[SOLVED] Howto Read pdf in a bash shell???

06-21-2009	#1 (permalink)
reloadedreiko Just Joined! Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 11	[SOLVED] Howto Read pdf in a bash shell??? well is there any utility to read a pdf file in BASH shell??? if anything exists do let me know!!!

06-21-2009	#2 (permalink)
L4Linux Content Team Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Greece Posts: 577	You mean only to display the text inside the PDF in the terminal??? That would be a hard thing to do, since PDF has a ton of data other than the text inside. For an ODF file it would be easier I think, something like an xml parser that would retrieve the user inputed data. It all comes down to specifications. But it may be possible already (since PDF became an ISO standard), I am not an expert by any means. If you mean launching the viewer from the terminal: Code: evince pdf_name.pdf or Code: okular pdf_name.pdf or whatever program you want to use. __________________ folding@home HELP RESEARCH AGAINST CANCER. It is very easy and won't cost you anything.

06-21-2009	#3 (permalink)
ozar Super Moderator Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 12,025	Welcome to the forums! If you want to read pdf files from the console, you could install pdftohtml and use it to convert the files, then read the files with a text browser such as elinks or lynx __________________ oz New Members: * README *

06-21-2009	#4 (permalink)
reed9 Linux Guru Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 2,045	There is fbgs, which is part of the fbida project, described on the website "A wrapper script for viewing ps/pdf files on the framebuffer console using fbi." fbida homepage fbgs(1) - Linux man page __________________ The Arch Way How to Ask Questions the Smart Way Registered Linux User #482863

06-22-2009	#5 (permalink)
Rubberman Linux Guru Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: I can be found either 40 miles west of Chicago, or in a galaxy far, far away. Posts: 2,528	And there is always Adobe's Acrobat reader, acroread. Version 9.1.1 for Linux is available and works just great in just about any X-Windows desktop environment. __________________ Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real time.

06-24-2009	#6 (permalink)
nopycckn Banned Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 68	To directly change a pdf to a text file, pdftotext, then you could read that using less or whatever ... don't know how well it works.

06-25-2009

#7 (permalink)

Freston

Linux Engineer

Join Date: Mar 2007

Location: The Netherlands

Posts: 826

Quote:

Originally Posted by nopycckn

To directly change a pdf to a text file, pdftotext, then you could read that using less or whatever ... don't know how well it works.

Oh wow! Thanks! I had not even thought it was possible. But I see now it's part of xpdf so I think it'll be installed on most *nix boxen. It came with my distro (Slackware) and it's amazingly fast too.

__________________
Can't tell an OS by it's GUI

06-25-2009	#8 (permalink)
Rubberman Linux Guru Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: I can be found either 40 miles west of Chicago, or in a galaxy far, far away. Posts: 2,528	All the tools in the Linux toolbox are truely awesome. It's kind of like a master mechanic - you can't just ask for a screwdriver because there are some many types; flat-bladed, phillips, posidrive, torx, hex, butterfly, magnetic, right-angle, left-angle (joke), flexible shaft, and on and on, not to mention all the above in various sizes. I have screwdrivers with blades so small you need a magnifying glass to see them, and ones so big that you can use them for serious sword play (I was a master mechanic before I became an engineer). __________________ Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real time.

06-30-2009	#9 (permalink)
reloadedreiko Just Joined! Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 11	Hey guys thanks a lot!!! for ur replies!! I used pdf2text tool and it worked well!!!! thanks a lot once again!!!!!

Are you a Linux Guru who is willing to share your in-depth Linux knowledge? Try our new Article submission system.