PDF Editor

Overview

Provides Python scripts for common PDF page manipulation operations. All scripts use the pypdf library for reliable, deterministic PDF editing.

Quick Start

Install the required dependency:

pip install pypdf

Each script can be run directly from the command line. All scripts follow the pattern:

python scripts/<script_name>.py <input_args> <output_file>

Delete Pages

Remove specific pages from a PDF.

Script: scripts/delete_pages.py

Usage:

python scripts/delete_pages.py <input_pdf> <output_pdf> <pages>

Examples:

# Delete page 1
python scripts/delete_pages.py input.pdf output.pdf "1"

# Delete pages 1, 3, and 5
python scripts/delete_pages.py input.pdf output.pdf "1,3,5"

# Delete pages 2-4
python scripts/delete_pages.py input.pdf output.pdf "2-4"

# Delete pages 1, 3-5, and 7
python scripts/delete_pages.py input.pdf output.pdf "1,3-5,7"

Page specification: Comma-separated, 1-indexed. Supports ranges with hyphen (e.g., "2-4").

Reorder Pages

Change the order of pages in a PDF.

Script: scripts/reorder_pages.py

Usage:

python scripts/reorder_pages.py <input_pdf> <output_pdf> <page_order>

Examples:

# Swap first two pages
python scripts/reorder_pages.py input.pdf output.pdf "2,1,3,4,5"

# Reverse first three pages
python scripts/reorder_pages.py input.pdf output.pdf "3,2,1,4,5"

Page specification: Comma-separated list in desired order, 1-indexed. Must specify all pages to include in output.

Insert Pages

Insert pages from one PDF into another.

Script: scripts/insert_pages.py

Usage:

python scripts/insert_pages.py <base_pdf> <source_pdf> <output_pdf> <position> <pages>

Arguments:

• position: Where to insert (1-indexed, 0 = prepend)
• pages: Pages from source PDF to insert (supports "all" keyword)

Examples:

# Insert page 5 from source.pdf after page 2 of base.pdf
python scripts/insert_pages.py base.pdf source.pdf output.pdf 2 "5"

# Insert pages 1, 3-5 from source.pdf at the beginning
python scripts/insert_pages.py base.pdf source.pdf output.pdf 0 "1,3-5"

# Insert all pages from source.pdf after page 3
python scripts/insert_pages.py base.pdf source.pdf output.pdf 3 "all"

Rotate Pages

Rotate specific pages by 90, 180, or 270 degrees.

Script: scripts/rotate_pages.py

Usage:

python scripts/rotate_pages.py <input_pdf> <output_pdf> <pages> <angle>

Arguments:

• angle: 90, 180, 270, or -90

Examples:

# Rotate page 1 by 90 degrees clockwise
python scripts/rotate_pages.py input.pdf output.pdf "1" 90

# Rotate pages 1, 3-5 by 180 degrees
python scripts/rotate_pages.py input.pdf output.pdf "1,3-5" 180

# Rotate all pages by 90 degrees
python scripts/rotate_pages.py input.pdf output.pdf "all" 90

Page specification: Supports "all" keyword to rotate all pages.

Split PDF

Split one PDF into multiple files.

Script: scripts/split_pdf.py

Usage:

python scripts/split_pdf.py <input_pdf> <output_dir> <split_spec>

Split specifications:

• "single": Each page becomes a separate file
• "1-3,4-6,7-9": Split at specified page ranges
• "3": Split every N pages

Examples:

# Split into individual pages
python scripts/split_pdf.py input.pdf ./output single

# Split into specific ranges
python scripts/split_pdf.py input.pdf ./output "1-3,4-6,7-9"

# Split every 3 pages
python scripts/split_pdf.py input.pdf ./output 3

Output: Files named {original_name}_page_{N}.pdf or {original_name}_part_{N}.pdf

Merge PDFs

Combine multiple PDF files into one.

Script: scripts/merge_pdfs.py

Usage:

python scripts/merge_pdfs.py <output_pdf> <input_pdf1> <input_pdf2> [<input_pdf3> ...]

Example:

# Merge three PDFs in order
python scripts/merge_pdfs.py output.pdf file1.pdf file2.pdf file3.pdf

Note: PDFs are merged in the order they are specified on the command line.

Dependencies

All scripts require the pypdf library:

pip install pypdf

If using an externally-managed Python environment, create a virtual environment first:

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install pypdf