# Remove pages from a PDF Remove a selection of pages from a PDF with the pages parameter. At least one page always remains, so the selection cannot cover the whole document. Remove one or more pages from a PDF document. Select the pages to drop with the [`pages`](#selecting-pages) parameter; because at least one page must remain, the selection can't cover every page. The API is stateless: your document is processed in-region and never stored. ## Endpoint <Endpoint method="POST" path="/v1/remove_pages" /> Available in every region. See [Regions & data residency](/docs/api/regions-and-data-residency) for routing and data residency. | Region | URL | | -------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | | Global | `https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages` | | United States | `https://us.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages` | | US HIPAA | `https://hipaa.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages` | | European Union | `https://eu.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages` | | United Kingdom | `https://uk.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages` | | Canada | `https://ca.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages` | | Australia | `https://au.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages` | | Japan | `https://jp.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages` | | India | `https://in.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages` | | Brazil | `https://br.api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages` | ## Authentication Authenticate every request with your secret API key in the `X-API-Key` header, over HTTPS. Create and manage keys from the [dashboard](https://dashboard.pdfblocks.com). See [Authentication](/docs/api/authentication) for details. ## Request The endpoint accepts a `multipart/form-data` request body. <ParamField name="file" type="file" required> The input PDF document. </ParamField> <ParamField name="pages" type="string" required> The pages to remove, written as a [page range](#selecting-pages) such as `2,4..6`. The selection cannot cover every page: at least one page must remain. Maximum 1000 characters. </ParamField> ### Selecting pages The `pages` parameter takes a comma-separated list of 1-based page numbers and ranges. It is treated as a **set**: order and duplicates are ignored, and the pages left behind keep their original document order. | Pattern | Removes | | --------- | ------------------------------------------ | | `1` | The first page only | | `1..3,5` | Pages 1, 2, 3, and 5 | | `2..` | Page 2 through the last page | | `..-2` | The first page through the second-to-last | | `-1` | The last page | See [Selecting pages](/docs/api/selecting-pages) for the complete reference. <Note> The selection is a **set**, and it must leave at least one page behind. A selection that covers every page is rejected with a `400`. </Note> ## Examples Remove page 2 and pages 4–6 from a PDF: <CodeGroup> ```bash title="cURL" curl https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages \ -H 'X-API-Key: your_api_key' \ -F file=@input.pdf \ -F pages='2,4..6' \ -o trimmed.pdf ``` ```python title="Python" # pip install requests import requests with open('input.pdf', 'rb') as file: response = requests.post( 'https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages', headers={'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key'}, files={'file': file}, data={'pages': '2,4..6'}, ) response.raise_for_status() with open('trimmed.pdf', 'wb') as output: output.write(response.content) ``` ```javascript title="Node.js" // Node.js 18+ import { readFile, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'; const body = new FormData(); body.set('file', new Blob([await readFile('input.pdf')]), 'input.pdf'); body.set('pages', '2,4..6'); const response = await fetch('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages', { method: 'POST', headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key' }, body, }); if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`); await writeFile('trimmed.pdf', Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer())); ``` ```php title="PHP" <?php $ch = curl_init('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages'); curl_setopt_array($ch, [ CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ['X-API-Key: your_api_key'], CURLOPT_POST => true, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => [ 'file' => new CURLFile('input.pdf', 'application/pdf'), 'pages' => '2,4..6', ], ]); $pdf = curl_exec($ch); if (curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE) === 200) { file_put_contents('trimmed.pdf', $pdf); } ``` ```ruby title="Ruby" # gem install http require 'http' response = HTTP .headers('X-API-Key' => 'your_api_key') .post('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages', form: { file: HTTP::FormData::File.new('input.pdf'), pages: '2,4..6', }) File.write('trimmed.pdf', response.body) if response.status.success? ``` ```go title="Go" package main import ( "bytes" "io" "mime/multipart" "net/http" "os" ) func main() { var buf bytes.Buffer form := multipart.NewWriter(&buf) file, _ := os.Open("input.pdf") defer file.Close() part, _ := form.CreateFormFile("file", "input.pdf") io.Copy(part, file) form.WriteField("pages", "2,4..6") form.Close() req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages", &buf) req.Header.Set("Content-Type", form.FormDataContentType()) req.Header.Set("X-API-Key", "your_api_key") res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req) defer res.Body.Close() out, _ := os.Create("trimmed.pdf") defer out.Close() io.Copy(out, res.Body) } ``` ```csharp title="C#" using var client = new HttpClient(); client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("X-API-Key", "your_api_key"); using var form = new MultipartFormDataContent { { new ByteArrayContent(File.ReadAllBytes("input.pdf")), "file", "input.pdf" }, { new StringContent("2,4..6"), "pages" }, }; var response = await client.PostAsync( "https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages", form); response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode(); await File.WriteAllBytesAsync( "trimmed.pdf", await response.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync()); ``` </CodeGroup> ## Response On success, the response is `200 OK` with the trimmed PDF as the body: ```http HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: application/pdf Content-Length: 26417 ``` The remaining pages keep their original order: only the selected pages are dropped. Stream the body straight to a file, as the examples above do; nothing is stored on our side. ## Errors Failed requests return an `application/problem+json` body. The most common one for this endpoint is a `400`, returned when `pages` is malformed or would remove every page. The `errors` object names each field: ```json { "type": "https://www.pdfblocks.com/docs/api/v1/error/400", "title": "One or more validation errors occurred.", "status": 400, "errors": { "pages": ["At least one page must remain, so the selection cannot cover every page."] } } ``` A missing or invalid `X-API-Key` returns a `401`. See [Errors](/docs/api/errors) for every status code and the full response shape. ## Recipes Common variations. Expand one to see it in every language. <AccordionGroup> <Accordion title="Drop the last page"> <CodeGroup> ```bash title="cURL" curl https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages \ -H 'X-API-Key: your_api_key' \ -F file=@input.pdf \ -F pages='-1' \ -o without-last.pdf ``` ```python title="Python" import requests with open('input.pdf', 'rb') as file: response = requests.post( 'https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages', headers={'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key'}, files={'file': file}, data={'pages': '-1'}, ) response.raise_for_status() with open('without-last.pdf', 'wb') as output: output.write(response.content) ``` ```javascript title="Node.js" import { readFile, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'; const body = new FormData(); body.set('file', new Blob([await readFile('input.pdf')]), 'input.pdf'); body.set('pages', '-1'); const response = await fetch('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages', { method: 'POST', headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key' }, body, }); if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`); await writeFile('without-last.pdf', Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer())); ``` ```php title="PHP" <?php $ch = curl_init('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages'); curl_setopt_array($ch, [ CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ['X-API-Key: your_api_key'], CURLOPT_POST => true, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => [ 'file' => new CURLFile('input.pdf', 'application/pdf'), 'pages' => '-1', ], ]); $pdf = curl_exec($ch); if (curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE) === 200) { file_put_contents('without-last.pdf', $pdf); } ``` ```ruby title="Ruby" require 'http' response = HTTP .headers('X-API-Key' => 'your_api_key') .post('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages', form: { file: HTTP::FormData::File.new('input.pdf'), pages: '-1', }) File.write('without-last.pdf', response.body) if response.status.success? ``` ```go title="Go" package main import ( "bytes" "io" "mime/multipart" "net/http" "os" ) func main() { var buf bytes.Buffer form := multipart.NewWriter(&buf) file, _ := os.Open("input.pdf") defer file.Close() part, _ := form.CreateFormFile("file", "input.pdf") io.Copy(part, file) form.WriteField("pages", "-1") form.Close() req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages", &buf) req.Header.Set("Content-Type", form.FormDataContentType()) req.Header.Set("X-API-Key", "your_api_key") res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req) defer res.Body.Close() out, _ := os.Create("without-last.pdf") defer out.Close() io.Copy(out, res.Body) } ``` ```csharp title="C#" using var client = new HttpClient(); client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("X-API-Key", "your_api_key"); using var form = new MultipartFormDataContent { { new ByteArrayContent(File.ReadAllBytes("input.pdf")), "file", "input.pdf" }, { new StringContent("-1"), "pages" }, }; var response = await client.PostAsync( "https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages", form); response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode(); await File.WriteAllBytesAsync( "without-last.pdf", await response.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync()); ``` </CodeGroup> </Accordion> <Accordion title="Remove the cover page"> <CodeGroup> ```bash title="cURL" curl https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages \ -H 'X-API-Key: your_api_key' \ -F file=@input.pdf \ -F pages='1' \ -o no-cover.pdf ``` ```python title="Python" import requests with open('input.pdf', 'rb') as file: response = requests.post( 'https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages', headers={'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key'}, files={'file': file}, data={'pages': '1'}, ) response.raise_for_status() with open('no-cover.pdf', 'wb') as output: output.write(response.content) ``` ```javascript title="Node.js" import { readFile, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'; const body = new FormData(); body.set('file', new Blob([await readFile('input.pdf')]), 'input.pdf'); body.set('pages', '1'); const response = await fetch('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages', { method: 'POST', headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key' }, body, }); if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`); await writeFile('no-cover.pdf', Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer())); ``` ```php title="PHP" <?php $ch = curl_init('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages'); curl_setopt_array($ch, [ CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ['X-API-Key: your_api_key'], CURLOPT_POST => true, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => [ 'file' => new CURLFile('input.pdf', 'application/pdf'), 'pages' => '1', ], ]); $pdf = curl_exec($ch); if (curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE) === 200) { file_put_contents('no-cover.pdf', $pdf); } ``` ```ruby title="Ruby" require 'http' response = HTTP .headers('X-API-Key' => 'your_api_key') .post('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages', form: { file: HTTP::FormData::File.new('input.pdf'), pages: '1', }) File.write('no-cover.pdf', response.body) if response.status.success? ``` ```go title="Go" package main import ( "bytes" "io" "mime/multipart" "net/http" "os" ) func main() { var buf bytes.Buffer form := multipart.NewWriter(&buf) file, _ := os.Open("input.pdf") defer file.Close() part, _ := form.CreateFormFile("file", "input.pdf") io.Copy(part, file) form.WriteField("pages", "1") form.Close() req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages", &buf) req.Header.Set("Content-Type", form.FormDataContentType()) req.Header.Set("X-API-Key", "your_api_key") res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req) defer res.Body.Close() out, _ := os.Create("no-cover.pdf") defer out.Close() io.Copy(out, res.Body) } ``` ```csharp title="C#" using var client = new HttpClient(); client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("X-API-Key", "your_api_key"); using var form = new MultipartFormDataContent { { new ByteArrayContent(File.ReadAllBytes("input.pdf")), "file", "input.pdf" }, { new StringContent("1"), "pages" }, }; var response = await client.PostAsync( "https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/remove_pages", form); response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode(); await File.WriteAllBytesAsync( "no-cover.pdf", await response.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync()); ``` </CodeGroup> </Accordion> </AccordionGroup> ## Related actions <CardGroup cols={2}> <Card title="Extract pages" href="/docs/api/extract-pages-from-pdf"> Keep pages instead of dropping them. </Card> <Card title="Reorder pages" href="/docs/api/reorder-pages-of-pdf"> Rearrange the remaining pages. </Card> <Card title="Reverse pages" href="/docs/api/reverse-pages-of-pdf"> Reverse the page order. </Card> <Card title="Rotate pages" href="/docs/api/rotate-pages-in-pdf"> Rotate selected pages. </Card> </CardGroup>