Python OCR Module in Linux?

Question

I want to find a easy-to-use OCR python module in linux, I have found pytesser http://code.google.com/p/pytesser/, but it contains a .exe executable file.

I tried changed the code to use wine, and it really works, but it's too slow and really not a good idea.

Is there any Linux alternatives that as easy-to-use as it?

Answer 1

You can just wrap tesseract in a function:

import os import tempfile import subprocess  def ocr(path):     temp = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False)      process = subprocess.Popen(['tesseract', path, temp.name], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)     process.communicate()      with open(temp.name + '.txt', 'r') as handle:         contents = handle.read()      os.remove(temp.name + '.txt')     os.remove(temp.name)      return contents 

If you want document segmentation and more advanced features, try out OCRopus.

Answer 2

In addition to Blender's answer, that just executs Tesseract executable, I would like to add that there exist other alternatives for OCR that can also be called as external process.

ABBYY comand line OCR utility: http://ocr4linux.com/en:start

It is not free, so worth to consider only if Tesseract accuracy is not good enough for your task, or you need more sophisticated layout analisys or you need to export PDF, Word and other files.

Update: here's comparison of ABBYY and tesseract accuracy: http://www.splitbrain.org/blog/2010-06/15-linux_ocr_software_comparison

Disclaimer: I work for ABBYY