pdfer 0.1.0

Lightweight and reliable utility for working with PDF documents
pdfer-0.1.0 is not a library.

pdfer

Merge and split PDF files with predictable behavior, strong safety guarantees, and a clean command-line interface.

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Download • Quick Start • Usage

Table of Contents

Overview

pdfer is a small, focused, and reliable PDF utility written in Rust.

It provides two core capabilities:

  • Merging PDFs into a single document
  • Splitting PDFs into per-page files or selected ranges

The tool prioritizes correctness, safety, and predictable behavior over feature bloat.

pdfer is built for flexibility:

  • Precise command-line control
  • Automation & scripting
  • Developer workflows
  • User-friendly desktop usage

Design Goals

pdfer intentionally keeps its scope narrow and dependable:

  • Deterministic behavior
  • No silent data corruption
  • Strict input validation
  • Safe output handling
  • Cross-platform portability
  • Minimal dependencies

The tool refuses to proceed when encountering ambiguous or unsafe states (e.g., invalid page ranges, non-PDF files, overwrite conflicts).

Quick Start

Prebuilt Binaries

Download platform-specific binaries from:

https://github.com/syedinsaf/pdfer/releases

Basic Usage

Show PDF Info

pdfer file.pdf

pdfer *.pdf

pdfer -r ./documents

Displays:

  • page count
  • PDF version
  • metadata (title / author / subject if present)

Merge PDFs

pdfer merge a.pdf b.pdf -o merged.pdf

pdfer m *.pdf -o combined.pdf

Behavior:

  • preserves page order
  • validates inputs
  • refuses empty PDFs

Split PDFs

Split all pages:

pdfer split document.pdf

Split selected pages:

pdfer split document.pdf 1,3,5-10

Custom output folder:

pdfer split document.pdf 1-5 -o output_pages

Page Range Syntax

pdfer supports flexible page selection:

Syntax Meaning
5 Single page
1,3,7 Specific pages
2-6 Inclusive range
10- From page 10 to end

Rules:

  • Page numbers start at 1
  • Ranges are validated strictly
  • Invalid specifications fail early

Examples:

pdfer split file.pdf 1-3

pdfer split file.pdf 4,7,9-12

pdfer split file.pdf 5-

Safety Features

pdfer is designed to avoid destructive mistakes:

  • ✔ Overwrite protection
  • ✔ Interactive conflict resolution
  • ✔ Strict file type validation
  • ✔ Refusal on invalid ranges
  • ✔ No partial writes on failure

When an output file or directory already exists, pdfer will prompt for:

  • overwrite
  • rename
  • abort

Building from Source

Requirements

  • Rust (stable toolchain)
  • Git

Build

git clone https://github.com/syedinsaf/pdfer.git

cd pdfer

cargo build --release

Binary output:

  • Linux / macOS → target/release/pdfer
  • Windows → target/release/pdfer.exe

Contributing

Bug reports and improvements are welcome.

Useful information for issues:

  • OS and version
  • Rust version
  • Example PDFs (if possible)
  • Exact command used
  • Full error output

Pull requests should preserve:

  • safety guarantees
  • deterministic behavior
  • portability

License

pdfer is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

See LICENSE for details.

Disclaimer

Use at your own risk.

Always verify important documents after processing.

The author is not responsible for:

  • data loss
  • corrupted documents
  • workflow disruptions