LinuxCommandLibrary

pdfinfo

Extract metadata from PDF files

TLDR

Print PDF file information

$ pdfinfo [path/to/file.pdf]
copy

Specify user password for PDF file to bypass security restrictions
$ pdfinfo -upw [password] [path/to/file.pdf]
copy

Specify owner password for PDF file to bypass security restrictions
$ pdfinfo -opw [password] [path/to/file.pdf]
copy

SYNOPSIS

pdfinfo [options]

PARAMETERS

-f
    First page to print.

-l
    Last page to print.

-p
    Print just the specified page.

-o
    Output text to a file (instead of stdout).

-d
    Print debugging messages.

-enc
    Output text encoding name.

-listenc
    List available encodings.

-meta
    Output only document meta data.

-rawdates
    Output the unformatted date strings.

-nofonts
    Don't extract font information.

-box
    Print the page box bounding box.

-struct
    Output document structure information.

-js
    Output JavaScript information.

-isodates
    Use ISO 8601 date format.

-version
    Print copyright and version info.

-h
    Print usage information.

-help
    Print usage information.

-v
    Print copyright and version info.


    The name of the PDF file to analyze.
If not provided, pdfinfo reads from standard input.

DESCRIPTION

The `pdfinfo` command is a command-line utility used to extract metadata and information from Portable Document Format (PDF) files. It analyzes a given PDF file and displays a comprehensive report including details such as the PDF version, file size, number of pages, encryption status, creator, producer, title, author, subject, keywords, creation date, modification date, tagged status, form status, javascript status, file structure optimization, page size and rotation, and more. This information is valuable for assessing the properties of a PDF document, identifying its origins, and understanding its characteristics.
The command is part of the Poppler PDF rendering library, a widely used open-source project for working with PDF documents.
The tool provides a quick and easy way to obtain crucial details about a PDF without opening the file in a PDF viewer, making it useful for scripting and automation.

CAVEATS

Some information, such as the producer and creator applications, may be intentionally omitted or obfuscated by the PDF author. The accuracy of date information also depends on the PDF's creation process.

EXIT CODES

Pdfinfo exits with the following status code:
0: No error.
>0: An error occurred.

HISTORY

The `pdfinfo` command is part of the Poppler library, a free software utility for rendering PDF documents. Poppler was initially derived from the xpdf project but evolved into its own independent codebase. `pdfinfo` has been actively maintained and improved over the years along with the Poppler library, becoming a standard tool for extracting information from PDF files across various Linux distributions and other operating systems.

SEE ALSO

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