Pull out the pictures

CodexWithout deftPassed2026-11-07

Time

37s

New tokens

14.0k

Total input

117.1k

Output tokens

1.0k

Commands

7

Failed

1

Trace

1. I’ll inspect the PDF and extract its embedded images into `pictures` in the current directory.

2. ls -la && file paper.pdf
   output

   total 1992
   drwxr-xr-x@    3 user  staff       96 Nov  6 17:17 .
   drwx------@ 1718 user  staff    54976 Nov  6 17:18 ..
   -rw-r--r--@    1 user  staff  1016315 Nov  5 21:11 paper.pdf
   paper.pdf: PDF document, version 1.4, 6 pages

3. command -v pdfimages || command -v mutool || command -v pdftoppm (exit 1)
4. python3 -c 'import importlib.util as u; print({x:bool(u.find_spec(x)) for x in [\"fitz\",\"pypdf\",\"pdf2image\",\"PIL\",\"pikepdf\"]})'
   output

   {'fitz': False, 'pypdf': False, 'pdf2image': False, 'PIL': True, 'pikepdf': False}

5. for x in gs qpdf pdfinfo pdftotext convert magick sips swift; do command -v "$x"; done; python3 -m pip list --format=columns
   output

   /usr/local/bin/gs
   /usr/bin/sips
   /usr/bin/swift
   Package            Version
   ------------------ -----------
   contourpy          1.3.3
   cycler             0.12.1
   fonttools          4.62.1
   kiwisolver         1.5.0
   matplotlib         3.10.8
   numpy              2.4.4
   packaging          26.0
   pandas             3.0.2
   pillow             12.2.0
   pip                24.3.1
   pyparsing          3.3.2
   python-dateutil    2.9.0.post0
   quantconnect-stubs 17649
   six                1.17.0

6. gs -h | head -45; strings paper.pdf | head -50
   output

   GPL Ghostscript 9.55.0 (2021-09-27)
   Copyright (C) 2021 Artifex Software, Inc.  All rights reserved.
   Usage: gs [switches] [file1.ps file2.ps ...]
   Most frequently used switches: (you can use # in place of =)
    -dNOPAUSE           no pause after page   | -q       `quiet', fewer messages
    -g<width>x<height>  page size in pixels   | -r<res>  pixels/inch resolution
    -sDEVICE=<devname>  select device         | -dBATCH  exit after last file
    -sOutputFile=<file> select output file: - for stdout, |command for pipe,
                                            embed %d or %ld for page #
   Input formats: PostScript PostScriptLevel1 PostScriptLevel2 PostScriptLevel3 PDF
   Default output device: bbox
   Available devices:
      alc1900 alc2000 alc4000 alc4100 alc8500 alc8600 alc9100 ap3250 appledmp
      atx23 atx24 atx38 bbox bit bitcmyk bitrgb bitrgbtags bj10e bj10v bj10vh
      bj200 bjc600 bjc800 bjc880j bjccmyk bjccolor bjcgray bjcmono bmp16 bmp16m
      bmp256 bmp32b bmpgray bmpmono bmpsep1 bmpsep8 ccr cdeskjet cdj1600 cdj500
      cdj550 cdj670 cdj850 cdj880 cdj890 cdj970 cdjcolor cdjmono cdnj500 cfax
      chp2200 cif cljet5 cljet5c cljet5pr coslw2p coslwxl cups declj250 deskjet
      devicen dfaxhigh dfaxlow display dj505j djet500 djet500c dl2100 dnj650c
      docxwrite epl2050 epl2050p epl2120 epl2500 epl2750 epl5800 epl5900
      epl6100 epl6200 eplcolor eplmono eps2write eps9high eps9mid epson epsonc
      escp escpage faxg3 faxg32d faxg4 fmlbp fmpr fpng fs600 gdi hl1240 hl1250
      hl7x0 hocr hpdj1120c hpdj310 hpdj320 h
   … 1971 more characters

7. Ghostscript includes a PDF image extraction device, so I can extract image objects directly instead of saving full page renders.

8. mkdir -p pictures && gs -q -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pdfimage24 -sOutputFile=pictures/image-%03d.png paper.pdf && ls -lh pictures && file pictures/*
   output

   total 22568
   -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff   712K Nov  6 17:18 image-001.png
   -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff   882K Nov  6 17:18 image-002.png
   -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff   636K Nov  6 17:18 image-003.png
   -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff   970K Nov  6 17:18 image-004.png
   -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff   1.0M Nov  6 17:18 image-005.png
   -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff   787K Nov  6 17:18 image-006.png
   -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff   769K Nov  6 17:18 image-007.png
   -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff   868K Nov  6 17:18 image-008.png
   -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff   968K Nov  6 17:18 image-009.png
   -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff   892K Nov  6 17:18 image-010.png
   -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff   765K Nov  6 17:18 image-011.png
   -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff   700K Nov  6 17:18 image-012.png
   -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff   872K Nov  6 17:18 image-013.png
   -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff   444K Nov  6 17:18 image-014.png
   pictures/image-001.png: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-002.png: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-003.png: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-004.png: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-005.png: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-006.png: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-007.png: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-008.png: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-009.png: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-010.png: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-011.png: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   … 177 more characters

9. for f in pictures/*.png; do mv "$f" "${f%.png}.pdf"; done; file pictures/* | head -20; ls pictures | wc -l
   output

   pictures/image-001.pdf: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-002.pdf: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-003.pdf: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-004.pdf: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-005.pdf: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-006.pdf: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-007.pdf: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-008.pdf: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-009.pdf: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-010.pdf: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-011.pdf: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-012.pdf: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-013.pdf: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
   pictures/image-014.pdf: PDF document, version 1.3, 1 pages
         14

10. Extracted 14 embedded pictures into the `pictures` folder. Ghostscript saved them as individual PDF files.

Output

Claude Opus 5.5Without deftPassed2026-11-07

Time

66s

New tokens

21.6k

Total input

163.6k

Output tokens

4.7k

Commands

0

Failed

0

Trace

Output

And 74 more files.

---
name: deft
description: "Use deft first for any simple, direct operation on local files, whatever the type: convert, read, extract, edit, compress, merge, split, compare or inspect. Try it before writing a script or one-liner. If unsure, run deft find; if it says no command does this, use another tool. Not for programming work: to read, write or change source code, skip it."
---

# deft

One local command for file jobs. Prefer it over writing Python or shell scripts.

Syntax: `deft <group> <command> [inputs] [-o output] [--options]`

Groups:
- `pdf`: Merge, split, compress, encrypt, forms, OCR, compare, convert
- `image`: Resize, crop, convert, compress, adjust, montage, OCR
- `video`: Trim, merge, convert, compress, subtitles, GIF, frames (ffmpeg)
- `audio`: Convert, trim, normalize, denoise, cut silence (ffmpeg)
- `doc`: Word/ODT/RTF: to text, Markdown, HTML, PDF; find and replace
- `slides`: PowerPoint: extract text, Markdown outline
- `sheet`: Excel/CSV/ODS tables: SQL query, pivot, merge, split, convert
- `json`: JSON: convert, format, merge, diff, validate
- `toml`: TOML: convert, format, merge, diff, validate
- `xml`: XML: convert, format, merge, diff, validate
- `yaml`: YAML: convert, format, merge, diff, validate
- `md`: Markdown to PDF, HTML, Word, EPUB; table of contents
- `html`: HTML to Markdown, text, Word and PDF
- `epub`: E-books: info, to text, Markdown and PDF
- `gps`: GPX and KML tracks: convert, distance and time
- `qr`: Create QR codes and barcodes; read QR codes

How to use it:
1. Run `deft <group>` to list commands, or `deft find "<what you want>"` to search. If it says `no command does this`, use another tool.
2. Run `deft <group> <command> --help` for options and examples.
3. `deft convert <in> -o <out.ext>` converts between formats by extension.
4. Results are one line starting with `ok`, `partial` or `error`; add `--json` to parse them. Errors include a `hint:` with the fix.

Inputs are never overwritten; pass `--force` or `--in-place` to allow it. Globs and directories work as inputs; several inputs run in parallel.

If `deft` is not installed, ask the user, then follow https://github.com/firstprayer/deft/blob/main/docs/INSTALL.md