Working with PDF Files using PyPDF2 and PDFrw: A Guide for Data Science Professionals

In the world of data science, working with PDF files can be a daunting task, especially when dealing with unconventional formats. Fortunately, there are several libraries available that make it easier to parse and tabulate data from PDFs. One such library is tabula-py, which is widely used by professionals in the field.

If you're using Anaconda, you can install PDFrw using the following command: `conda install PDFrw`. Alternatively, you can install PDFrw for Python using the pip command: `pip install PDFrw`.

Another popular library for working with PDFs is PyPDF2. While both libraries share some similarities, there are some key differences between them. For instance, PyPDF2 has the ability to encrypt files, whereas PDFrw can integrate with ReportLab.

If you're looking for an alternative to PyPDF2, PDFrw might be a good option. To install PyPDF2 using Anaconda, simply run: `conda install pyPDF2`. Alternatively, you can install it using pip: `pip install pyPDF2`.

In this tutorial, we'll focus on using PyPDF2 to extract metadata from PDF files.

To get started, you'll need to install the necessary libraries. If you're using Anaconda, simply run `conda install pyPDF2` and `conda install PDFrw`. Alternatively, you can use pip: `pip install pyPDF2` and `pip install PDFrw`.

Once installed, you can start working with your PDF files. Here's an example of how to extract metadata from a PDF file using PyPDF2:

```

import pdfrw

metadata = pdfrw.PdfReader('xxxx.pdf')

print(metadata)

```

This code will print the metadata associated with the PDF file.

In addition to extracting metadata, you can also write data to a new PDF file using PyPDF2. Here's an example:

```

from pdfrw import PdfWriter

input_pdf = 'input.pdf'

output_pdf = 'output.pdf'

writer = PdfWriter()

writer.write(output_pdf, input_pdf)

```

This code will create a new PDF file called `output.pdf` and write the contents of `input.pdf` to it.

In conclusion, working with PDF files using PyPDF2 and PDFrw can be a powerful tool for data science professionals. By mastering these libraries, you'll be able to extract metadata from PDFs, write data to new PDF files, and optimize your workflow.

Pdfinfo python