Why use both -g and -a flags?

[SergioGutTal]

Why use both -g and -a flags in options for extracting specific area? Isn't -g overriding the -a flag? You mention that it does not work without the -r option. I just tried without -r and -g and it works good.

java -jar ./tabula/tabula-0.9.1-jar-with-dependencies.jar -g -r -a "337.29,226.49,472.85,384.91" table.pdf

[chezou]

I didn't find the evidence which -g overrides -a, but it overrides -r.
https://github.com/tabulapdf/tabula-java/blob/master/src/main/java/technology/tabula/CommandLineApp.java#L224

Why don't you PR document fixing? ;)

[chezou]

As my further investigation, I understand what tabula-java's current implementation is around -a.

In short, the option around area will be considered as following order (left is strong):
-r = -l > -g > -a

1. with -r/--spreadsheet or -l/--lattice option
   It works as SPREADSHEET mode and ignores both -g and -a.

2. with -g/--guess and -a/--area option
   It works as BASIC mode. In that mode, after setting an area, it will be overriden by guess mode.

3. with only -a option
   It works as BASIC mode and area option will not be overridden.

Anyway, I think it depends on the tabula-java's implementation, but I will fix my document.