pdfgrep

pdfgrep is a CLI tool for searching text inside PDF files. It works similarly to grep, with the key difference that matches are reported by page number instead of line number in PDF files.

Key features include support for many common grep flags (recursive search, case-insensitive search, etc.) and the ability to search multiple PDF files at once. It highlights matches in color and supports regular expressions for complex queries, caching on large files and quiet output support, perhaps for use in scripting. This tool can even search in password-protected PDF files if you provide the password.

Archivists, researchers, students and IT professionals will find pdfgrep useful for sifting through large collections of PDF documents for specific terms. It’s especially handy for quickly locating information in e-books, research papers, or other PDF files without opening them one by one.