How to Extract PDF Pages from the Linux Command Line

Question: How do I split or extract pages from a PDF without a GUI?

Try: pdftk input.pdf cat 5-10 output pages_5_to_10.pdf

Info: pdftk manipulates PDFs from the command line. cat 5-10 extracts pages 5 through 10, while pdfinfo can inspect PDF metadata and page counts.

Examples:

• $ pdftk file1.pdf file2.pdf cat output merged.pdf  # Merge multiple PDFs
• $ pdftk input.pdf cat 1 3 5-10 output selected.pdf  # Extract custom page ranges
• $ qpdf --empty --pages input.pdf 1-5 -- output.pdf  # Use qpdf as a modern alternative

Note: Install pdftk with sudo apt install pdftk-java. Use end to target the final page, such as cat 5-end. qpdf is another useful command-line PDF tool.