formatting is processed into searchable strings. Results show the matching text with optional context.
Page number display (-n) helps locate matches in documents. Page range limiting (-p) speeds searches in large documents. Context lines (-C) show surrounding text for understanding matches.
Recursive search (-r) processes directory trees of PDFs. Combined with --include patterns, this enables searching document collections. Output modes include filenames only, counts, and quiet mode for scripting.
Regular expression support ranges from basic to Perl-compatible (PCRE). This enables complex pattern matching beyond simple string search.

PARAMETERS

-i, --ignore-case

Case-insensitive matching.

-n, --page-number

Print page numbers.

-c, --count

Print match count only.

-l, --files-with-matches

Print only matching filenames.

-L, --files-without-match

Print only non-matching filenames.

-r, --recursive

Search directories recursively.

-R

Follow symlinks when recursive.

-E, --extended-regexp

Use extended regular expressions.

-P, --perl-regexp

Use Perl-compatible regular expressions.

-C NUM, --context NUM

Print NUM lines of context.

-A NUM, --after-context NUM

Print NUM lines after match.

-B NUM, --before-context NUM

Print NUM lines before match.

-p RANGE, --page-range RANGE

Limit search to page range (e.g., 1-10,15).

-m NUM, --max-count NUM

Stop after NUM matches.

--include GLOB

Only search files matching pattern.

--password PASS

PDF password.

--color WHEN

Colorize output: auto, always, never.

-q, --quiet

Suppress output.

CAVEATS

Text extraction quality depends on PDF structure. Scanned PDFs require OCR preprocessing. Complex layouts may not extract cleanly. Large PDFs can be slow to process. Encrypted PDFs need password. Some PDF features may not be supported.

HISTORY

pdfgrep was developed by Hans-Peter Deifel starting around 2010. It fills the gap between general-purpose grep and PDF-specific tools, providing a familiar interface for PDF text search. The project uses the Poppler library for PDF handling.