1pdftosrc(1)                 General Commands Manual                pdftosrc(1)
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NAME

6       pdftosrc - extract source file or stream from PDF file
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SYNOPSIS

9       pdftosrc PDF-file [ stream-object-number ]
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DESCRIPTION

12       If  only  PDF-file is given as argument, pdftosrc extracts the embedded
13       source file from the first found stream object with  /Type  /SourceFile
14       within  the  PDF-file and writes it to a file with the name /SourceName
15       as defined in that PDF stream object (see application example below).
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17       If both PDF-file and stream-object-number are given as  arguments,  and
18       stream-object-number  is  positive,  pdftosrc extracts and uncompresses
19       the PDF stream of the object given by its stream-object-number from the
20       PDF-file  and  writes  it to a file named PDF-file.stream-object-number
21       with the ending .pdf or .PDF stripped from the original PDF-file name.
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23       A special case is related to XRef object streams that are part  of  the
24       PDF  standard  from  PDF-1.5 onward: If stream-object-number equals -1,
25       then pdftosrc decompresses the XRef stream from the PDF file and writes
26       it  in  human-readable PDF cross-reference table format to a file named
27       PDF-file.xref (these XRef streams can not be extracted just  by  giving
28       their object number).
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30       In  any  case  an existing file with the output file name will be over‐
31       written.
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OPTIONS

34       None.
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FILES

37       Just the executable pdftosrc.
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ENVIRONMENT

40       None.
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DIAGNOSTICS

43       At success the exit code of pdftosrc is 0, else 1.
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45       All messages go to stderr.  At program invocation, pdftosrc issues  the
46       current version number of the program xpdf, on which pdftosrc is based:
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48              pdftosrc version 3.01
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50       When  pdftosrc  was successful with the output file writing, one of the
51       following messages will be issued:
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53              Source file extracted to source-file-name
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55       or
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57              Stream object extracted to PDF-file.stream-object-number
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59       or
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61              Cross-reference table extracted to PDF-file.xref
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64       When the object given by the stream-object-number does  not  contain  a
65       stream, pdftosrc issues the following error message:
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67              Not a Stream object
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69       When the PDF-file can't be opened, the error message is:
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71              Error: Couldn't open file 'PDF-file'.
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73       When  pdftosrc  encounters an invalid PDF file, the error message (sev‐
74       eral lines) is:
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76              Error: May not be a PDF file (continuing anyway)
77              (more lines)
78              Invalid PDF file
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80       There are also more error messages from pdftosrc for various  kinds  of
81       broken PDF files.
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NOTES

84       An  embedded  source  file will be written out unchanged, i. e. it will
85       not be uncompressed in this process.
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87       Only the stream of the object will be written, i. e. not the dictionary
88       of that object.
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90       Knowing  which stream-object-number to query requires information about
91       the PDF file that has to be gained elsewhere, e. g. by looking into the
92       PDF file with an editor.
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94       The  stream extraction capabilities of pdftosrc (e. g. regarding under‐
95       stood PDF versions and filter types) follow  the  capabilities  of  the
96       underlying xpdf program version.
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98       Currently  the generation number of the stream object is not supported.
99       The default value 0 (zero) is taken.
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101       The wording stream-object-number has nothing to  do  with  the  `object
102       streams'  introduced  by  the Adobe PDF Reference, 5th edition, version
103       1.6.
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EXAMPLES

106       When using pdftex, a source file can be embedded into some PDF-file  by
107       using pdftex primitives, as illustrated by the following example:
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109       \immediate\pdfobj
110           stream attr {/Type /SourceFile /SourceName (myfile.zip)}
111           file{myfile.zip}
112       \pdfcatalog{/SourceObject \the\pdflastobj\space 0 R}
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114       Then  this  zip  file  can  be  extracted  from the PDF-file by calling
115       pdftosrc PDF-file.
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BUGS

118       Not all embedded source files will be extracted, only the  first  found
119       one.
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121       Email bug reports to pdftex@tug.org.
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SEE ALSO

124       xpdf(1), pdfimages(1), pdftotext(1), pdftex(1),
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AUTHORS

127       pdftosrc  written by Han The Thanh, using xpdf functionality from Derek
128       Noonburg.
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130       Man page written by Hartmut Henkel.
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133       Copyright (c) 1996-2006 Han The Thanh, <thanh@pdftex.org>
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135       This file is part of pdfTeX.
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137       pdfTeX is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
138       the  terms  of  the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
139       Software Foundation; either version 2  of  the  License,  or  (at  your
140       option) any later version.
141
142       pdfTeX  is  distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
143       ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of  MERCHANTABILITY  or
144       FITNESS  FOR  A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
145       for more details.
146
147       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
148       with  pdfTeX;  if  not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
149       Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
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153User Manuals                   23 December 2006                    pdftosrc(1)
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