pictureshow 0.3.6

Save pictures to PDF

Save pictures to PDF from the command line or from your Python programs.

Requirements

Python 3.6 or higher is required. The only third-party dependency is reportlab.

Installation

pip install pictureshow

As a command line tool

Usage:

usage: pictureshow [-h] [-p SIZE] [-L] [-m MARGIN] [-l LAYOUT] [-s] [-f] [-q]
                   [-v]
                   PIC [PIC ...] PDF

positional arguments:
  PIC                   one or more input picture file paths
  PDF                   target PDF file path

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -p SIZE, --page-size SIZE
                        specify page size; default is A4
  -L, --landscape       force landscape orientation of page
  -m MARGIN, --margin MARGIN
                        set width of empty space around pictures; default is
                        72 points (1 inch)
  -l LAYOUT, --layout LAYOUT
                        specify grid layout of pictures on page; default is
                        1x1
  -s, --stretch-small   scale small pictures up to fit drawing area
  -f, --force-overwrite
                        save target file even if filename exists
  -q, --quiet           suppress printing to stdout
  -v, --version         show program's version number and exit

Example 1

Save a single picture to PDF.

$ pictureshow pics/mandelbrot.png mandelbrot.pdf
Saved 1 picture to '/.../mandelbrot.pdf'

Result:

Example 2

Select pictures using a glob pattern [1], set page to landscape Letter-sized [2].

$ pictureshow pics/plots/gauss* gauss.pdf -LpLETTER
Saved 2 pictures to '/.../gauss.pdf'

Result:

Example 3

Select pictures using a glob pattern, set half-inch margin and layout with 1x3 pictures per page.

$ pictureshow --margin=36 --layout=1x3 pics/*alpha.png alpha_pngs.pdf
Saved 6 pictures to '/.../alpha_pngs.pdf'

Result:

As a Python library

Using the PictureShow class:

from pictureshow import PictureShow

pic_show = PictureShow('pics/mandelbrot.png', 'pics/mandelbrot.jpg')
pic_show.save_pdf('pictures.pdf')

Result:

Using the pictures_to_pdf shortcut function:

from pictureshow import pictures_to_pdf

pictures_to_pdf('pics/mandelbrot.png', 'pics/mandelbrot.jpg', 'pictures.pdf')

The example above will work as long as the output file is passed as the last positional argument. It is however recommended to always use a keyword argument:

from pictureshow import pictures_to_pdf

list_of_pictures = ['pics/mandelbrot.png', 'pics/mandelbrot.jpg']
pictures_to_pdf(*list_of_pictures, pdf_file='pictures.pdf')

Another example, demonstrating all available keyword parameters:

from pathlib import Path

from pictureshow import pictures_to_pdf

list_of_pictures = sorted(Path.cwd().glob('pics/oldies/*/*'))
pictures_to_pdf(
    *list_of_pictures,
    pdf_file='oldies.pdf',
    page_size='A5',
    landscape=True,
    margin=18,
    layout=(3, 3),
    stretch_small=True,
    force_overwrite=True
)

Result:

New in version 0.3.2

The page_size and layout parameters can be specified either by a string (just like in the command line interface) or by a sequence of two numbers. For example, page_size='LETTER', layout='2x3' is equivalent to page_size=(72 * 8.5, 72 * 11), layout=(2, 3).

New in version 0.3.6

The pdf_file parameter can be specified either by a string (just like in the command line interface) or by a path-like object.

Footnotes

[1]

Note that glob patterns are not expanded by the Windows command line shell.

[2]

Available page sizes are: A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, A10, B0, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, B9, B10, C0, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, C8, C9, C10, LETTER, LEGAL, ELEVENSEVENTEEN, JUNIOR_LEGAL, HALF_LETTER, GOV_LETTER, GOV_LEGAL, TABLOID, LEDGER