pdfrw2 - PDF Reader/Writer Library

0.5.0 · active · verified Thu Apr 16

pdfrw2 is a maintenance fork of the unmaintained pdfrw library, providing a Pythonic way to read, write, and manipulate PDF files. It allows for tasks like merging, splitting, watermarking, and adding annotations to PDFs. The current version is 0.5.0, and it follows an as-needed release cadence for bug fixes and compatibility updates.

Common errors

```
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pdfrw2'
```
cause Attempting to import the package using its PyPI name `pdfrw2` instead of its module name `pdfrw`.

fix Change your import statements from `import pdfrw2` to `import pdfrw`, or `from pdfrw2 import ...` to `from pdfrw import ...`.
```
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'encrypt'
```
cause Trying to open or manipulate an encrypted PDF without the `pycryptodome` library installed. `pdfrw2` dynamically loads encryption support.

fix Install the optional dependency for encryption: `pip install pycryptodome`.
```
File "/path/to/pdfrw/pdfreader.py", line XYZ, in __init__
    raise PdfParseError('File has no pages?')
```
cause The PDF file being read is either empty, corrupted, or not a valid PDF document that pdfrw2 can parse.

fix Ensure the input file is a valid, well-formed PDF. Check the file's integrity and content. Try opening it with a standard PDF viewer.

Warnings

gotcha The PyPI package name is `pdfrw2`, but the Python module to import is `pdfrw`. Attempting to `import pdfrw2` will result in a `ModuleNotFoundError`.
Fix: Always use `from pdfrw import ...` for imports.
gotcha Handling encrypted PDF files requires the optional `pycryptodome` package. Without it, attempts to open or process encrypted PDFs will fail with an error indicating missing encryption support.
Fix: Install the dependency: `pip install pdfrw2[crypto]` (or `pip install pycryptodome` separately if your shell expands square brackets).
gotcha If migrating code from very old versions of `pdfrw` (the unmaintained predecessor), you might encounter `ImportError` related to `collections` vs. `collections.abc` for abstract base classes. `pdfrw2` has addressed this, but ensure your Python environment is compatible.
Fix: Ensure you are using `pdfrw2` (which incorporates the fix) and a Python version 3.6+. If you see such an error in `pdfrw2` code, report it to the maintainers; it indicates a regression.

Install

pip install pdfrw2 Install pdfrw2

Imports

PdfReader
wrong:
```
from pdfrw2 import PdfReader
```
correct:
```
from pdfrw import PdfReader
```
The installed package is `pdfrw2`, but the main module to import from is named `pdfrw` for backward compatibility with the original library.
PdfWriter
wrong:
```
from pdfrw2 import PdfWriter
```
correct:
```
from pdfrw import PdfWriter
```
The installed package is `pdfrw2`, but the main module to import from is named `pdfrw` for backward compatibility with the original library.
PageMerge
```
from pdfrw import PageMerge
```

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to read an existing PDF file and write its contents to a new PDF file using pdfrw2. It shows the basic usage of `PdfReader` and `PdfWriter` to copy a PDF. For a more robust example with actual PDF content, you would typically start with a real PDF file.

import os
from pdfrw import PdfReader, PdfWriter

# Create dummy PDF files for demonstration if they don't exist
# In a real scenario, you would have existing PDF files.
# This example just copies a (potentially empty) file to simulate input.
# For a true example, you'd need a PDF generator or existing files.

def create_dummy_pdf(filename):
    # This is a highly simplified 'creation' for demonstration purposes.
    # In a real app, you'd use a library like reportlab or have actual PDFs.
    with open(filename, 'w') as f:
        f.write('%PDF-1.4\n1 0 obj <</Type/Catalog/Pages 2 0 R>> endobj\n2 0 obj <</Type/Pages/Count 0>> endobj\nxref\n0 3\n0000000000 65535 f\n0000000009 00000 n\n0000000052 00000 n\ntrailer<</Size 3/Root 1 0 R>>startxref\n106\n%%EOF')

input_pdf_path = 'input.pdf'
output_pdf_path = 'output.pdf'

if not os.path.exists(input_pdf_path):
    print(f"Creating dummy {input_pdf_path} for quickstart...")
    create_dummy_pdf(input_pdf_path)

try:
    # Read an existing PDF
    trailer = PdfReader(input_pdf_path)

    # Create a new PDF writer
    writer = PdfWriter()

    # Add all pages from the input PDF to the writer
    writer.addpages(trailer.pages)

    # Write the combined PDF to a new file
    writer.write(output_pdf_path)

    print(f"Successfully copied '{input_pdf_path}' to '{output_pdf_path}'")

except Exception as e:
    print(f"An error occurred: {e}")
finally:
    # Clean up dummy files
    # os.remove(input_pdf_path) # Uncomment to remove after running
    # os.remove(output_pdf_path) # Uncomment to remove after running
    pass

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