LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] is there a way to grep thru *.pdf

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is there a way to grep thru *.pdf

hey guys, I have a directory with 20+ pdf files and I need to find info within 1 or more of them. the info will contain a specific string, let's say aBcDeFg. I know

[code\] grep -isnr aBcDeFg *.pdf [code]

won't work. is there something that will grep thru a bunch of pdf files?

thanks!

tabby

maybe strings can help ?

is there a way to grep thru *.pdf

Could it be ok to convert them first to text ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by atjurhs (Post 5478719)

First, the CODE tags are [ CODE] to start, and [/ CODE] to stop. :) As far as your issue goes, try pdftotext, which will convert that PDF file into text...which you can then pump through grep for a string. A simple loop:

Code:

for file in /pdf/path/*.pdf; do pdftotext "$file"; done

..will convert them all into text. Change the 'pdftotext' to be your grep:

Code:

for file in /pdf/path/*.txt; do grep aBcDeFg "$file"; done

TBOne thanks for your help! i'll give it a try...

and thanks for the code tags, I always forget them, i'll put them on a sticky...

tabby

yep, that worked, took a little while to convert them, thanks

tabby