Class PdfString

java.lang.Object
com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfObject
com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfString
Direct Known Subclasses:
PdfDate

public class PdfString extends PdfObject
A PdfString-class is the PDF-equivalent of a JAVA-String-object.

A string is a sequence of characters delimited by parenthesis. If a string is too long to be conveniently placed on a single line, it may be split across multiple lines by using the backslash character (\) at the end of a line to indicate that the string continues on the following line. Within a string, the backslash character is used as an escape to specify unbalanced parenthesis, non-printing ASCII characters, and the backslash character itself. Use of the \ddd escape sequence is the preferred way to represent characters outside the printable ASCII character set.
This object is described in the 'Portable Document Format Reference Manual version 1.7' section 3.2.3 (page 53-56).

See Also:
  • Field Details

    • value

      protected String value
      The value of this object.
    • originalValue

      protected String originalValue
    • encoding

      protected String encoding
      The encoding.
    • objNum

      protected int objNum
    • objGen

      protected int objGen
    • hexWriting

      protected boolean hexWriting
  • Constructor Details

    • PdfString

      public PdfString()
      Constructs an empty PdfString-object.
    • PdfString

      public PdfString(String value)
      Constructs a PdfString-object containing a string in the standard encoding TEXT_PDFDOCENCODING.
      Parameters:
      value - the content of the string
    • PdfString

      public PdfString(String value, String encoding)
      Constructs a PdfString-object containing a string in the specified encoding.
      Parameters:
      value - the content of the string
      encoding - an encoding
    • PdfString

      public PdfString(byte[] bytes)
      Constructs a PdfString-object.
      Parameters:
      bytes - an array of byte
  • Method Details

    • toPdf

      public void toPdf(PdfWriter writer, OutputStream os) throws IOException
      Writes the PDF representation of this PdfString as an array of byte to the specified OutputStream.
      Overrides:
      toPdf in class PdfObject
      Parameters:
      writer - for backwards compatibility
      os - The OutputStream to write the bytes to.
      Throws:
      IOException - on error
    • toString

      public String toString()
      Returns the String value of this PdfString-object.
      Overrides:
      toString in class PdfObject
      Returns:
      A String
    • getBytes

      public byte[] getBytes()
      Description copied from class: PdfObject
      Gets the presentation of this object in a byte array
      Overrides:
      getBytes in class PdfObject
      Returns:
      a byte array
    • toUnicodeString

      public String toUnicodeString()
      Returns the Unicode String value of this PdfString-object.
      Returns:
      A String
    • getEncoding

      public String getEncoding()
      Gets the encoding of this string.
      Returns:
      a String
    • setObjNum

      void setObjNum(int objNum, int objGen)
    • decrypt

      void decrypt(PdfReader reader)
      Decrypt an encrypted PdfString
    • getOriginalBytes

      public byte[] getOriginalBytes()
      Returns:
      The original bytes used to create this PDF string, or the bytes of our current value if the original bytes are missing.
    • getOriginalChars

      public char[] getOriginalChars()
      return the characters in our value without any translation. This allows a string to be built that holds 2-byte or one-byte character codes, as needed for processing by fonts when extracting text.

      Intended for use when no encoding transformations are desired.

      Returns:
      The code points in this font as chars.
    • isHexWriting

      public boolean isHexWriting()
    • setHexWriting

      public PdfString setHexWriting(boolean hexWriting)