rename pdf, word, etc files based on their text content

[kalos]

hello

is there any tool that will rename files like pdf, word, etc based on their content text?

ie, if a specific match of a regex exists in the content of a pdf file, then rename the file with that match

thanks!

[kalos]

there isnt really such thing?
it would be so convenient!

[Ath]

skwire is still busy I guess

[mouser]

is there any tool that will rename files like pdf, word, etc based on their content text?

i have often thought that a commandline utility that could take a pdf file, grab its title, author, and date and rename it to some combination of those, would be EXTREMELY useful.

[Ath]

I'd be going nuts trying to find that file I stored and it got renamed to something totally different

[yksyks]

Peter's Flexible Renaming Kit (PFrank) has a plugin for inserting title metadata from PDF files. Haven't tried by myself, though.

[kalos]

Peter's Flexible Renaming Kit (PFrank) has a plugin for inserting title metadata from PDF files. Haven't tried by myself, though.

-yksyks (December 10, 2011, 09:51 AM)

but pdf metadata does not contain pdf text content, only author, creation date, etc, AFAIK

[skwire]

skwire is still busy I guess

-Ath (December 10, 2011, 09:27 AM)

Based on my own experience working with PDF files in this manner, it's a huge pain in the arse.  Kalos, have you ever taken a look at Calibre to help manage your PDF collection?  I use it to convert stuff to read on my Android phone.

http://calibre-ebook.com/

[yksyks]

but pdf metadata does not contain pdf text content, only author, creation date, etc, AFAIK

-kalos (December 10, 2011, 10:09 AM)

You're right, I was thinking more about mouser's request.

[sbertolucci]

is there any tool that will rename files like pdf, word, etc based on their content text?

i have often thought that a commandline utility that could take a pdf file, grab its title, author, and date and rename it to some combination of those, would be EXTREMELY useful.

-mouser (December 10, 2011, 09:37 AM)

In the past I've written a little command line tool which sets the date of a PDF file to the one recorded in its metadata and it was a difficult task because there's not a standard. Every program which generates a PDF writes that data in it's own way

[IainB]

is there any tool that will rename files like pdf, word, etc based on their content text?
ie, if a specific match of a regex exists in the content of a pdf file, then rename the file with that match

-kalos (December 09, 2011, 02:45 AM)

Without knowing more of what lies behind your request, it may be difficult to see how to help.

I think you might be able to get this done in some shape or form by using a reference management system that can handle PDF files. From that perspective, I would suggest that Qiqqa might be worth a look. I haven't played with the latest version, so I can' t really say any more about it.
Qiqqa  could maybe even be modified to provide a feature that you have asked the author to put in, if it wasn't there already.
Also, you might find that the capabilities of something like Qiqqa enabled you to discover a new/changed requirement to this current requirement.
Adobe may have something to help here too, of course.

[rjbull]

a commandline utility that could take a pdf file, grab its title, author, and date and rename it to some combination of those, would be EXTREMELY useful.

-mouser (December 10, 2011, 09:37 AM)

@mouser: closest I know of to that would be pdfinfo from the XPDF package.

pdfinfo Help:

pdfinfo version 3.02
  Copyright 1996-2007 Glyph & Cog, LLC
  Usage: pdfinfo [options] <PDF-file>
    -f <int>       : first page to convert
    -l <int>       : last page to convert
    -box           : print the page bounding boxes
    -meta          : print the document metadata (XML)
    -enc <string>  : output text encoding name
    -opw <string>  : owner password (for encrypted files)
    -upw <string>  : user password (for encrypted files)
    -cfg <string>  : configuration file to use in place of .xpdfrc
    -v             : print copyright and version info
    -h             : print usage information
    -help          : print usage information
    --help         : print usage information
    -?             : print usage information

The command line

pdfinfo 2011_velbon_catalog.pdf > info.txt

on the Velbon (tripod) catalogue gives:

Title:          2011_catalog.indd
Creator:        Adobe InDesign CS3_J (5.0.4)
Producer:       Adobe PDF Library 8.0
CreationDate:   03/17/11 17:31:25
ModDate:        03/24/11 11:30:11
Tagged:         no
Pages:          16
Encrypted:      yes (print:yes copy:yes change:no addNotes:no)
Page size:      1274.43 x 273.584 pts
File size:      9668147 bytes
Optimized:      yes
PDF version:    1.6

I used to use this for re-naming PDFs of patents at work, with something like an AWK script to extract the relevant information and write a temporary batch file that did the work.  The trouble is you can't rely on all those fields being filled in for any particular PDF.