#### Specific Objective Learn how to read and extract text from PDF files using Python. While Python's standard library doesn't support PDF reading directly, the `PyPDF2` library is a powerful tool for this task. #### Prerequisites - Python installed on your computer. - Basic Python programming knowledge. - `PyPDF2` library installed. If it's not installed, you can do so by running `pip install PyPDF2` in your terminal or command prompt. #### Steps to Extract Text from PDFs 1. **Install PyPDF2:** If you haven't installed `PyPDF2`, open your terminal and run: ``` pip install PyPDF2 ``` 2. **Import PyPDF2:** In your Python script, import the `PyPDF2` library to access its features. 3. **Open the PDF File:** Use the `open` function in binary mode to read the PDF file. 4. **Create a PDF Reader Object:** Utilize `PyPDF2.PdfFileReader()` to parse the PDF content. 5. **Iterate Through the Pages:** Loop over the pages in the PDF and extract text from each page. #### Example Code Here’s a simple script to extract text from a PDF: ```python import PyPDF2 # Path to your PDF file pdf_path = 'example.pdf' # Open the PDF file in binary mode with open(pdf_path, 'rb') as file: # Create a PDF reader object reader = PyPDF2.PdfFileReader(file) # Get the number of pages num_pages = reader.numPages # Loop through all the pages for page in range(num_pages): # Get a specific page pdf_page = reader.getPage(page) # Extract text from the page text = pdf_page.extractText() # Print the page's text print(f"Page {page + 1} Text:\n{text}\n") print("-" * 20) ``` #### Common Use Patterns - **Data Extraction:** Extract text for data analysis, indexing, or archiving. - **Search:** Search through large numbers of PDF documents to find specific information. - **Content Migration:** Migrate content from PDFs to other formats or platforms. #### Cheat Sheet - `PyPDF2.PdfFileReader(file)`: Creates a PDF reader object. - `reader.numPages`: Returns the number of pages in the PDF. - `reader.getPage(page)`: Retrieves a page object from the PDF. - `page.extractText()`: Extracts text from a page object. #### Exercise 1. Obtain a PDF file you want to extract text from and place it in a known directory. 2. Update the `pdf_path` variable in the script to the path of your PDF file. 3. Run the script to see the extracted text printed in the terminal. #### Resources - PyPDF2 Documentation: [PyPDF2 Documentation](https://pypdf2.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) Through this lesson, you have learned how to automate the extraction of text from PDF files using Python, a skill that is highly beneficial for various applications, including data processing, content management, and information retrieval.