npm version NPM Downloads pdf-tables-parser is a JavaScript/TypeScript library designed to extract text tables from PDF files efficiently. It provides tools to parse PDF documents and extract structured table data with minimal effort, enabling you to handle tabular data in PDF files seamlessly.

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Features

  • Extract tables from PDF files with ease.
  • Support for multi-page PDFs.
  • Handles text with overlapping and complex layouts.
  • Configurable options to tailor table extraction.
  • Lightweight and easy to integrate.

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Installation

Install the library using npm: 
npm install pdf-tables-parser
# or
pnpm add pdf-tables-parser

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Usage

Here’s a basic example of how to use the library: 
import { PdfDocument } from 'pdf-tables-parser';
import fs from 'fs';

(async () => {
    const pdfBuffer = fs.readFileSync('example.pdf');
    const pdfDoc = new PdfDocument({
        hasTitles: true,  // Indicates if tables have titles
        threshold: 1.5,  // Adjusts the y-axis grouping sensitivity
        maxStrLength: 30, // Maximum string length for a cell
        ignoreTexts: ['Example Ignored Text'] // Texts to ignore during extraction
    });

    await pdfDoc.load(pdfBuffer);

    pdfDoc.pages.forEach((page) => {
        console.log(`Page ${page.pageNumber} Tables:`);
        page.tables.forEach((table, index) => {
            console.log(`Table ${index + 1}:`, table.data);
        });
    });
})();

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Options

The PdfDocument constructor accepts the following configuration options:
OptionTypeDefaultDescription
hasTitlesbooleantrueIndicates whether tables have title rows.
thresholdnumber1.5Sensitivity for grouping rows by y-axis.
maxStrLengthnumber30Maximum string length for table cells.
ignoreTextsstring[][]Array of texts to ignore during extraction.

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API

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PdfDocument

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Properties:

  • numPages: Number of pages in the PDF document.
  • pages: Array of parsed pages, each containing:
    • pageNumber: Page number in the PDF.
    • tables: Array of extracted tables.

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Methods:

  • load(source: string | Buffer): Promise<void>: Loads and processes the PDF file.

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PdfTable

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Properties:

  • tableNumber: Identifier for the table.
  • numrows: Number of rows in the table.
  • numcols: Number of columns in the table.
  • data: 2D array representing table data.

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Dependencies

  • pdfjs-dist: PDF rendering library.
  • tslib: Runtime library for TypeScript.

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Development

To build the project locally: 
git clone https://github.com/kanakkholwal/pdf-tables-parser.git
cd pdf-tables-parser
npm install
npm run build
Run tests: 
npm test

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you find a bug or have a feature request, please open an issue or submit a pull request on GitHub.

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License

This project is licensed under the ISC License. See the LICENSE file for details.

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Support

For issues and suggestions, please visit the GitHub issues page.