Xojo Plugin Requires Chilkat v11.7.0+

Search a PDF with a Regular Expression

See more PDF Text Extraction Examples

Demonstrates searching a PDF with a regular expression (regex: true), limiting the number of results (maxResults), and matching whole words only (wholeWord). Xojo Plugin

Dim success As Boolean
success = False

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

//  The PDF used in this example is available at order_records.pdf

Dim pdf As New Chilkat.Pdf
success = pdf.LoadFile("qa_data/pdf/order_records.pdf")
If (success = False) Then
    System.DebugLog(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

Dim json As New Chilkat.JsonObject
Dim jsonOut As New Chilkat.JsonObject

//  Find every order number.  With regex set to true, the query is a regular expression.
success = json.UpdateString("query","ORD-[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{4}")
success = json.UpdateBool("regex",True)
//  We only want the matched text, so no context is needed.
success = json.UpdateInt("context",0)

success = pdf.ExtractText("search",json,jsonOut)
If (success = False) Then
    System.DebugLog(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

System.DebugLog("Order numbers found: " + Str(jsonOut.IntOf("count")))
Dim i As Int32
i = 0
Dim count_i As Int32
count_i = jsonOut.SizeOfArray("matches")
While i < count_i
    jsonOut.I = i
    System.DebugLog(jsonOut.StringOf("matches[i].text"))
    i = i + 1
Wend

//  Find the e-mail addresses, but stop after the first three.
success = json.UpdateString("query","[a-z0-9._]+@[a-z]+[.][a-z]+")
success = json.UpdateInt("maxResults",3)
success = pdf.ExtractText("search",json,jsonOut)
If (success = False) Then
    System.DebugLog(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

System.DebugLog("First three e-mail addresses:")
i = 0
count_i = jsonOut.SizeOfArray("matches")
While i < count_i
    jsonOut.I = i
    System.DebugLog(jsonOut.StringOf("matches[i].text"))
    i = i + 1
Wend

//  wholeWord: true matches only whole words.  The word "cat" appears once in the PDF,
//  but it is also inside "catalog" and "category".
success = json.Delete("maxResults")
success = json.UpdateBool("regex",False)
success = json.UpdateString("query","cat")
success = pdf.ExtractText("search",json,jsonOut)
If (success = False) Then
    System.DebugLog(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

System.DebugLog("Occurrences of cat (any): " + Str(jsonOut.IntOf("count")))

success = json.UpdateBool("wholeWord",True)
success = pdf.ExtractText("search",json,jsonOut)
If (success = False) Then
    System.DebugLog(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

System.DebugLog("Occurrences of cat (whole word): " + Str(jsonOut.IntOf("count")))

//  Sample output:

//  Order numbers found: 9
//  ORD-2026-0301
//  ORD-2026-0302
//  ORD-2026-0303
//  ORD-2026-0304
//  ORD-2026-0305
//  ORD-2026-0306
//  ORD-2026-0307
//  ORD-2026-0308
//  ORD-2026-0307
//  First three e-mail addresses:
//  alice.moore@example.com
//  bkumar@example.org
//  carla@example.net
//  Occurrences of cat (any): 3
//  Occurrences of cat (whole word): 1