minipdf

minipdf is a package for creating simple PDF documents.

What’s in the box

• create_pdf() to create an empty PDF document
• write_pdf() to write a PDF to file or string
• pdf_line(), pdf_rect(), pdf_circle(), pdf_polygon(), pdf_polyline(), pdf_text(), pdf_bezier(), pdf_image() - functions for adding graphical elements to the PDF
• pdf_clip_polygon(), pdf_clip_rect() define global clipping regions
• clip_polygon(), clip_rect() define per-element clipping regions
• pdf_rotate(), pdf_translate(), pdf_scale() define global transformations
• tf_rotate(), tf_translate(), tf_scale() define per-element transformations
• pgpar() define PDF graphical parameters
• pdf_newpage() begin a new page in the PDF

Installation

You can install the development version from GitHub with:

# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("coolbutuseless/minipdf")

Hello World!

doc <- create_pdf(width = 400, height = 250) |>
  pdf_circle(80, 100, 50, fill = 'lightblue', col = 'black') |>
  pdf_rect(150, 50, 100, 100, fill = 'yellow', col = 'red', lty = 2) |> 
  pdf_polygon(c(270, 390, 330), c(50, 50, 150)) |>
  pdf_text("Hello World!", x = 30, y = 170, fontsize = 50)

write_pdf(doc, "man/figures/helloworld.pdf")

In write_pdf() if the output filename is not specified, then the function returns the PDF document as a string

write_pdf(doc) |> cat()

%PDF-1.7
1 0 obj
<<
  /Creator (minipdf/R)
  /CreationDate (D:202508230942)
>>
endobj
2 0 obj
<<
  /Type /Catalog
  /Pages 3 0 R
>>
endobj
3 0 obj
<<
  /Type /Pages
  /Resources 4 0 R
  /MediaBox [0 0 400 250]
  /Kids [ 5 0 R ]
  /Count 1
>>
endobj
4 0 obj
<<
  /ExtGState
  <<
    /GS1
    <<
      /CA 1
      /ca 1
    >>
  >>
  /Font
  <<
    /F1
    <<
      /Type /Font
      /Subtype /Type1
      /BaseFont /Helvetica
    >>
  >>
>>
endobj
5 0 obj
<<
  /Type /Page
  /Parent 3 0 R
  /Contents [6 0 R 7 0 R 8 0 R 9 0 R 10 0 R]
>>
endobj
6 0 obj
<<
  /Length 37
>>
stream
0 0 400 250 re W n
0 0 400 250 re W n
endstream
endobj
7 0 obj
<<
  /Length 284
>>
stream
q
0 0 0 RG
0.67843137254902 0.847058823529412 0.901960784313726 rg
130 100 m
130 127.61423749155  107.61423749155 150  80   150 c
52.38576250845 150  30 127.61423749155  30 100   c
30 72.38576250845  52.38576250845 50  80   50 c
107.61423749155 50  130 72.38576250845  130 100   c
b
Q
endstream
endobj
8 0 obj
<<
  /Length 49
>>
stream
q
1 0 0 RG
1 1 0 rg
[3] 0 d
150 50 100 100 re b
Q
endstream
endobj
9 0 obj
<<
  /Length 51
>>
stream
q
0 0 0 RG
0 0 0 rg
270 50 m 390 50 l 330 150 l b
Q
endstream
endobj
10 0 obj
<<
  /Length 70
>>
stream
q
0 0 0 RG
0 0 0 rg
BT
/F1 50 Tf
30 170 Td
0 Tr
(Hello World!) Tj
ET
Q
endstream
endobj
xref
0 11
0000000000 65535 f
0000000009 00000 n
0000000086 00000 n
0000000139 00000 n
0000000249 00000 n
0000000447 00000 n
0000000543 00000 n
0000000632 00000 n
0000000969 00000 n
0000001070 00000 n
0000001173 00000 n
trailer 
<<
  /Size 11
  /Info 1 0 R
  /Root 2 0 R
>>
startxref
1296
%%EOF

Simple example with vectorised arguments

Most coordinate arguments can be vectors - this means multiple objects can be generated with a single call.

Note that all objects created in this way share a single graphics state i.e.  they’ll all be the same color etc.

im  <- png::readPNG(system.file("img", "Rlogo.png", package="png")) * 255


doc <- create_pdf(width = 400, height = 200) |>
  pdf_circle(
    x = seq(0, 400, length.out = 9), 
    y = 100, 
    r = 2 * (1:9), 
    col = 'black', lwd = 1, fill = 'lightblue'
  ) |> 
  pdf_line(
    x1 = seq(0, 400, length.out = 9), 
    y1 = 100, 
    x2 = seq(400, 0, length.out = 9), 
    y2 = 200, 
    lty = 3, col = 'blue'
  ) |> 
  pdf_text(
    "#RStats", 
    x = 0, 
    y = seq(0, 200, length.out = 10),
    fill       = 'grey80',
    fontfamily = 'mono', 
    fontsize   = seq(12, 30, length.out = 10)
  ) |> 
  pdf_image(im = im, x = 300, y = 10, scale = 0.75)

write_pdf(doc, "man/figures/simple.pdf")

Multiple objects with differing graphics state

doc <- create_pdf(height = 400, width = 600)

N <- 400
xs <- sample(600, N, TRUE)
ys <- sample(400, N, TRUE)
rs <- sample(100, N, TRUE)
cs <- sample(colors(), N, TRUE)

for (i in seq_len(N)) {
  doc <- pdf_circle(doc, xs[i], ys[i], rs[i], col = NA, fill = cs[i], alpha = 0.2)
}

doc <- pdf_translate(doc, 50, 0)

doc <- pdf_text(doc, "#RStats", 10, 150, fontsize = 120, mode = 1, col = 'black', 
                fontface = 'bold.italic', lwd = 5)

write_pdf(doc, "man/figures/example1.pdf")

Beziers

N <- 100

doc <- create_pdf() |>
  pdf_bezier(
    x0 = seq(0, 400, length.out = N), 
    y0 = 10, 
    x1 = 25, 
    y1 = seq(20, 300, length.out = N), 
    x2 = seq(100, 80, length.out = N), 
    y2 = 250, 
    x3 = 400, 
    y3 = seq(400, 300, length.out = N), 
    alpha = 0.2
  )

write_pdf(doc, "man/figures/beziers.pdf")