pdftools

• Copyright (c) 2015 Stefan Lehmann
• License: MIT
• Description: Python-based command line tool for manipulating PDFs. It is based on the PyPdf2 package.

Features

• add, insert, remove and rotate pages
• split PDF files in multiple documents
• copy specific pages in a new document
• merge or zip PDF files into one document

Usage

pdftools adds some scripts to your existing Python installation that can be called via the command line. The description for each script is listed below.

pdftools

usage: pdftools [-h] [-V] <command> ...

Python-based command line tool for manipulating PDFs. It is based on the
PyPdf2 package.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help     show this help message and exit
  -V, --version  Print version number and exit (default: False)

Sub-commands:
  <command>
    add          Add pages from a source file to an output PDF file
    copy         Copy specific pages of a PDF file in a new file
    insert       Insert pages of one file into another
    merge        Merge the pages of multiple input files into one output file
    remove       Remove pages from a PDF file
    rotate       Rotate the pages of a PDF files by 90 degrees
    split        Split a PDF file into multiple documents
    zip          Python-like zipping (interleaving) the pages of two documents
                 in one output file

Add

usage: pdftools add [-h] [-p PAGES [PAGES ...]] [-o OUTPUT] dest src

Add pages from a source file to an output PDF file

positional arguments:
  dest                  Destination PDF file
  src                   PDF source file

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -p PAGES [PAGES ...], --pages PAGES [PAGES ...]
                        list of pages to add to the output. Examples: 5; 1-9;
                        1-; -9 (default: None)
  -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
                        Name of the output file. If None, the `dest` file will
                        be overwritten (default: None)

Copy

usage: pdftools copy [-h] [-o OUTPUT] [-p PAGES [PAGES ...]] [-y] src

Copy specific pages of a PDF file in a new file

positional arguments:
  src                   Source PDF containing pages to copy

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
                        Name of the output file. If None, the `dest` file will
                        be overwritten (default: None)
  -p PAGES [PAGES ...], --pages PAGES [PAGES ...]
                        list of pages to copy in the new file. Examples: "5 8
                        10": Pages 5, 8, 10; "1-9": Pages 1 to 9; "5-": Pages
                        from 5 to last page; "-9": Pages from beginning to 9
                        (default: 1)

Insert

usage: pdftools insert [-h] [-o OUTPUT] [-p PAGES [PAGES ...]] [-i INDEX]
                       dest src

Insert pages of one file into another

positional arguments:
  dest                  Destination PDF file
  src                   Source PDF file

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
                        Name of the output file. If None, the `dest` file will
                        be overwritten (default: None)
  -p PAGES [PAGES ...], --pages PAGES [PAGES ...]
                        List of page numbers (start with 1) which will be
                        inserted. If None, all pages will be inserted
                        (default). Examples: 5; 1-9; 1-; -9 (default: None)
  -i INDEX, --index INDEX
                        Page number (1-indexed) of destination file where the
                        pages will be inserted. If None they will be added at
                        the end of the file (default: None)

Remove

usage: pdftools remove [-h] [-o OUTPUT] src pages [pages ...]

Remove pages from a PDF file

positional arguments:
  src                   PDF source file
  pages                 List of pages to remove from file. Examples: 5; 1-9;
                        1-; -9

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
                        Name of the output file. If None, the `src` file will
                        be overwritten (default: None)

Rotate

usage: pdftools rotate [-h] [-d {90,180,270}] [-c] [-p PAGES [PAGES ...]]
                       [-o OUTPUT]
                       src

Rotate the pages of a PDF file by a set number of degrees

positional arguments:
  src                   Source file

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -d {90,180,270}, --degrees {90,180,270}
                        Specify degrees value to rotate page(s) (default: 90)
  -c, --counter-clockwise
                        Rotate pages counter-clockwise instead of clockwise,
                        by default (default: False)
  -p PAGES [PAGES ...], --pages PAGES [PAGES ...]
                        List of page numbers which will be rotated. If None,
                        all pages will be rotated. Examples: 5; 1-9; 1-; -9
                        (default: None)
  -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
                        Output filename. If None, the source file will be
                        overwritten (default: None)

Split

usage: pdftools split [-h] [-o OUTPUT] [-s STEPSIZE]
                      [-q SEQUENCE [SEQUENCE ...]]
                      src

Split a PDF file into multiple documents

positional arguments:
  src                   Source file to be split

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
                        Output filenames. If None, will append page numbers to
                        the input file name. (default: None)
  -s STEPSIZE, --stepsize STEPSIZE
                        How many pages are packed in each output file
                        (default: 1)
  -q SEQUENCE [SEQUENCE ...], --sequence SEQUENCE [SEQUENCE ...]
                        Sequence of numbers describing how many pages to put
                        in each outputfile (default: None)

Merge

usage: pdftools merge [-h] [-o OUTPUT] [-d] src [src ...]

Merge the pages of multiple input files into one output file

positional arguments:
  src                   List of input source files

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
                        Output filename (default: merged.pdf)
  -d, --delete          Delete source files after merge (default: False)

Zip

usage: pdftools zip [-h] [-d] [-r] src1 src2 output

Python-like zipping (interleaving) the pages of two documents in one output
file

positional arguments:
  src1          First source file
  src2          Second source file
  output        Name of the output file

optional arguments:
  -h, --help    show this help message and exit
  -d, --delete  Delete source files after merge (default: False)
  -r, --revert  Revert the pages of second input file (default: False)