The Python libraries that generate PDF reports include ReportLab, FPDF and WeasyPrint, each suitable for different scenarios; 1. ReportLab supports complex typesetting, suitable for high-quality documents; 2. FPDF is lightweight and simple, suitable for quickly generating PDFs with simple structure; 3. WeasyPrint supports HTML/CSS to PDF, suitable for existing web content; when writing data, you can insert line by line through the library or render templates with Jinja2; layout and styles can be handled through tables, fonts, colors and pictures; precautions include Chinese display, page layout, path issues and performance optimization.
It is actually not difficult to generate PDF reports in Python. As long as you choose the right tool, the whole process will be smooth. There are several commonly used libraries, such as ReportLab, FPDF and WeasyPrint, which each have their own advantages and are suitable for different scenarios. The following is a few practical perspectives to talk about how to generate PDF reports in Python.

How to choose a library to generate PDFs?
Python has several commonly used PDF generation libraries, which depends on your specific needs:
- ReportLab : Powerful, supports complex typography and styles, suitable for scenarios where high-quality documents are needed.
- FPDF : Lightweight and simple, low learning cost, suitable for quickly generating PDFs with simple structures.
- WeasyPrint : You can convert HTML and CSS into PDF, which is suitable for front-end developers or existing web content.
If you already have a web template, WeasyPrint may be the most convenient choice; if you want to control content styles from scratch, ReportLab is more suitable.

How to write data to PDF?
No matter which library you use, the core logic is to organize the data and then write it to the document line by line. Taking ReportLab as an example, you can write this:
from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas c = canvas.Canvas("report.pdf") c.setFont("Helvetica", 12) c.drawString(50, 750, "Report Title") c.drawString(50, 730, "Name: Zhang San") c.drawString(50, 710, "Age: 30") c.save()
This will generate a PDF file containing basic information. If you are getting data from a database or API, you just need to read the data in and then splice it into a string.

If you use HTML to PDF, you can render HTML with Jinja2 template and then hand it over to WeasyPrint for output:
from jinja2 import Template from weatherprint import HTML template = Template(open("template.html").read()) html = template.render(name="Zhang San", age=30) HTML(string=html).write_pdf("report.pdf")
How to deal with layout and style?
PDF typesetting is not as flexible as web pages, but there are ways to make the content more beautiful:
- Use table : ReportLab provides a
Table
class that can be used to display data tables. - Setting Fonts and Colors : ReportLab supports a variety of fonts and color settings, but be careful that some fonts may not come with their own in PDF and need to be embedded.
- Pictures and charts : You can use
drawImage
to insert pictures. If it is a chart generated by Matplotlib, save it as PNG and then insert it.
If you use HTML to PDF, you can directly use CSS to control the style, which will be more convenient.
Frequently Asked Questions and Notes
- Chinese display problem : The default font may not support Chinese, and you need to add Chinese fonts with
addFont
. - Page layout : Note that the origin of the coordinate system is in the lower left corner and the Y axis is upward, so make sure to reserve a good spacing when typing.
- File path problem : Especially when rendering local pictures with WeasyPrint, the path must be written correctly.
- Performance issues : If the data volume is large and there are many pages, the generation speed may become slow. Asynchronous processing or optimization of the content structure can be considered.
Basically that's it. Selecting the tools, organizing the data, paying attention to the details of the layout. It is not complicated to generate PDF reports in Python, but some details are indeed easy to ignore.
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