python - Find text position in PDF file

Question

I have a PDF file and I am trying to find a specific text in the PDF and highlight it using Python. I found PyPDF2, which can highlight part of a PDF when we give the coordinates of the wanted highlight position in the file.

I am trying to find a tool which can give me the position of a given text in the PDF.

Answer 1

PyMuPDF can find text by coordinates. You can use this in conjunction with the PyPDF2 highlighting method to accomplish what you're describing. Or you can just use PyMuPDF to highlight the text.

Here is sample code for finding text and highlighting with PyMuPDF:

import fitz

### READ IN PDF
doc = fitz.open("input.pdf")

for page in doc:
    ### SEARCH
    text = "Sample text"
    text_instances = page.searchFor(text)

    ### HIGHLIGHT
    for inst in text_instances:
        highlight = page.addHighlightAnnot(inst)
        highlight.update()


### OUTPUT
doc.save("output.pdf", garbage=4, deflate=True, clean=True)