Image Text Extractor (OCR)
This utility extracts text from images using the pytesseract library, which is a wrapper for Google's Tesseract-OCR Engine. It supports multiple languages and can output text to the console or a file.
Modules Used:
pytesseract: Python wrapper for Google's Tesseract-OCR.- Pillow: To open and manipulate image files.
- argparse: To handle command-line arguments.
Prerequisites
-
Install Tesseract Engine: You must install the Tesseract binary separately.
- Windows: Download the installer from UB-Mannheim.
- Linux:
sudo apt install tesseract-ocr - macOS:
brew install tesseract
-
Install Python Libraries:
pip install pytesseract Pillow
The Code
Save this as ocr_tool.py.
import pytesseract
from PIL import Image
import argparse
import os
import sys
# NOTE: If Tesseract is not in your PATH, uncomment and set the correct path below:
# pytesseract.pytesseract.tesseract_cmd = r'C:\Program Files\Tesseract-OCR\tesseract.exe'
def extract_text(image_path, output_file=None, lang='eng'):
if not os.path.exists(image_path):
print(f"Error: Image file '{image_path}' not found.")
return
try:
print(f"Processing '{image_path}'...")
# Open the image using Pillow
img = Image.open(image_path)
# Perform OCR
# image_to_string converts the image to text
text = pytesseract.image_to_string(img, lang=lang)
if output_file:
with open(output_file, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
f.write(text)
print(f"Success! Text saved to '{output_file}'")
else:
print("\n--- Extracted Text ---")
print(text.strip())
print("----------------------")
except pytesseract.TesseractNotFoundError:
print("Error: Tesseract is not installed or not in your PATH.")
except Exception as e:
print(f"Error: {e}")
if __name__ == "__main__":
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Image Text Extractor (OCR)")
parser.add_argument("image", help="Path to the image file")
parser.add_argument("-o", "--output", help="Output text file (optional)")
parser.add_argument("-l", "--lang", default="eng", help="Language code (default: eng)")
args = parser.parse_args()
extract_text(args.image, args.output, args.lang)Usage
python ocr_tool.py receipt.jpg --output receipt_text.txt