qpdf version 6.0.0 Copyright (c) 2005-2015 Jay Berkenbilt This software may be distributed under the terms of version 2 of the Artistic License which may be found in the source distribution. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

Usage: qpdf [ options ] { infilename | --empty } [ outfilename ] An option summary appears below. Please see the documentation for details. Note that when contradictory options are provided, whichever options are provided last take precedence. Basic Options ------------- --password=password specify a password for accessing encrypted files --linearize generated a linearized (web optimized) file --copy-encryption=file copy encryption parameters from specified file --encryption-file-password=password password used to open the file from which encryption parameters are being copied --encrypt options -- generate an encrypted file --decrypt remove any encryption on the file --pages options -- select specific pages from one or more files If none of --copy-encryption, --encrypt or --decrypt are given, qpdf will preserve any encryption data associated with a file. Note that when copying encryption parameters from another file, all parameters will be copied, including both user and owner passwords, even if the user password is used to open the other file. This works even if the owner password is not known. Encryption Options ------------------ --encrypt user-password owner-password key-length flags -- Note that -- terminates parsing of encryption flags. Either or both of the user password and the owner password may be empty strings. key-length may be 40, 128, or 256 Additional flags are dependent upon key length. If 40: --print=[yn] allow printing --modify=[yn] allow document modification --extract=[yn] allow text/graphic extraction --annotate=[yn] allow comments and form fill-in and signing If 128: --accessibility=[yn] allow accessibility to visually impaired --extract=[yn] allow other text/graphic extraction --print=print-opt control printing access --modify=modify-opt control modify access --cleartext-metadata prevents encryption of metadata --use-aes=[yn] indicates whether to use AES encryption --force-V4 forces use of V=4 encryption handler If 256, options are the same as 128 with these exceptions: --force-V4 this option is not available with 256-bit keys --use-aes this option is always on with 256-bit keys --force-R5 forces use of deprecated R=5 encryption print-opt may be: full allow full printing low allow only low-resolution printing none disallow printing modify-opt may be: all allow full document modification annotate allow comment authoring and form operations form allow form field fill-in and signing assembly allow document assembly only none allow no modifications The default for each permission option is to be fully permissive. Specifying cleartext-metadata forces the PDF version to at least 1.5. Specifying use of AES forces the PDF version to at least 1.6. These options are both off by default. The --force-V4 flag forces the V=4 encryption handler introduced in PDF 1.5 to be used even if not otherwise needed. This option is primarily useful for testing qpdf and has no other practical use. Page Selection Options ---------------------- These options allow pages to be selected from one or more PDF files. Whatever file is given as the primary input file is used as the starting point, but its pages are replaced with pages as specified. --pages file [ --password=password ] [ page-range ] ... -- For each file that pages should be taken from, specify the file, a password needed to open the file (if any), and a page range. The password needs to be given only once per file. If any of the input files are the same as the primary input file or the file used to copy encryption parameters (if specified), you do not need to repeat the password here. The same file can be repeated multiple times. All non-page data (info, outlines, page numbers, etc. are taken from the primary input file. To discard this, use --empty as the primary input. The page range is a set of numbers separated by commas, ranges of numbers separated dashes, or combinations of those. The character "z" represents the last page. Pages can appear in any order. Ranges can appear with a high number followed by a low number, which causes the pages to appear in reverse. Repeating a number will cause an error, but the manual discusses a workaround should you really want to include the same page twice. If the page range is omitted, the range of 1-z is assumed. qpdf decides that the page range is omitted if the range argument is either -- or a valid file name and not a valid range. See the manual for examples and a discussion of additional subtleties. Advanced Transformation Options ------------------------------- These transformation options control fine points of how qpdf creates the output file. Mostly these are of use only to people who are very familiar with the PDF file format or who are PDF developers. --stream-data=option controls transformation of stream data (below) --normalize-content=[yn] enables or disables normalization of content streams --suppress-recovery prevents qpdf from attempting to recover damaged files --object-streams=mode controls handing of object streams --ignore-xref-streams tells qpdf to ignore any cross-reference streams --qdf turns on "QDF mode" (below) --min-version=version sets the minimum PDF version of the output file --force-version=version forces this to be the PDF version of the output file Version numbers may be expressed as major.minor.extension-level, so 1.7.3 means PDF version 1.7 at extension level 3. Values for stream data options: compress recompress stream data when possible (default) preserve leave all stream data as is uncompress uncompress stream data when possible Values for object stream mode: preserve preserve original object streams (default) disable don't write any object streams generate use object streams wherever possible In qdf mode, by default, content normalization is turned on, and the stream data mode is set to uncompress. Setting the minimum PDF version of the output file may raise the version but will never lower it. Forcing the PDF version of the output file may set the PDF version to a lower value than actually allowed by the file's contents. You should only do this if you have no other possible way to open the file or if you know that the file definitely doesn't include features not supported later versions. Testing, Inspection, and Debugging Options ------------------------------------------ These options can be useful for digging into PDF files or for use in automated test suites for software that uses the qpdf library. --deterministic-id generate deterministic /ID --static-id generate static /ID: FOR TESTING ONLY! --static-aes-iv use a static initialization vector for AES-CBC This is option is not secure! FOR TESTING ONLY! --no-original-object-ids suppress original object ID comments in qdf mode --show-encryption quickly show encryption parameters --check-linearization check file integrity and linearization status --show-linearization check and show all linearization data --show-xref show the contents of the cross-reference table --show-object=obj[,gen] show the contents of the given object --raw-stream-data show raw stream data instead of object contents --filtered-stream-data show filtered stream data instead of object contents --show-npages print the number of pages in the file --show-pages shows the object/generation number for each page --with-images also shows the object IDs for images on each page --check check file structure + encryption, linearization The --raw-stream-data and --filtered-stream-data options are ignored unless --show-object is given. Either of these options will cause the stream data to be written to standard output. If --filtered-stream-data is given and --normalize-content=y is also given, qpdf will attempt to normalize the stream data as if it is a page content stream. This attempt will be made even if it is not a page content stream, in which case it will produce unusable results. Ordinarily, qpdf exits with a status of 0 on success or a status of 2 if any errors occurred. In --check mode, if there were warnings but not errors, qpdf exits with a status of 3.