PDF to PDF PHP Examples

Complete PHP examples for common PDF to PDF tasks. See the PHP SDK guide for installation and result handling.

You can run the examples below with the displayed API credentials. Update the input URLs and filenames as needed. Each PHP example can be copied and run independently.

Merging

Add PDFs in the order they should appear in the merged document. Choose file, in-memory, or output-stream handling for the result. The stream example uses a binary file stream as its destination.

Merge PDF files

Merge first.pdf and second.pdf in that order.

Save to a file

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient('demo', 'demo');

$client->addPdfFile('first.pdf');
$client->addPdfFile('second.pdf');
$client->convertToFile('merged.pdf');

Keep in memory

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient('demo', 'demo');

$client->addPdfFile('first.pdf');
$client->addPdfFile('second.pdf');
$pdf = $client->convert(); // binary string
echo strlen($pdf), PHP_EOL;

Write to a stream

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient('demo', 'demo');

$output_stream = fopen('merged.pdf', 'wb');
if ($output_stream === false) {
    throw new \RuntimeException('Cannot open stream');
}
try {
    $client->addPdfFile('first.pdf');
    $client->addPdfFile('second.pdf');
    $client->convertToStream($output_stream);
    if (!fflush($output_stream)) {
        throw new \RuntimeException('Cannot flush output stream');
    }
} finally {
    fclose($output_stream);
}

Merge raw PDF bytes

Read first.pdf and second.pdf as binary data. In an application, pass the bytes you already hold in memory instead.

Save to a file

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient('demo', 'demo');

$pdf_data_1 = file_get_contents('first.pdf'); // binary string
if ($pdf_data_1 === false) {
    throw new \RuntimeException('Cannot read binary input');
}
$pdf_data_2 = file_get_contents('second.pdf'); // binary string
if ($pdf_data_2 === false) {
    throw new \RuntimeException('Cannot read binary input');
}
$client->addPdfRawData($pdf_data_1);
$client->addPdfRawData($pdf_data_2);
$client->convertToFile('merged.pdf');

Keep in memory

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient('demo', 'demo');

$pdf_data_1 = file_get_contents('first.pdf'); // binary string
if ($pdf_data_1 === false) {
    throw new \RuntimeException('Cannot read binary input');
}
$pdf_data_2 = file_get_contents('second.pdf'); // binary string
if ($pdf_data_2 === false) {
    throw new \RuntimeException('Cannot read binary input');
}
$client->addPdfRawData($pdf_data_1);
$client->addPdfRawData($pdf_data_2);
$pdf = $client->convert(); // binary string
echo strlen($pdf), PHP_EOL;

Merge bytes with a file

Add the bytes from first.pdf, followed by second.pdf, and save the result to merged.pdf.

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient('demo', 'demo');

$pdf_data_1 = file_get_contents('first.pdf'); // binary string
if ($pdf_data_1 === false) {
    throw new \RuntimeException('Cannot read binary input');
}
$client->addPdfRawData($pdf_data_1);
$client->addPdfFile('second.pdf');
$client->convertToFile('merged.pdf');

PDF operations

Add a watermark

Apply watermark.pdf to proposal.pdf and save company_offer.pdf.

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient('demo', 'demo');

$client->setPageWatermark('watermark.pdf');
$client->addPdfFile('proposal.pdf');
$client->convertToFile('company_offer.pdf');

Linearize a PDF

Optimize not_linearized.pdf for progressive loading in a browser and save it as linearized.pdf.

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient('demo', 'demo');

$client->setLinearize(true);
$client->addPdfFile('not_linearized.pdf');
$client->convertToFile('linearized.pdf');

Extract pages

Extract page 3 and pages 7 through the end of 13_pages.pdf into output.pdf.

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient('demo', 'demo');

$client->setAction('extract');
$client->setPageRange('3,7-');
$client->addPdfFile('13_pages.pdf');
$client->convertToFile('output.pdf');

Delete pages

Remove pages 1–3 and page 10 from 13_pages.pdf and save the remaining pages to output.pdf.

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient('demo', 'demo');

$client->setAction('delete');
$client->setPageRange('1-3,10');
$client->addPdfFile('13_pages.pdf');
$client->convertToFile('output.pdf');

Split a PDF

Split 13_pages.pdf into two documents: pages 1–10 in pages1-10.pdf, and the remaining pages in pages11-end.pdf.

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToPdfClient('demo', 'demo');

$client->addPdfFile('13_pages.pdf');
$client->setAction('extract');
$client->setPageRange('1-10');
$client->convertToFile('pages1-10.pdf');
$client->setPageRange('11-');
$client->convertToFile('pages11-end.pdf');