PDF to Text PHP Examples

This page contains various examples of using the PDF to Text API in PHP. The examples are complete and fully functional. Read more about how to convert PDF to Text in PHP.

Basic examples

Basic examples

Convert a local PDF file to a text file

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToTextClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertFileToFile("/path/to/invoice.pdf", "invoice.txt");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert a local PDF file to in-memory text

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToTextClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // run the conversion and store the result into the "txt" variable
    $txt = $client->convertFile("/path/to/invoice.pdf");

    // at this point the "txt" variable contains TXT raw data and
    // can be sent in an HTTP response, saved to a file, etc.
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert a local PDF file and write the resulting text to an output stream

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToTextClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // create an output stream for the conversion result
    $output_stream = fopen("invoice.txt", "wb");

    // check for a file creation error
    if (!$output_stream)
        throw new \Exception(error_get_last()['message']);

    // run the conversion and write the result into the output stream
    $client->convertFileToStream("/path/to/invoice.pdf", $output_stream);

    // close the output stream
    fclose($output_stream);
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert url with PDF file to a text file

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToTextClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertUrlToFile("https://pdfcrowd.com/static/pdf/apisamples/invoice.pdf", "invoice.txt");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert url with PDF file to in-memory text

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToTextClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // run the conversion and store the result into the "txt" variable
    $txt = $client->convertUrl("https://pdfcrowd.com/static/pdf/apisamples/invoice.pdf");

    // at this point the "txt" variable contains TXT raw data and
    // can be sent in an HTTP response, saved to a file, etc.
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert url with PDF file and write the resulting text to an output stream

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToTextClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // create an output stream for the conversion result
    $output_stream = fopen("invoice.txt", "wb");

    // check for a file creation error
    if (!$output_stream)
        throw new \Exception(error_get_last()['message']);

    // run the conversion and write the result into the output stream
    $client->convertUrlToStream("https://pdfcrowd.com/static/pdf/apisamples/invoice.pdf", $output_stream);

    // close the output stream
    fclose($output_stream);
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert an in-memory PDF to a text file

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToTextClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertRawDataToFile(file_get_contents("/path/to/hello_world.pdf"), "invoice.txt");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert an in-memory PDF to in-memory text

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToTextClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // run the conversion and store the result into the "txt" variable
    $txt = $client->convertRawData(file_get_contents("/path/to/hello_world.pdf"));

    // at this point the "txt" variable contains TXT raw data and
    // can be sent in an HTTP response, saved to a file, etc.
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert an in-memory PDF and write the resulting text to an output stream

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToTextClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // create an output stream for the conversion result
    $output_stream = fopen("invoice.txt", "wb");

    // check for a file creation error
    if (!$output_stream)
        throw new \Exception(error_get_last()['message']);

    // run the conversion and write the result into the output stream
    $client->convertRawDataToStream(file_get_contents("/path/to/hello_world.pdf"), $output_stream);

    // close the output stream
    fclose($output_stream);
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Get info about the current conversion

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\PdfToTextClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setDebugLog(true);
    $client->setPageBreakMode("default");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertFileToFile("/path/to/invoice.pdf", "invoice.txt");
    
    // print URL to the debug log
    echo "Debug log url: " . $client->getDebugLogUrl() . "\n";
    
    // print the number of available conversion credits in your account
    echo "Remaining credit count: " . $client->getRemainingCreditCount() . "\n";
    
    // print the number of credits consumed by the conversion
    echo "Consumed credit count: " . $client->getConsumedCreditCount() . "\n";
    
    // print the unique ID of the conversion
    echo "Job id: " . $client->getJobId() . "\n";
    
    // print the total number of pages in the output document
    echo "Page count: " . $client->getPageCount() . "\n";
    
    // print the size of the output in bytes
    echo "Output size: " . $client->getOutputSize() . "\n";
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Advanced examples

Template rendering Examples