%APPEND_PDFS Appends/concatenates multiple PDF files
%
% Example:
% append_pdfs(output, input1, input2, ...)
% append_pdfs(output, input_list{:})
% append_pdfs test.pdf temp1.pdf temp2.pdf
%
% This function appends multiple PDF files to an existing PDF file, or
% concatenates them into a PDF file if the output file doesn't yet exist.
%
% This function requires that you have ghostscript installed on your
% system. Ghostscript can be downloaded from: http://www.ghostscript.com
%
% IN:
% output - string of output file name (including the extension, .pdf).
% If it exists it is appended to; if not, it is created.
% input1 - string of an input file name (including the extension, .pdf).
% All input files are appended in order.
% input_list - cell array list of input file name strings. All input
% files are appended in order.
% Copyright: Oliver Woodford, 2011
% Thanks to Reinhard Knoll for pointing out that appending multiple pdfs in
% one go is much faster than appending them one at a time.
% Thanks to Michael Teo for reporting the issue of a too long command line.
% Issue resolved on 5/5/2011, by passing gs a command file.
% Thanks to Martin Wittmann for pointing out the quality issue when
% appending multiple bitmaps.
% Issue resolved (to best of my ability) 1/6/2011, using the prepress
% setting
% 26/02/15: If temp dir is not writable, use the output folder for temp
% files when appending (Javier Paredes); sanity check of inputs
% 24/01/18: Fixed error in case of existing output file (append mode)
% 24/01/18: Fixed issue #213: non-ASCII characters in folder names on Windows
% 06/12/18: Avoid an "invalid escape-char" warning upon error
function append_pdfs(varargin)
if nargin < 2, return; end % sanity check
% Are we appending or creating a new file
append = exist(varargin{1}, 'file') == 2;
output = [tempname '.pdf'];
try
% Ensure that the temp dir is writable (Javier Paredes 26/2/15)
fid = fopen(output,'w');
fwrite(fid,1);
fclose(fid);
delete(output);
isTempDirOk = true;
catch
% Temp dir is not writable, so use the output folder
[dummy,fname,fext] = fileparts(output); %#ok<ASGLU>
fpath = fileparts(varargin{1});
output = fullfile(fpath,[fname fext]);
isTempDirOk = false;
end
if ~append
output = varargin{1};
varargin = varargin(2:end);
end
% Create the command file
if isTempDirOk
cmdfile = [tempname '.txt'];
else
cmdfile = fullfile(fpath,[fname '.txt']);
end
prepareCmdFile(cmdfile, output, varargin{:});
% Call ghostscript
[status, errMsg] = ghostscript(['@"' cmdfile '"']);
% Check for ghostscript execution errors
if status && ~isempty(strfind(errMsg,'undefinedfile')) && ispc %#ok<STREMP>
% Fix issue #213: non-ASCII characters in folder names on Windows
for fileIdx = 2 : numel(varargin)
[fpath,fname,fext] = fileparts(varargin{fileIdx});
varargin{fileIdx} = fullfile(normalizePath(fpath),[fname fext]);
end
% Rerun ghostscript with the normalized folder names
prepareCmdFile(cmdfile, output, varargin{:});
[status, errMsg] = ghostscript(['@"' cmdfile '"']);
end
% Delete the command file
delete(cmdfile);
% Check for ghostscript execution errors
if status
errMsg = strrep(errMsg,'\','\\'); % Avoid an "invalid escape-char" warning
error('YMA:export_fig:append_pdf',errMsg);
end
% Rename the file if needed
if append
movefile(output, varargin{1}, 'f');
end
end
% Prepare a text file with ghostscript directives
function prepareCmdFile(cmdfile, output, varargin)
fh = fopen(cmdfile, 'w');
fprintf(fh, '-q -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress -sOutputFile="%s" -f', output);
fprintf(fh, ' "%s"', varargin{:});
fclose(fh);
end
% Convert long/non-ASCII folder names into their short ASCII equivalents
function pathStr = normalizePath(pathStr)
[fpath,fname,fext] = fileparts(pathStr);
if isempty(fpath) || strcmpi(fpath,pathStr), return, end
dirOutput = evalc(['system(''dir /X /AD "' pathStr '*"'')']);
shortName = strtrim(regexprep(dirOutput,{'.*> *',[fname fext '.*']},''));
if isempty(shortName)
shortName = [fname fext];
end
fpath = normalizePath(fpath); %recursive until entire fpath is processed
pathStr = fullfile(fpath, shortName);
end