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Read PDF form field values in Rust

List all form fields in a PDF and read their current values. Covers text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdowns, and list boxes.

rust
use pdfluent::PdfDocument;

fn main() -> pdfluent::Result<()> {
    let doc = PdfDocument::open("form.pdf")?;
    for field in doc.form_fields()? {
        println!("{} = {} ({:?})", field.name, field.value, field.field_type);
    }
    Ok(())
}
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Step by step

1

Open the PDF

Open the document and check that it contains an AcroForm.

rust
use pdfluent::PdfDocument;

let doc = PdfDocument::open("application.pdf")?;
if doc.form_fields()?.is_empty() {
    println!("No form fields.");
    return Ok(());
}
2

Get the form handle

Call doc.form() to get an immutable PdfForm handle.

rust
let fields = doc.form_fields()?;
println!("{} form field(s)", fields.len());
3

List all fields

doc.form_fields() returns a slice of FormField values. Each entry has a name, field_type, and value.

rust
for field in doc.form_fields()? {
    println!("name: {}", field.name);
    println!("type: {:?}", field.field_type);
    println!("value: {:?}", field.value);
    println!();
}
4

Read a specific field by name

Use form.field("name") to get a single field. Returns None if the field is not found.

rust
if let Some(f) = doc.form_fields()?.iter().find(|f| f.name == "email") {
    println!("Email: {}", f.value);
}
5

Export all field values to a HashMap

Use form.values_as_map() to get all field names and their string representations in one call. Useful for logging or serialising form data.

rust
use std::collections::HashMap;

let values: HashMap<String, String> = doc
    .form_fields()?
    .into_iter()
    .map(|f| (f.name, f.value))
    .collect();

for (name, val) in &values {
    println!("{} = {}", name, val);
}

Notes and tips

  • FormField.value is a FieldValue enum. Match on its variants: Text, Checked, Selected, and None.
  • Hierarchical field names use a dot separator, e.g. "address.city". doc.form_fields() returns the full dotted name.
  • Read-only and hidden fields are included in the field list. Check field.is_read_only and field.is_hidden.

Why PDFluent for this

Pure Rust

No JVM, no runtime, no DLL dependencies. Ships as a single native binary or WASM module.

Memory safe

Rust's ownership model prevents buffer overflows and use-after-free. No segfaults in PDF parsing.

Runs anywhere

Same code runs server-side, in Docker, on AWS Lambda, on Cloudflare Workers, or in the browser via WASM.

Frequently asked questions

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