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pdftract/notes/bf-2gfd1.md
jedarden 6070c01869 docs(bf-2gfd1): document pdftract CLI text extraction flags 
Identify and document the correct CLI flags for running pdftract in text
extraction/OCR mode. Verification: notes/bf-2gfd1.md.

Key findings:
- --text <PATH>: Output plain text to PATH (use '-' for stdout)
- --ocr: Enable OCR for scanned pages (requires 'ocr' feature)
- --ocr-language <OCR_LANGUAGE>: OCR language codes (comma-separated)

All acceptance criteria PASS (correct CLI subcommand identified, CLI help
confirms flags exist, flag syntax documented). Closes bf-2gfd1.
2026-07-06 17:59:11 -04:00

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pdftract CLI Text Extraction Flags - Verification Note

Task

Identify pdftract CLI text extraction flags for OCR mode and text extraction operations.

Findings

Primary Text Extraction Flags

  1. --text <PATH>

    • Purpose: Output plain text to PATH (use '-' for stdout)
    • Type: Output file path flag
    • Usage: pdftract extract input.pdf --text - (for stdout)
    • Usage: pdftract extract input.pdf --text output.txt (for file)

  2. --ocr

    • Purpose: Enable OCR for scanned pages (requires 'ocr' feature)
    • Type: Boolean flag
    • Requirement: Requires 'ocr' feature to be enabled during build
    • Usage: pdftract extract input.pdf --ocr --text -

  3. --ocr-language <OCR_LANGUAGE>

    • Purpose: Specify OCR language codes (comma-separated)
    • Type: Comma-separated language codes
    • Default: 'eng' (English)
    • Examples: 'eng,fra,deu' (English, French, German)
    • Usage: pdftract extract input.pdf --ocr --ocr-language eng,fra --text -

Related Output Format Flags

  • --json <PATH>: Output JSON to PATH
  • --md <PATH>: Output Markdown to PATH
  • --ndjson: Output NDJSON to stdout (mutually exclusive with other formats)
  • --format <FORMATS>: Comma-separated output formats (json,markdown,text,ndjson)

CLI Help Verification

Ran cargo run --bin pdftract -- extract --help and confirmed all flags exist in the CLI help output.

Acceptance Criteria Status

✅ PASS: Correct CLI subcommand identified - extract subcommand handles text extraction ✅ PASS: CLI help confirms flags exist - all flags documented in help output
✅ PASS: Flag syntax is documented - each flag has clear usage syntax in help

Example Commands

# Basic text extraction to stdout
pdftract extract document.pdf --text -

# OCR-enabled text extraction
pdftract extract scanned.pdf --ocr --text -

# Multi-language OCR
pdftract extract document.pdf --ocr --ocr-language eng,fra,deu --text output.txt

# Combined format output (text + JSON)
pdftract extract document.pdf --text - --json result.json

Parent Bead Reference

This task (bf-2gfd1) supports parent bead bf-677eo for understanding pdftract CLI capabilities in text extraction mode.