Metadata-Version: 2.4
Name: pdfblah
Version: 0.8.0
Summary: A precise, non-destructive Swiss army knife for PDFs: replace, redact, remove text, scrub PII, anonymize, edit metadata, watermark, stamp, number, split, merge, rotate, crop, encrypt, render, compare, and fill forms. Fonts and layout kept perfect.
Project-URL: Homepage, https://pdfblah.com
Project-URL: Source, https://github.com/KuvopLLC/pdfblah
Project-URL: Issues, https://github.com/KuvopLLC/pdfblah/issues
Author: Kuvop LLC
License-Expression: MIT
License-File: LICENSE
Keywords: acrobat-alternative,anonymize,bates,cli,edit,encrypt,find,merge,page-numbers,pdf,pdf-editor,pdf-toolkit,pii,redact,replace,rotate,scrub,split,stamp,text,watermark
Classifier: Environment :: Console
Classifier: Intended Audience :: Developers
Classifier: Intended Audience :: End Users/Desktop
Classifier: Operating System :: MacOS
Classifier: Operating System :: POSIX
Classifier: Programming Language :: Python :: 3
Classifier: Topic :: Text Processing
Classifier: Topic :: Utilities
Requires-Python: >=3.9
Requires-Dist: faker>=20
Requires-Dist: pdfplumber>=0.11
Requires-Dist: pikepdf>=8
Requires-Dist: python-stdnum>=1.19
Requires-Dist: reportlab>=4
Provides-Extra: app
Requires-Dist: pillow>=10; extra == 'app'
Requires-Dist: pypdfium2>=4; extra == 'app'
Provides-Extra: sign
Requires-Dist: pyhanko>=0.20; extra == 'sign'
Provides-Extra: test
Requires-Dist: pillow>=10; extra == 'test'
Requires-Dist: pypdfium2>=4; extra == 'test'
Requires-Dist: pytest; extra == 'test'
Description-Content-Type: text/markdown

# pdfblah

[![PyPI](https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/pdfblah)](https://pypi.org/project/pdfblah/)
[![Python](https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/pdfblah)](https://pypi.org/project/pdfblah/)
[![CI](https://github.com/KuvopLLC/pdfblah/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/KuvopLLC/pdfblah/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
[![License: MIT](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-blue.svg)](LICENSE)

A precise, non-destructive Swiss army knife for PDFs, from your terminal or a local
app in your browser. Replace, redact, and remove text, scrub or anonymize personal
data, edit metadata, watermark, stamp, number, split, merge, rotate, crop, encrypt,
render, compare, and fill forms. Fonts, spacing, and alignment stay perfect, and
nothing you didn't ask for is touched.

![pdfblah demo](https://pdfblah.com/demo.gif?v=3)

Most tools "edit" a PDF by painting a box over the old text and drawing new text
on top, which leaves the original underneath (copy and paste still reveals it) and
often adds a watermark. `pdfblah` rewrites the real text in the content stream, so:

- the old text is genuinely gone (`pdftotext`, Ctrl-F, and copy show only the new value)
- no overlay, no watermark
- your metadata (dates, Producer, XMP) is kept byte for byte, unless you choose to edit it
- alignment is auto-detected and kept, so right-aligned numbers stay flush
- fonts it cannot reproduce are refused instead of garbled

Pure Python. No system dependencies.

## Install

One line installs the CLI and the local app:

```sh
# macOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://pdfblah.com/install.sh | sh

# Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://pdfblah.com/install.ps1 | iex
```

Or straight from PyPI:

```sh
pipx install pdfblah      # recommended, isolated; or:  pip install pdfblah
uv tool install pdfblah   # or with uv
```

Pure Python (3.9+), no system dependencies. Nothing is compiled or signed.

## Run it in your browser

Prefer the web interface, running on your own machine? One command opens the same
tool as [pdfblah.com](https://pdfblah.com) in your browser, fully local, with no
upload, no watermark, and no account:

```sh
pdfblah gui
```

Drop in a PDF, add your rules, and save the edited file to your computer. Nothing
leaves your machine. Or keep going for the command line.

## Use

Replace the first match:

```sh
pdfblah in.pdf out.pdf --find "Old Name" --replace "New Name"
```

Options:

```sh
--scope all         change every match           (default: first)
--scope 3           change the 3rd match
--ci                ignore case
--word              whole word only ("cat" will not match "category")
--regex             treat --find as a regex (\1 backrefs work in --replace)
--page 2            only page 2
--replace ""        delete the text
```

Many rules from a file (`FIND | REPLACE | FLAGS` per line):

```sh
pdfblah in.pdf out.pdf --rules rules.txt
```

```
# rules.txt
Old Company Name | New Company Name | all
CONFIDENTIAL DRAFT | FINAL | ci
Jane Doe | John Smith | all word
Total | Sum | 2
delete this phrase |
```

## Commands

The same engine (locate real text, then substitute something) as four presets.

**redact** removes the matched text for real (gone from `pdftotext`, Ctrl-F and copy)
and draws a bar over each spot. `--no-bar` removes the text with no mark.

```sh
pdfblah redact in.pdf out.pdf --find "Account 12345"
pdfblah redact in.pdf out.pdf --find "\d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}" --regex   # every SSN
```

**scrub** finds structured personal data (email, IBAN, credit card, SSN, phone) and
removes it, or masks it. Cards and IBANs are checksum-validated, so ordinary numbers
are left alone.

```sh
pdfblah scrub in.pdf out.pdf
pdfblah scrub in.pdf out.pdf --types email,credit_card --mask "[redacted]"
```

**anonymize** replaces detected data with realistic, shape-preserving fakes so a
document is safe to share. The same value maps to the same fake; `--seed` makes it
reproducible. Names are swapped only when you list them.

```sh
pdfblah anonymize in.pdf out.pdf --names "Alison Cohen,Matthew Reider" --seed 7
```

**merge** fills a template once per data row: every `{{column}}` placeholder becomes
that row's value, one output PDF per row.

```sh
pdfblah merge template.pdf people.csv --out ./letters --name-col name
```

**meta** reports everything metadata-ish (DocInfo, XMP, pages, version, encryption),
which often reveals more than you expect (author, software, timestamps). With an
output file it can strip or set fields. Every other command keeps metadata intact.

```sh
pdfblah meta in.pdf                                  # report what's in there
pdfblah meta in.pdf clean.pdf --strip                # remove all metadata
pdfblah meta in.pdf out.pdf --set author="Jane Roe"  # set a field
```

Metadata edits can also ride along with any other command, or live in a rules file:

```sh
pdfblah redact in.pdf out.pdf --find "Acme Corp" --strip-metadata
pdfblah in.pdf out.pdf --find OLD --replace NEW --set-metadata author="Ops"
```

```
# rules.txt
@strip-metadata
@set-metadata author = Redacted Dept
CONFIDENTIAL | PUBLIC | all
```

## Toolkit

Beyond editing text, pdfblah does the page-level and document-level jobs you usually
reach for several tools to do. All keep your metadata intact.

**Pages**

```sh
pdfblah combine a.pdf b.pdf c.pdf -o all.pdf     # concatenate
pdfblah split in.pdf -o parts/ --every 1         # or --ranges 1-3 4-6
pdfblah pages in.pdf out.pdf --keep 3,1,2        # keep / reorder (or --drop 4)
pdfblah rotate in.pdf out.pdf --degrees 90 --pages 1-2
pdfblah crop in.pdf out.pdf --margins 20,20,20,20
```

**Marks** (honest overlays, drawn on top; your text underneath is untouched)

```sh
pdfblah watermark in.pdf out.pdf --text DRAFT --tile --opacity 0.2 --rotation 45
pdfblah stamp in.pdf out.pdf --image logo.png --position top-right
pdfblah number in.pdf out.pdf --format "Page {n} of {total}"
pdfblah bates in.pdf out.pdf --prefix ACME --digits 6 --start 1
```

**Security & size**

```sh
pdfblah protect in.pdf out.pdf --password secret --no-copy   # AES-256 + permissions
pdfblah unlock in.pdf out.pdf --password secret
pdfblah optimize in.pdf out.pdf --downsample-dpi 150         # shrink the file
pdfblah attachments in.pdf -o out.pdf --add report.csv       # list/add/extract files
```

**Render, extract, inspect**

```sh
pdfblah render in.pdf -o images/ --dpi 150 --format png
pdfblah extract in.pdf --text                # or --images -o out/
pdfblah form in.pdf --list                   # or --fill data.json out.pdf [--flatten]
pdfblah compare a.pdf b.pdf --visual --out-dir diff/
pdfblah signatures in.pdf --validate         # read/validate (needs pdfblah[sign])
```

## Library

```python
from pdfblah import process, redact, scrub, anonymize, merge, apply_rules

process("in.pdf", "out.pdf", "999.00", "42.00", scope="all", ci=True)
process("in.pdf", "out.pdf", r"\d{4}-\d{4}", "REDACTED", scope="all", regex=True)
redact("in.pdf", "out.pdf", "Account 12345")
scrub("in.pdf", "out.pdf", types=["email", "credit_card"])
anonymize("in.pdf", "out.pdf", names=["Alison Cohen"], seed=7)
merge("template.pdf", [{"name": "Alice"}], "./out")
```

Each call returns a report dict (`ok`, `count`, `refused`, `reason`, ...).

## What it does not do

Scanned PDFs (image only, no text layer) cannot be edited. Fonts that are not
embedded and not standard, or use a custom encoding, are refused rather than
rendered wrong. This is by design: a wrong-looking edit is worse than a clear "no".

## Guides

Step by step, with pictures, at [pdfblah.com/guides](https://pdfblah.com/guides/):

- [Find and replace text in a PDF](https://pdfblah.com/guides/find-and-replace-text-in-a-pdf)
- [Redact a PDF (really remove the text)](https://pdfblah.com/guides/redact-a-pdf)
- [Remove personal data (PII) from a PDF](https://pdfblah.com/guides/remove-personal-data-from-a-pdf)
- [View, strip, or edit PDF metadata](https://pdfblah.com/guides/edit-pdf-metadata)
- [Bulk find and replace in a PDF](https://pdfblah.com/guides/bulk-find-and-replace-in-a-pdf)
- [Run pdfblah on your own machine](https://pdfblah.com/guides/run-pdfblah-on-your-own-machine)

## Two ways to use it

- **On your machine** (free, this package): the command line, or the local app in
  your browser with `pdfblah gui`. Nothing is uploaded.
- **Online** at **[pdfblah.com](https://pdfblah.com)**: the same edit in the browser
  with nothing to install, handy for a quick one-off or a non-technical colleague.
  Upload, preview free, download.

## License

MIT, (c) 2026 Kuvop LLC.
