Merging PDF files with Python3

Question

I am writing a small script that needs to merge many one-page pdf files. I want the script to run with Python3 and to have as few dependencies as possible.

For the PDF merging part, I tried using PyPdf. However, the Python 3 support seems to be buggy; It can't handle inkscape generated PDF files (which I need). I have the current git version of PyPdf installed, and the following test script doesn't work:

import PyPDF2

output_pdf = PyPDF2.PdfFileWriter()

with open("testI.pdf", "rb") as input:
    input_pdf = PyPDF2.PdfFileReader(input)
    output_pdf.addPage(input_pdf.getPage(0))

with open("test.pdf", "wb") as output:
    output_pdf.write(output)

It throws the following stack trace:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "test.py", line 7, in <module>
    output.addPage(input.getPage(0))
  File "/usr/lib/python3.3/site-packages/pyPdf/pdf.py", line 420, in getPage
    self._flatten()
  File "/usr/lib/python3.3/site-packages/pyPdf/pdf.py", line 574, in _flatten
    self._flatten(page.getObject(), inherit)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.3/site-packages/pyPdf/generic.py", line 165, in getObject
    return self.pdf.getObject(self).getObject()
  File "/usr/lib/python3.3/site-packages/pyPdf/pdf.py", line 616, in getObject
    retval = readObject(self.stream, self)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.3/site-packages/pyPdf/generic.py", line 66, in readObject
    return DictionaryObject.readFromStream(stream, pdf)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.3/site-packages/pyPdf/generic.py", line 526, in readFromStream
    value = readObject(stream, pdf)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.3/site-packages/pyPdf/generic.py", line 57, in readObject
    return ArrayObject.readFromStream(stream, pdf)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.3/site-packages/pyPdf/generic.py", line 152, in readFromStream
    obj = readObject(stream, pdf)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.3/site-packages/pyPdf/generic.py", line 86, in readObject
    return NumberObject.readFromStream(stream)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.3/site-packages/pyPdf/generic.py", line 231, in readFromStream
    return FloatObject(name.decode("ascii"))
  File "/usr/lib/python3.3/site-packages/pyPdf/generic.py", line 207, in __new__
    return decimal.Decimal.__new__(cls, str(value), context)
TypeError: optional argument must be a context

The same script, however, works flawlessly with Python 2.7.

What am I doing wrong here? Is it a bug in the library? Can I work around it without touching the PyPDF library?

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:23:41Z

3

So I found the answer. The decimal.Decimal module in Python3.3 shows some weird behaviour. This is the corresponding StackOverflow question: Instantiate Decimal class I added some workaround to the PyPDF2 library and submitted a pull request.

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:23

CommunityBot

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answered Feb 22, 2013 at 10:43

janoliver

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5 Comments

PascalVKooten Over a year ago

Did it go through yet? I am suffering from the same problem.

janoliver Over a year ago

I am sorry, I hit the wrong link. This is the correct (but still pending, god knows why) pull request to fix the bug: click. It's this repo.

PascalVKooten Over a year ago

Btw, since I have PyPDF2 installed, is there a way to just copy and paste some files?

janoliver Over a year ago

This is the commit that fixes the error: click So just copy the green line and add it to the proper place in your file system. (Probably /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/PyPDF2/generic.py:213

PascalVKooten Over a year ago

Thank you so much! Even though I couldn't get the general thing to work for merging, I wrote a function that avoids the "PdfMerger".

Michael Wild · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-22 10:38:15Z

2

Just to make sure you are aware of already existing tools that do exactly this:

PDFtk
PDFjam (my favourite, requires LaTeX though)
Directly with GhostScript:
gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=finished.pdf file1.pdf file2.pdf

answered Feb 22, 2013 at 10:38

Michael Wild

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2 Comments

janoliver Over a year ago

hi, thank you. But I find that PyPDF is a nice library and would like to use it. But thank you for the suggestions.

Michael Wild Over a year ago

Just wanted to make sure you're not re-inventing the wheel when you don't actually mean to ;-)

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