@cedrugs/pdf-parse

Pure JavaScript, cross-platform PDF text & metadata extraction.
A maintained fork of pdf-parse with bundled TypeScript types, ESM-friendly default export, and Node 18+ support.

Why this fork?

• Types included — ships index.d.ts (no need for @types/pdf-parse).
• ESM & CJS friendly — default import works out of the box.
• Same API as upstream for drop-in replacement.
• Node 18+ minimum for modern runtimes.

If you want to keep your existing import pdf from "pdf-parse" usage, see the Install (alias) section.

Installation

Option A — Use this scoped package directly

npm i @cedrugs/pdf-parse
# or
pnpm add @cedrugs/pdf-parse
# or
yarn add @cedrugs/pdf-parse

Option B — Keep the old import name via npm alias

npm i pdf-parse@npm:@cedrugs/pdf-parse

Now import pdf from "pdf-parse" continues to work, but resolves to this fork.

Basic Usage — Local Files

CommonJS

const fs = require('fs');
const pdf = require('@cedrugs/pdf-parse'); // or 'pdf-parse' if using the alias

const dataBuffer = fs.readFileSync('path/to/file.pdf');

pdf(dataBuffer).then((data) => {
    // number of pages
    console.log(data.numpages);
    // number of rendered pages
    console.log(data.numrender);
    // PDF info
    console.log(data.info);
    // PDF metadata
    console.log(data.metadata);
    // PDF.js version
    // see https://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/getting_started/
    console.log(data.version);
    // PDF text
    console.log(data.text);
});

ESM / TypeScript

import pdf from '@cedrugs/pdf-parse'; // default export supported
import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';

const buf = readFileSync('path/to/file.pdf');
const data = await pdf(buf);

console.log(data.text);

Basic Usage — HTTP

You can use packages like crawler-request which integrate with pdf-parse.

Exception Handling

const fs = require('fs');
const pdf = require('@cedrugs/pdf-parse');

const buf = fs.readFileSync('path/to/file.pdf');

pdf(buf)
    .then((data) => {
        // use data
    })
    .catch((err) => {
        // handle exceptions
        console.error(err);
    });

TypeScript

This fork bundles its own .d.ts. No external @types/pdf-parse needed.

import pdf from '@cedrugs/pdf-parse';

const res = await pdf(Buffer.from('...'));
res.text;       // string
res.numpages;   // number
res.version;    // "default" | "v1.9.426" | "v1.10.100" | "v1.10.88" | "v2.0.550"

Options

const DEFAULT_OPTIONS = {
    // internal page parser callback
    // set this if you need a custom output format instead of raw text
    pagerender: render_page,

    // max page number to parse (<= 0 means “all pages”)
    max: 0,

    // see https://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/getting_started/
    version: 'v1.10.100'
};

pagerender (callback)

Customize how each page is rendered/extracted if you need structured output beyond plain text.

max (number)

Maximum number of pages to parse. Use 0 or a negative value to parse all pages.

version (string, pdf.js version)

• 'default'
• 'v1.9.426'
• 'v1.10.100'
• 'v1.10.88'
• 'v2.0.550'

Default version is v1.10.100. See the pdf.js getting started guide.

Extend — Custom pagerender

function render_page(pageData) {
    // see https://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/
    const render_options = {
        // replace all whitespace with standard spaces (0x20)
        normalizeWhitespace: false,
        // do not attempt to combine cedrugse-line TextItems
        disableCombineTextItems: false
    };

    return pageData.getTextContent(render_options).then((textContent) => {
        let lastY;
        let text = '';
        for (const item of textContent.items) {
            if (lastY === item.transform[5] || !lastY) {
                text += item.str;
            } else {
                text += '\n' + item.str;
            }
            lastY = item.transform[5];
        }
        return text;
    });
}

const options = { pagerender: render_page };
const dataBuffer = require('fs').readFileSync('path/to/file.pdf');

require('@cedrugs/pdf-parse')(dataBuffer, options).then((data) => {
    // use custom-formatted output
});

Similar Packages

• pdf2json
• j-pdfjson
• pdf-parser
• pdfreader
• pdf-extract

(Different trade-offs: dependencies, maintenance, platform support, and output formats.)

Tests

• npm test (runs mocha)
• See the test directory in upstream for usage ideas; contributions adding tests here are welcome.

Support / Issues

• Issues: open on GitHub → https://github.com/Cedrugs/pdf-parse/issues
• Discussions/PRs: welcome!

License

MIT

Acknowledgements

This project builds on the excellent work of the original pdf-parse and the PDF.js team.