From: cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com (Craig Cockburn)
Subject: Re: ps to ascii
Organization: Digital Equipment Co. Ltd., Reading, England
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 09:21:40 GMT


In article <1992Aug18.141254.13199@mr.med.ge.com>, larry@ducktales.med.ge.com (Larry Landwehr) writes...
>Are there any programs that will extract the ascii contents of a
>postscript file? I'm trying to build a library of internet docs.
>Having everyone print out a 300 page doc just to see what it
>contains is not acceptable. Any help is welcome.

Perhaps this'll do the job (I haven't had a chance to try it out yet)

Craig

 ------- Forwarded mail received on 29-Aug-1992 at 02:44:20 -------

From:	CLOISTER@U.WASHINGTON.EDU
To:	edieng::cockburn
Subj:	Re: PS2TEXT.C

you betcha:
/*  Jason Black, Feb 22 1992

Input can come from stdin, from '-' or from a file named on the command line:
Flags: -dvi for use with dvitps PostScript files.
Usage:
                ps2txt [-dvi] [-] [input_file.ps]

ps2txt.c extracts strings from a PostScript file.  This version has been 
modified to correctly deal with the oddities of PostScript files generated by 
dvi-to-PostScript converters, so if you keep this and the original program 
around, you might want to rename one of them.

VERSION:  1.1	Fixed bug dealing with comments.
	  1.2	By popular demand:  put spaces between strings.
	  2.0   Fixed most problems of extraneous spaces and newlines
		between strings.
		added support for the ligatures ff, fi, fl, ffi, & ffl.
		re-designed the control structures, and otherwise cleaned
		up the code.
	  2.1   Put Qazi's original algorithm back in, and added -dvi flag to
	        use my more specific algorithm.  Also by popular demand.
		Re-wrote the command line parsing yet again.
		
History:  Modified Qazi's program on Feb. 18 1992 so that it could do dvitps
          files well.  Posted to alt.sources.  Got feedback requesting support
	  for regular PostScript files as well.  Retrieved Qazi's original
	  source code, and put it back in on Feb. 22 1992.  While the original
	  program concept and source code is from Iqbal Qazi, this version
	  has had enough modifications that I am claiming it as my own.  Qazi's
	  sections are well marked if you want to see them.

Comments/suggestions to cloister@u.washington.edu
*/

#include <stdio.h>
#define  Putc(x)  putchar(x);       /* makes some lines not exceed 80 chars. */
#define  TRUE     1
#define  FALSE    0

void dviparse();  /* function prototypes */
void psparse();

void main(argc, argv)
int argc; 
char *argv[];
{
  int i,                  /* everybody's favorite counter */
      known_flag,         /* used during command line parsing */
      dvi_file = FALSE;   /* true if -dvi option found on command line */
  FILE *file, *source;    /* input stream */

  source = stdin;                                    /* default input source */
  for(i=1; i<argc; i++)                           /* parse command line args */
    {
      known_flag = FALSE;
      if (strcmp(argv[i],"-dvi") == 0)    /* is it a dvitps PostScript file? */
	{ 
	  dvi_file = TRUE; 
	  known_flag = TRUE;
	}
      if (strcmp(argv[i],"-") == 0)    /* weirdo-user explicitly wants stdin */
	{ 
	  source = stdin; 
	  known_flag = TRUE; 
	}
      if (!known_flag)                        /* must be the input file name */
	{
	  if ((file=fopen(argv[i],"r")) != NULL )
	    source=file;
	  else 
	    {
	      fprintf(stderr,"ps2txt: error opening file %s\n",argv[i]);
	      fprintf(stderr,"usage:  ps2txt [-dvi] [-] [input_file.ps]\n");
	      exit(1);
	    }
	}
    }

  if (dvi_file)
    dviparse(source);  /* use my algorithm */
  else
    psparse(source);   /* use Iqbal's algorithm */
}

void dviparse(source)
FILE *source;
{
  int ch,                 /* current character */
      prev_ch = '\n',     /* previously read character */
      in_paren = FALSE,   /* inside or outside of parentheses? */
      b_flag = FALSE,     /* true if previous character was ')' */
      b_space = TRUE;     /* true if a 'b' should produce a space */
  char junk[80];          /* place to throw away comment lines */

  while ((ch = fgetc(source)) != EOF)
    {
      if (ch == '\n') ch = fgetc(source);       /* ignore newlines in input! */
      if (in_paren)              /* strings to print come inside parentheses */
	switch(ch)
	  {
	  case ')'  : in_paren--; b_flag=1; break; /* not in paren's anymore */
	  case '\n' : Putc(' '); break;              /* <cr> = ' ' in parens */
	  case '\\' : 
	    switch(ch=fgetc(source))
	      {
	      case '(' :
	      case ')' : Putc(ch); break;                         /* from \? */
	      case 't' : Putc('\t'); break;                   /* write a tab */
	      case 'n' : Putc('\n'); break;                  /* write a <cr> */
	      case '\\': Putc('"'); break;                    /* open quotes */
	      case '0' : switch(ch=fgetc(source))
		{
		case '1': switch(ch=fgetc(source))
		  {
		  case '3' : fputs("ff",stdout); break;         /* from \01? */
		  case '4' : fputs("fi",stdout); break;
		  case '5' : fputs("fl",stdout); break;
		  case '6' : fputs("ffi",stdout); break;
		  case '7' : fputs("ffl",stdout); break;
		  default: fputs("\\01",stdout); Putc(ch);   /* unknown code */
		  } break;                                       /* from \0? */
		default: fputs("\\0",stdout); Putc(ch);      /* unknown code */
		} break;
	      case '1' : case '2' : case '3' : case '4' :
	      case '5' : case '6' : case '7' : Putc('\\');   /* unknown code */
	      default: Putc(ch);
	      } break;                               /* from original switch */
	  default: Putc(ch);
	  }
      else                                                 /* not in paren's */
	switch(ch)
	  {
	  case '%'  : fgets(junk, 80, source); break;   /* toss out comments */
	  case '\n' : break;                /* skip <cr>'s outside of parens */
	  case '-'  : if (b_flag) 
	    {
	      b_flag = 0;                   /* because now prev. char != ')' */
	      b_space = 0;    /* but the number after ')' is negative, so no */
                              /*       space in case the letter code is 'b'. */
                              /*                  the default is b_space = 1 */
	    } break;
	  case '('  : in_paren++;                    /* back in parens again */
	    switch(prev_ch)     /* check prev char to see if we need a space */
	      {
	      case 'l' : case 'm' : case 'n' : case 'o' : /* not for these 8 */
	      case 'q' : case 'r' : case 's' : case 't' : 
		break;
	      case 'y' : Putc('\n'); break;                /* need a newline */
	      case 'b' : if (b_space) Putc(' '); break; /* 'b' w/ a + number */
	      case 'a' : case 'c' : case 'd' : case 'e' : 
	      case 'f' : case 'g' : case 'h' : case 'i' : 
	      case 'j' : case 'k' : case 'x' : Putc(' '); break;
	      default: break;
	      } 
	    b_space = 1;              /* reset flag to default for next time */
	    break;
	  default: b_flag = 0; break;            /* junk stuff not in parens */
	  }
      prev_ch=ch;  /* remember this char in case !in_paren and next ch = '(' */
    }
}

void psparse(source)     /* Iqbal's original uncommented program, unmodified */
FILE *source;            /* except for stripping i/o stuff off the top, etc: */
{
char *str;
char junk[80];
int ch, para=0, last=0;
while ((ch=fgetc(source)) != EOF)
  {
    switch (ch)
      {
      case '%'  : if (para==0) fgets(junk, 80, source);
      else putchar(ch);
      case '\n' : if (last==1) { puts(""); last=0; } break;
      case '('  : if (para++>0) putchar(ch); break;
      case ')'  : if (para-->1) putchar(ch); 
      else putchar(' ');
	last=1; break;
	
      case '\\' : if (para>0)
	switch(ch=fgetc(source))
	  {
	  case '(' :
	  case ')' :  putchar(ch); break;
	  case 't' :  putchar('\t'); break;
	  case 'n' :  putchar('\n'); break;
	  case '\\':  putchar('\\'); break;
	  case '0' :  case '1' : case '2' : case '3' :
	  case '4' :  case '5' : case '6' : case '7' :
	    putchar('\\');
	  default:  putchar(ch); break;
	  }
	break;
      default:	if (para>0) putchar(ch);
      }
  }
}

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% Subject: Re: PS2TEXT.C
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Craig Cockburn, Digital Equipment Co. Ltd, Reading, England.     Suas
  Internet: cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com                           leis
  UUCP:..!decwrl!edieng.enet.dec.com!cockburn                      a'
                                                                   Gha\idhlig!
  Views here are my own, and are not necessarily those of Digital
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript