Perl Requires Chilkat v11.7.0+

Get a PDF Field Value by its Label (Value to the Right)

See more PDF Text Extraction Examples

Demonstrates the "label" option, which captures the text that belongs to a caption such as "Invoice Number:" without needing coordinates. With labelValue "right", the value is the rest of the label's line. Label matching ignores case, extra spaces and a trailing colon. Perl

use chilkat();

$success = 0;

#  This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
#  See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

#  The invoice used in this example is available at invoice_labels.pdf

$pdf = chilkat::CkPdf->new();
$success = $pdf->LoadFile("qa_data/pdf/invoice_labels.pdf");
if ($success == 0) {
    print $pdf->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
    exit;
}

$json = chilkat::CkJsonObject->new();
$jsonOut = chilkat::CkJsonObject->new();

#  The invoice has lines such as "Invoice Number:   INV-2026-0412".
#  The label option restricts the "text" operation to the text belonging to the label.
$json->UpdateString("label","Invoice Number");

#  "right" means the value is the rest of the label's line.
#  (The default, "auto", uses the rest of the line if there is text there, otherwise the block below.)
$json->UpdateString("labelValue","right");

$success = $pdf->ExtractText("text",$json,$jsonOut);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $pdf->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
    exit;
}

#  The value is returned as the text.
print "Invoice Number: " . $jsonOut->stringOf("text") . "\r\n";

#  The labelMatches array tells where the label was found and how it appeared in the PDF.
print "Found on page " . $jsonOut->IntOf("labelMatches[0].page") . " as \"" . $jsonOut->stringOf("labelMatches[0].label") . "\"" . "\r\n";

#  Matching ignores case and the trailing colon, so these all work:
$json->UpdateString("label","CUSTOMER:");
$success = $pdf->ExtractText("text",$json,$jsonOut);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $pdf->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
    exit;
}

print "Customer: " . $jsonOut->stringOf("text") . "\r\n";

$json->UpdateString("label","due date");
$success = $pdf->ExtractText("text",$json,$jsonOut);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $pdf->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
    exit;
}

print "Due Date: " . $jsonOut->stringOf("text") . "\r\n";

#  The totals at the foot of the invoice are right-aligned labels with the amount beside them.
$json->UpdateString("label","Total Due");
$success = $pdf->ExtractText("text",$json,$jsonOut);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $pdf->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
    exit;
}

print "Total Due: " . $jsonOut->stringOf("text") . "\r\n";

#  A label that is not found is not an error.  The text is empty, labelMatches is empty,
#  and the quality report has an issue with the code "labelNotFound".
$json->UpdateString("label","Tracking Number");
$success = $pdf->ExtractText("text",$json,$jsonOut);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $pdf->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
    exit;
}

if ($jsonOut->SizeOfArray("labelMatches") == 0) {
    print "Tracking Number: (not found) " . $jsonOut->stringOf("quality.pages[0].issues[0].code") . "\r\n";
}

#  Sample output:

#  Invoice Number: INV-2026-0412
#  Found on page 1 as "Invoice Number:"
#  Customer: Northwind Traders
#  Due Date: April 13, 2026
#  Total Due: $1,234.53
#  Tracking Number: (not found) labelNotFound