Perl Requires Chilkat v11.7.0+

Get the Text Block Below a PDF Caption

See more PDF Text Extraction Examples

Demonstrates the "label" option with labelValue "below", which captures the block of text directly under a caption such as "Ship To", ending at the next gap or heading. Combined with layout "lines", the lines of an address block are kept separate. Chilkat2 Perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use Chilkat2;

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

# The packing slip used in this example is available at packing_slip.pdf

my $pdf = Chilkat2::Pdf->new;
my $success = $pdf->LoadFile('qa_data/pdf/packing_slip.pdf');
if (!$success) {
    print $pdf->LastErrorText, "\n";
    exit;
}

my $json = Chilkat2::JsonObject->new;
my $jsonOut = Chilkat2::JsonObject->new;

# The packing slip has the captions "Bill To" and "Ship To" side by side,
# each with an address block below it.
$json->UpdateString('label', 'Ship To');

# "below" means the value is the block of text directly under the label.
$json->UpdateString('labelValue', 'below');

# With the default "flow" layout the lines of the block would be joined into one paragraph.
# "lines" keeps each line of the address on its own line.
$json->UpdateString('layout', 'lines');

$success = $pdf->ExtractText('text', $json, $jsonOut);
if (!$success) {
    print $pdf->LastErrorText, "\n";
    exit;
}

print "Ship To:\n";
print $jsonOut->StringOf('text'), "\n";
print "\n";

$json->UpdateString('label', 'Bill To');
$success = $pdf->ExtractText('text', $json, $jsonOut);
if (!$success) {
    print $pdf->LastErrorText, "\n";
    exit;
}

print "Bill To:\n";
print $jsonOut->StringOf('text'), "\n";
print "\n";

# A caption over a short paragraph works the same way.  Here the flow layout is better,
# because the two lines are one piece of text.
$json->UpdateString('label', 'Special Instructions');
$json->UpdateString('layout', 'flow');
$success = $pdf->ExtractText('text', $json, $jsonOut);
if (!$success) {
    print $pdf->LastErrorText, "\n";
    exit;
}

print "Special Instructions:\n";
print $jsonOut->StringOf('text'), "\n";

# Sample output:

# Ship To:
# Frank Delgado
# c/o Harbor Pet Boarding
# 9 Ferry Lane
# Portside, WA 98001
#
# Bill To:
# Frank Delgado
# Apartment 3B
# 41 Mill Street
# Portside, WA 98000
#
# Special Instructions:
# Leave the carton with the boarding office if no one answers. Do not leave it outside; the cat tree is not packed for rain.