extract drawings except text, but not work

[marc-chin]

hi there,

i tried use the below code to extract drawings except texts from my pdf doucment, and write to a new pdf document, but it looks it copy every things (texts and drawings), can someone tell me why? i only want extract drawings.

import fitz
doc = fitz.open("some.file")
page = doc[0]
paths = page.get_drawings() # extract existing drawings

this is a list of "paths", which can directly be drawn again using Shape

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

define some output page with the same dimensions

outpdf = fitz.open()
outpage = outpdf.new_page(width=page.rect.width, height=page.rect.height)
shape = outpage.new_shape() # make a drawing canvas for the output page

--------------------------------------

loop through the paths and draw them

--------------------------------------

for path in paths:
# ------------------------------------
# draw each entry of the 'items' list
# ------------------------------------
for item in path["items"]: # these are the draw commands
if item[0] == "l": # line
shape.draw_line(item[1], item[2])
elif item[0] == "re": # rectangle
shape.draw_rect(item[1])
elif item[0] == "qu": # quad
shape.draw_quad(item[1])
elif item[0] == "c": # curve
shape.draw_bezier(item[1], item[2], item[3], item[4])
else:
raise ValueError("unhandled drawing", item)
# ------------------------------------------------------
# all items are drawn, now apply the common properties
# to finish the path
# ------------------------------------------------------
shape.finish(
fill=path["fill"], # fill color
color=path["color"], # line color
dashes=path["dashes"], # line dashing
even_odd=path.get("even_odd", True), # control color of overlaps
closePath=path["closePath"], # whether to connect last and first point
lineJoin=path["lineJoin"], # how line joins should look like
lineCap=max(path["lineCap"]), # how line ends should look like
width=path["width"], # line width
stroke_opacity=path.get("stroke_opacity", 1), # same value for both
fill_opacity=path.get("fill_opacity", 1), # opacity parameters
)

all paths processed - commit the shape to its page

shape.commit()
outpdf.save("drawings-page-0.pdf")

Thanks you

[JorjMcKie]

Probably you have drawings, that look like text. You know you can compose letters by drawing them: a "D" can be drawn with "|" and a left-open semi-circle, an "o" is just a small circle, a "Z" some zigzagged line etc.
Some PDF creators "protect" their stuff against copy-pasting or text extraction using this type of thing ...

[marc-chin]

Thanks your reply,
is that possible that the pdf doucument use some specific fonts, and cause fitz can not note that, then cosider it as drawing, as you know some company has own some fonts which designed by themself, is that possible?

[JorjMcKie]

No, it is not.
Check it out yourself: try to extract text from that page using PyMuPDF and other tools.
List the fonts used, page.get_fonts() etc.

[marc0511]

thanks your respone,
i will try later , this libary help me a lot.