PyPDF2, pdfplumber and FPDF are the core libraries for Python to process PDF. Use PyPDF2 to perform text extraction, merging, splitting and encryption, such as reading the page through PdfReader and calling extract_text() to get content; pdfplumber is more suitable for retaining layout text extraction and table recognition, and supports extract_tables() to accurately capture table data; FPDF (recommended fpdf2) is used to generate PDF, and documents are built and output through add_page(), set_font() and cell(). When merging PDFs, PdfWriter's append() method can integrate multiple files; splitting it through the page and save it page by page. Encryption is implemented by setting the user and owner password through writer.encrypt(). Select the right tool to complete PDF reading, modification and creation tasks efficiently.

Working with PDF files in Python is common for tasks like reading, writing, merging, splitting, and extracting data. Several libraries make this possible, with PyPDF2 , pdfplumber , and FPDF being among the most popular. Here's how to handle various PDF operations effectively.

Reading and Extracting Text from PDFs

If you need to extract text from a PDF file, PyPDF2 or pdfplumber are good choices. PyPDF2 is great for basic text extraction, while pdfplumber preserves layout and formatting better.

Example using PyPDF2:

from PyPDF2 import PdfReader<br><br> reader = PdfReader("example.pdf")<br> for page in reader.pages:<br> text = page.extract_text()<br> print(text)

For tables and precision text positioning, use pdfplumber :

import pdfplumber<br><br> with pdfplumber.open("example.pdf") as pdf:<br> for page in pdf.pages:<br> text = page.extract_text()<br> tables = page.extract_tables()

Writing and Creating PDFs

To generate new PDF files from scratch, use FPDF . It's lightweight and easy to use for simple documents.

Example:

from fpdf import FPDF<br><br> pdf = FPDF()<br> pdf.add_page()<br> pdf.set_font("Arial", size=12)<br> pdf.cell(0, 10, "Hello, this is a generated PDF!", ln=True)<br> pdf.output("output.pdf")

Merging and Splitting PDFs

Use PyPDF2 to combine multiple PDFs into one or split a large PDF into smaller ones.

To merge:

from PyPDF2 import PdfWriter, PdfReader<br><br> merger = PdfWriter()<br> for filename in ["file1.pdf", "file2.pdf"]:<br> with open(filename, "rb") as f:<br> merger.append(f)<br> with open("merged.pdf", "wb") as output_file:<br> merger.write(output_file)

To split:

reader = PdfReader("large.pdf")<br> for i, page in enumerate(reader.pages):<br> writer = PdfWriter()<br> writer.add_page(page)<br> with open(f"page_{i 1}.pdf", "wb") as out:<br> writer.write(out)

Adding Password Protection and Encryption

You can encrypt PDFs using PyPDF2 by setting a user password when writing the file.

writer = PdfWriter()<br> writer.add_page(page)<br> writer.encrypt(user_password="user123", owner_password="admin456")<br> with open("protected.pdf", "wb") as f:<br> writer.write(f)

This restricts opening and editing based on the passwords provided.

Basically, working with PDFs in Python is straightforward once you pick the right tool for the job: PyPDF2 for manipulation, pdfplumber for detailed text and table analysis, and FPDF for generating new documents. Most tasks come down to reading, modifying, and writing PDF streams with these libraries.

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