A PDF conversion and form utility based on pdftk.
php-pdftk brings the full power of pdftk
to PHP - and more.
- Fill forms, either from a XFDF/FDF file or from a data array (UTF-8 safe for unflattened forms, requires pdftk 2.x !)
- Create XFDF or FDF files from PHP arrays (UTF-8 safe!)
- Create FDF files from filled PDF forms
- Combine pages from several PDF files into a new PDF file
- Split a PDF into one file per page
- Add background or overlay PDFs
- Read out meta data about PDF and form fields
- Set passwords and permissions
- The
pdftk
command must be installed and working on your system - This library is written for pdftk 2.x versions. You should be able to use it with pdftk 1.x but not all methods will work there. For details consult the man page of pdftk on your system.
You should use use composer to install this library.
composer require mikehaertl/php-pdftk
Please consult the pdftk
man page for each operation to find out how each operation works
in detail and which options are available.
For all operations you can either save the PDF locally through saveAs($name)
or send it to the
browser with send()
. If you pass a filename to send($name)
the client browser will open a download
dialogue whereas without a filename it will usually display the PDF inline.
IMPORTANT: You can always only perform one of the following operations on a single PDF instance. Below you can find a workaround if you need multiple operations.
Fill a PDF form with data from a PHP array or an XFDF/FDF file.
use mikehaertl\pdftk\Pdf;
// Fill form with data array
$pdf = new Pdf('/full/path/to/form.pdf');
$pdf->fillForm([
'name'=>'ÄÜÖ äüö мирано čárka',
'nested.name' => 'valX',
])
->needAppearances()
->saveAs('filled.pdf');
// Fill form from FDF
$pdf = new Pdf('form.pdf');
$pdf->fillForm('data.xfdf')
->saveAs('filled.pdf');
// Check for errors
if (!$pdf->saveAs('my.pdf')) {
$error = $pdf->getError();
}
Note: When filling in UTF-8 data, you should always add the needAppearances()
option.
This will make sure, that the PDF reader takes care of using the right fonts for rendering,
something that pdftk can't do for you. Also note that flatten()
doesn't really work well
if you have special characters in your data.
This is a bonus feature that is not available from pdftk
.
use mikehaertl\pdftk\XfdfFile;
use mikehaertl\pdftk\FdfFile;
$xfdf = new XfdfFile(['name' => 'Jürgen мирано']);
$xfdf->saveAs('/path/to/data.xfdf');
$fdf = new FdfFile(['name' => 'Jürgen мирано']);
$fdf->saveAs('/path/to/data.fdf');
Assemble a PDF from pages from one or more PDF files.
use mikehaertl\pdftk\Pdf;
// Extract pages 1-5 and 7,4,9 into a new file
$pdf = new Pdf('/path/to/my.pdf');
$pdf->cat(1, 5)
->cat([7, 4, 9])
->saveAs('/path/to/new.pdf');
// Combine pages from several files, demonstrating several ways how to add files
$pdf = new Pdf([
'A' => '/path/file1.pdf', // A is alias for file1.pdf
'B' => ['/path/file2.pdf','pass**word'], // B is alias for file2.pdf
]);
$pdf->addFile('/path/file3.pdf','C','**secret**pw'); // C is alias file3.pdf
$pdf->cat(1, 5, 'A') // pages 1-5 from A
->cat(3, null, 'B') // page 3 from B
->cat(7, 'end', 'B', null, 'east') // pages 7-end from B, rotated East
->cat('end',3,'A','even') // even pages 3-end in reverse order from A
->cat([2,3,7], 'C') // pages 2,3 and 7 from C
->saveAs('/path/new.pdf');
Like cat()
but create "streams" and fill the new PDF with one page from each
stream at a time.
use mikehaertl\pdftk\Pdf;
$pdf = new Pdf([
'A' => '/path/file1.pdf', // A is alias for file1.pdf
'B' => '/path/file2.pdf', // B is alias for file2.pdf
]);
// new.pdf will have pages A1, B3, A2, B4, A3, B5, ...
$pdf->shuffle(1, 5, 'A') // pages 1-5 from A
->shuffle(3, 8, 'B') // pages 3-8 from B
->saveAs('/path/new.pdf');
Split a PDF file into one file per page.
use mikehaertl\pdftk\Pdf;
$pdf = new Pdf('/path/my.pdf');
$pdf->burst('/path/page_%d.pdf'); // Supply a printf() pattern
Add another PDF file as background.
use mikehaertl\pdftk\Pdf;
// Set background from another PDF (first page repeated)
$pdf = new Pdf('/path/my.pdf');
$pdf->background('/path/back.pdf')
->saveAs('/path/watermarked.pdf');
// Set background from another PDF (one page each)
$pdf = new Pdf('/path/my.pdf');
$pdf->multiBackground('/path/back_pages.pdf')
->saveAs('/path/watermarked.pdf');
Add another PDF file as overlay.
use mikehaertl\pdftk\Pdf;
// Stamp with another PDF (first page repeated)
$pdf = new Pdf('/path/my.pdf');
$pdf->stamp('/path/overlay.pdf')
->saveAs('/path/stamped.pdf');
// Stamp with another PDF (one page each)
$pdf = new Pdf('/path/my.pdf');
$pdf->multiStamp('/path/overlay_pages.pdf')
->saveAs('/path/stamped.pdf');
Create a FDF file from a given filled PDF form.
use mikehaertl\pdftk\Pdf;
// Create FDF from PDF
$pdf = new Pdf('/path/form.pdf');
$pdf->generateFdfFile('/path/data.fdf');
Read out metadata or form field information from a PDF file.
use mikehaertl\pdftk\Pdf;
// Get data
$pdf = new Pdf('/path/my.pdf');
$data = $pdf->getData();
// Get form data fields
$pdf = new Pdf('/path/my.pdf');
$data = $pdf->getDataFields();
// Get data as string
echo $data;
$txt = (string) $data;
$txt = $data->__toString();
// Get data as array
$arr = (array) $data;
$arr = $data->__toArray();
$field1 = $data[0]['Field1'];
As stated above, you can only perform one of the preceeding operations on a single PDF instance.
If you need more than one operation you can feed one Pdf
instance into another:
use mikehaertl\pdftk\Pdf;
// Extract pages 1-5 and 7,4,9 into a new file
$pdf = new Pdf('/path/my.pdf');
$pdf->cat(1, 5)
->cat([7, 4, 9]);
// We now use the above PDF as source file for a new PDF
$pdf2 = new Pdf($pdf);
$pdf2->fillForm(['name' => 'ÄÜÖ äüö мирано čárka'])
->needAppearances()
->saveAs('/path/filled.pdf');
You can combine the above operations with one or more of the following options.
use mikehaertl\pdftk\Pdf;
$pdf = new Pdf('/path/my.pdf');
$pdf->allow('AllFeatures') // Change permissions
->flatten() // Merge form data into document (doesn't work well with UTF-8!)
->compress($value) // Compress/Uncompress
->keepId('first') // Keep first/last Id of combined files
->dropXfa() // Drop newer XFA form from PDF
->dropXmp() // Drop newer XMP data from PDF
->needAppearances() // Make clients create appearance for form fields
->setPassword($pw) // Set owner password
->setUserPassword($pw) // Set user password
->passwordEncryption(128) // Set password encryption strength
->saveAs('new.pdf');
// Example: Fill PDF form and merge form data into PDF
// Fill form with data array
$pdf = new Pdf('/path/form.pdf');
$pdf->fillForm(['name' => 'My Name'])
->flatten()
->saveAs('/path/filled.pdf');
// Example: Remove password from a PDF
$pdf = new Pdf;
$pdf->addPage('/path/my.pdf', null, 'some**password')
->saveAs('/path/new.pdf');
The class uses php-shellcommand to execute
pdftk
. You can pass $options
for its Command
class as second argument to the constructor:
use mikehaertl\pdftk\Pdf;
$pdf = new Pdf('/path/my.pdf', [
'command' => '/some/other/path/to/pdftk',
// or on most Windows systems:
// 'command' => 'C:\Program Files (x86)\PDFtk\bin\pdftk.exe',
'useExec' => true, // May help on Windows systems if execution fails
]);
Internally a temporary file is created via php-tmpfile. You can also access that file directly, e.g. if you neither want to send or save the file but only need the binary PDF content:
use mikehaertl\pdftk\Pdf;
$pdf = new Pdf('/path/my.pdf');
$pdf->fillForm(['name' => 'My Name'])
->execute();
$content = file_get_contents( (string) $pdf->getTmpFile() );
Please consult the source files for a full documentation of each method.