PHP Requires Chilkat v11.7.0+

Search for Text in a PDF

See more PDF Text Extraction Examples

Demonstrates the "search" operation, which finds every occurrence of a string in a PDF and returns each match with its page number and the text around it. Matching ignores case unless caseSensitive is true. Chilkat2 PHP

<?php

use Chilkat2\JsonObject;
use Chilkat2\Pdf;

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

// The three-page PDF used in this example is available at search_context.pdf

$pdf = new Pdf();
try {
    $pdf->LoadFile('qa_data/pdf/search_context.pdf');

    $json = new JsonObject();
    $jsonOut = new JsonObject();

    // The string to find.
    $json->UpdateString('query', 'chilkat');

    // The number of characters returned before and after each match.  The default is 40.
    $json->UpdateInt('context', 30);

    $pdf->ExtractText('search', $json, $jsonOut);
} catch (\Chilkat2\Exception $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage(), "\n";
    exit;
}

// "count" is the number of matches.  Each match has the page, the matched text as it appears
// in the PDF, and the text before and after it.
echo 'Matches: ', $jsonOut->IntOf('count'), "\n";

$i = 0;
$count_i = $jsonOut->SizeOfArray('matches');
while ($i < $count_i) {
    $jsonOut->I = $i;
    echo 'page ', $jsonOut->IntOf('matches[i].page'), ': ...', $jsonOut->StringOf('matches[i].before'), '[', $jsonOut->StringOf('matches[i].text'), ']', $jsonOut->StringOf('matches[i].after'), "...\n";
    $i = $i + 1;
}

// The search ignores case by default.  Set caseSensitive to find only the exact spelling.
$json->UpdateBool('caseSensitive', true);
$json->UpdateString('query', 'Chilkat');
try {
    $pdf->ExtractText('search', $json, $jsonOut);
} catch (\Chilkat2\Exception $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage(), "\n";
    exit;
}

echo 'Case-sensitive matches for Chilkat: ', $jsonOut->IntOf('count'), "\n";

// Sample output:

// Matches: 5
// page 1: ...[Chilkat] River Field Notes The Chilkat...
// page 1: ...Chilkat River Field Notes The [Chilkat] River runs for about fifty mi...
// page 2: ...DAY ONE: UPPER [CHILKAT] FLATS Clear and cold, minus e...
// page 2: ...he river is sometimes spelled [chilkat] in older records, and the val...
// page 3: ...y because the fish run on the [Chilkat] was thinning. Two tagged bird...
// Case-sensitive matches for Chilkat: 3