Is There a Dedicated PHP Library for Parsing PDF Tables?

Is There a PHP Library for Parsing PDFs?

Question:

I'm seeking a PDF parser for PHP. I need to extract a table from a PDF and convert it to an array. Are there any suggestions?

Answer:

Creating a custom PDF parser is a daunting task due to the complexity of the PDF specification and the variations in how different PDF generators operate. However, there are some key pieces of advice to consider if you decide to write one yourself:

• Understand Adobe's font remapping: Adobe often remaps fonts, so characters may not always correspond to their expected values. You'll need to identify the mapping object to decipher the character codes.
• Use abstract classes: Create classes for different object types and native types to facilitate parsing. This will allow you to customize the parsing process for specific types.
• Enforce specific PDF versions: Specify the PDF versions you support and enforce them. Avoid trying to make the parser compatible with all versions, as it can become overly complicated.
• Handle compressed streams carefully: Compressed streams may have inaccurate length arguments. Deflate them and force the length for reliability.
• Use mb_strlen for string length: Use mb_strlen($string, '8bit') to accurately determine string lengths, handling different character sets and potential invalid characters.

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