TypeError: 'PDFObjRef' object is not iterable

[Abdur-rahmaanJ]

Describe the bug

Got

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "main.py", line 5, in <module>
    with pdfplumber.open("<stripped_path>") as pdf:
  File "<stripped_path>\venv\lib\site-packages\pdfplumber\pdf.py", line 46, in open
    return cls(open(path_or_fp, "rb"), **kwargs)
  File "<stripped_path>\venv\lib\site-packages\pdfplumber\pdf.py", line 33, in __init__
    self.metadata[k] = list(map(decode_text, v))
  File "<stripped_path>\pdfres\venv\lib\site-packages\pdfplumber\utils.py", line 77, in decode_text
    ords = (ord(c) if type(c) == str else c for c in s)
TypeError: 'PDFObjRef' object is not iterable

Code to reproduce the problem

import pdfplumber

with pdfplumber.open("target.pdf") as pdf:
    first_page = pdf.pages[0]
    print(first_page.chars[0])

Environment

• pdfplumber version: 0.5.24
• Python version: 3.8.1
• OS: Windows

[samkit-jain]

Hi @Abdur-rahmaanJ Appreciate your interest in the library. Would it be possible for you to share a PDF to demonstrate this issue? Will help us in reproducing and fixing the issue. Please remove any sensitive information from the PDF before sharing it here.

[Abdur-rahmaanJ]

Try it on any research gate pdf. If you dont get the error on windows, i'll send you the exact pdf

[samkit-jain]

I chose this PDF and it ran fine for me. I got

{'fontname': 'SourceSansPro-Regular', 'adv': Decimal('4.803'), 'upright': True, 'x0': Decimal('39.870'), 'y0': Decimal('711.959'), 'x1': Decimal('43.061'), 'y1': Decimal('717.939'), 'width': Decimal('3.192'), 'height': Decimal('5.980'), 'size': Decimal('5.980'), 'object_type': 'char', 'page_number': 1, 'stroking_color': (0, 0, 0), 'non_stroking_color': (0, 0, 0), 'text': 'S', 'top': Decimal('74.061'), 'bottom': Decimal('80.041'), 'doctop': Decimal('74.061')}

as the output

The thing to note is that I am using Ubuntu and not Windows. If for the PDF I used, you are seeing the same error, then, it might be OS specific. If not, then it might be PDF specific and would request you to share the PDF you used.

[Abdur-rahmaanJ]

Try checking this one

[samkit-jain]

Thank you for sharing the PDF @Abdur-rahmaanJ The issue is coming because the PDF has a metadata field by the name Changes which is a list of PDFObjRef objects. I am not sure if that is allowed by the PDF specifications (linking https://github.com/jsvine/pdfplumber/issues/297#issuecomment-718862330) but nonetheless, it is something that can be handled in the code. I shall raise a PR for it soon.

[Abdur-rahmaanJ]

XD since this was the first PDF checked, i assumed pdfplumber was broken!