Repository navigation
PDF20 Spec 07 Common Data
Part of: PDF20-Spec-07-Syntax
Navigation: PDF20-Spec-07-Content-Streams | PDF20-Spec-Index | PDF20-Spec-07-Functions
7.9
Common data structures
7.9.1 General As mentioned at the beginning of this clause, there are some general-purpose data structures that are built from the basic object types described in 7.3, "Objects" and used throughout PDF technology. This subclause describes data structures for text strings, dates, rectangles, name trees, and number trees. More complex data structures are described in 7.10, "Functions" and 7.11, "File specifications". All of these data structures are meaningful only as part of the document hierarchy; they may not appear within content streams. In particular, the special conventions for interpreting the values of string objects apply only to strings outside content streams. An entirely different convention is used within content streams for using strings to select sequences of glyphs to be painted on the page (see clause 9, "Text"). "Table 35 — PDF data types" summarises the basic and higher-level data types that are used throughout this document to describe the values of dictionary entries and other PDF data values. Table 35 — PDF data types
114
Type
Description
Subclause
ASCII string
Bytes containing ASCII characters
7.9.2
array
Array object
7.3.6
boolean
Boolean value
7.3.2
byte string
A series of bytes that shall represent characters or other binary data. If such a type represents characters, the encoding shall be determined by the context.
7.9.2 7.9.2.4
date
Date (ASCII string)
7.9.4
dictionary
Dictionary object
7.3.7
file specification
File specification (string or dictionary)
Navigation: PDF20-Spec-07-Content-Streams | PDF20-Spec-Index | PDF20-Spec-07-Functions