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Available starting from PD4ML v4.1.1

Combine page ranges from one or more PDFs (each with its own optional password) into one output file, optionally encrypting it - no code to write.

Main-Class com.pd4ml.pdf.merge.cli.Pd4MergeCli Commands one operation, no subcommands

1. Invocation

java -cp pd4ml.jar com.pd4ml.pdf.merge.cli.Pd4MergeCli [flags...]

Throughout this reference, pd4ml.jar stands for the pd4ml library jar (present in the current directory in every example below) - com.pd4ml.pdf.merge.cli.Pd4MergeCli isn't pd4ml.jar's own Main-Class (that's com.pd4ml.tools.Pd4Cmd, a different tool), so invoke it with -cp, not -jar. Running with no arguments, or help/--help/-h as the first argument, prints the same usage summary this page expands on.

There is exactly one operation (no subcommands, unlike pd4signcli). All flags use --key=value syntax; there is no short-flag form.

Exit codes

0

Success.

1

The operation failed for a business/runtime reason - bad password, out-of-range page, malformed PDF… The message on stderr explains why.

2

Usage error - missing/invalid flags. Usage text is printed to stderr alongside the message.

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2. Flags

Sources repeatable

Each --in= starts a new source; an optional --password= and/or --pages= immediately following it (before the next --in=, or a global-only flag) apply to that source specifically.

--in=<file.pdf>
required at least once; repeat to add more sources
--password=<pw>
this source's password, if encrypted (tried as user and owner password; omit for an empty password)
--pages=<range>
see §3 for the page-range grammar; optional only when exactly one --in is given overall - see §2.3

Output

--out=<output.pdf>
required

Output encryption optional

--encrypt-user=<pw>
open (user) password for the merged output
--encrypt-owner=<pw>
owner password for the merged output
--encrypt-alg=RC4_128|AES_128|AES_256
default AES_256 when any encrypt-* flag is given
--permissions=<int>
raw /P permission bits (ISO 32000-1 Table 22); default "everything allowed"

Giving any --encrypt-user/--encrypt-owner/--encrypt-alg/ --permissions flag turns on output encryption; the output otherwise stays plain even if one or more sources were encrypted.

2.3 Omitting --pages

--pages may be omitted only when exactly one --in is given overall - the result is then that document's own pages, in order, still decrypted (and re-encrypted only if an --encrypt-* flag is also given). With two or more --in occurrences, every one of them needs its own --pages; an unselected source in a multi-source run is a usage/runtime error, not a silent "everything."

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3. Page-range grammar

--pages accepts a 1-based, comma-separated page-range spec:

TokenMeaning
"2-5,8,10-12"explicit pages/ranges, in the order written
"odd" / "even"suppresses the opposite parity from everything else in the same --pages value (not an additive range of its own) - see below
"6+"page 6 through the last page

odd/even filter the union of every other token in the same --pages value: --pages=1-2,4+,odd on a 10-page source unions 1-2 and 4+ into 1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, then odd suppresses the even ones, leaving 1,5,7,9. Used alone (--pages=odd), the base defaults to every page in the document. odd and even together in one --pages value are rejected as contradictory. The combined result is always deduplicated, each page kept at the position it was first mentioned.

Shell quoting

Most shells treat + and , as ordinary characters, but quote the whole --pages=... value anyway (e.g. --pages="1,3,6+") if your source range contains spaces or shell metacharacters, or you're on a shell/OS with different quoting rules.

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4. Examples

Two sources, mixed ranges and an odd filter:

$ java -cp pd4ml.jar com.pd4ml.pdf.merge.cli.Pd4MergeCli \
      --in=A.pdf --pages=2-5,odd \
      --in=B.pdf --password=secret --pages=1,3,6+ \
      --out=merged.pdf

Decrypt a single protected PDF (no merging, no re-encryption):

$ java -cp pd4ml.jar com.pd4ml.pdf.merge.cli.Pd4MergeCli --in=protected.pdf --password=secret --out=plain.pdf

Merge and encrypt the output:

$ java -cp pd4ml.jar com.pd4ml.pdf.merge.cli.Pd4MergeCli \
      --in=A.pdf --out=locked.pdf \
      --encrypt-user=open123 --encrypt-owner=owner456 --encrypt-alg=AES_256

A successful run reports what it did:

Merged 2 sources into merged.pdf (10201 bytes)
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5. Troubleshooting

"selectPages(...) was never called for one of the merge sources"

Two or more --in flags were given, and at least one has no --pages=. Add one - omitting --pages only works when there's exactly one source overall (§2.3).

"specifies both 'odd' and 'even', which is contradictory"

A single --pages value named both filters, e.g. --pages=1-10,odd,even. Use only one of them per source.

"Page N is out of range"

A page number in --pages exceeds that specific source's own page count - ranges are validated per source, not against some combined total.

"is encrypted and the given password (or no password) did not open it"

Add --password=<pw> for that source (either its user or owner password authenticates), or double-check the one given.

Structural editing, tagging inspection, or general COS work

pd4mergecli only merges; for arbitrary dictionary/array edits, structural inspection, or COS-path queries, see the pd4coscli Reference (com.pd4ml.pdf.cos.cli.CosCli). For importing or exporting annotations and form field values via XFDF, see the pd4xfdfcli Reference (com.pd4ml.pdf.xfdf.cli.Pd4XfdfCli).

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6. See also

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PD4ML PDF Merge CLI · Java 1.8 · com.pd4ml.pdf.merge.cli.Pd4MergeCli · no third-party PDF dependency