Using pdftotext

aldago1 · 10-30-2015, 07:56 PM

I'm trying to convert a pdf file on my desktop to a text file on my desktop using pdftotext in a terminal as follows: pdftotext Test.pdf Test.txt
The result is
I/O error: Couldn't open file 'Test.pdf': No such file or directory.
I also tried: pdftotext /home/desktop/Test.pdf /home/desktop/Test.txt
My impression on reading about pdftotext was that the application opens the pdf file and I don't need to install a pdf reader.

frankbell · 10-30-2015, 08:31 PM

Have you tried the command using the full path statements for the files?

Give that a shot and let us know what happens.

aldago1 · 10-30-2015, 09:10 PM

I guess I'm too new with this but I thought that /home/desktop/file was the full path. Can you help me out here?

Sefyir · 10-30-2015, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aldago1

I guess I'm too new with this but I thought that /home/desktop/file was the full path. Can you help me out here?

Yup that's a absolute (full) path.
But the error isn't that it cannot decode it, it's that the file doesn't exist at the location you specified.
make sure it's 100% correct, using autocomplete (tab) to help. Remember, case is sensitive in linux.

michaelk · 10-30-2015, 09:27 PM

The full path would be /home/username/Desktop/test.pdf and as stated linux is case sensitive.

frankbell · 10-30-2015, 09:32 PM

Try

Code:

/home/[username]/Desktop/[file]    or
~/Desktop/[file]     <----------~/ is shorthand for /home/[username]

aldago1 · 10-30-2015, 09:39 PM

Thank you all. I just switched from Windows 10 to Linux Mint. You solved my problem. Thank you again.

frankbell · 10-30-2015, 09:57 PM

Glad we could help.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Linux and to LQ.

Linux is not hard, but it is different; it can be made to look like Windows on the surface, but, under the hood, it does not work like Linux. Expect it to be different, and you'll do just fine.

About dot com had a pretty good site about Linux; it's designed for new and intermediate users. You might also check out Going Linux.

John VV · 11-01-2015, 12:02 AM

you might want to undo the bad windows habit of saving things to the Desktop

a desktop with 500 icons is well............

you have
a Documents folder
a Downloads folder
a Pictures folder
a Music folder
a Videos folder
all by default

the Desktop is more a decorative thing

this dates back many many many years to
" good computer HYGIENE "
this was a win 3 problem
a win95 problem and a very big XP problem