Text Extraction from Images using FastAPI and Tesseract

This project provides a simple API for extracting text from images using FastAPI and Tesseract OCR.

---

Related Repositories

• Frontend Repository (React + Vite + TypeScript)

• Backend Repository (NestJS + TypeScript)

• Backend Repository (FastAPI + Python)

---

Features

• Upload an image and extract text using Tesseract OCR.
• FastAPI backend for handling image uploads and text extraction.
• Easy to set up and run locally.

---

Prerequisites

Before running the project, ensure you have the following installed:

• Python 3.8 or higher
• Tesseract OCR
• FastAPI
• Uvicorn
• Pillow
• Pytesseract

---

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/HugoNicolau/text-extraction-py.git
   cd text-extraction-py

2. Set up a virtual environment:

   python -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate  
   # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

   Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Install Tesseract OCR:

   On Ubuntu/Debian:

   sudo apt-get install tesseract-ocr

   On macOS (using Homebrew):

   brew install tesseract

   On Windows, download the installer from Tesseract's GitHub page.

---

Running the Project

1. Start the FastAPI server:

   uvicorn main:app --reload

   The server will start at http://localhost:8000.

2. Test the API:

   You can test the API using curl or a tool like Postman.

   Example using curl:

   curl -X POST -F "file=@/path/to/your/image.png" http://localhost:8000/extract-text/

   Example response:

   {
     "text": "This is the extracted text from the image."
   }

---

API Endpoints

POST /extract-text/

Extract text from an uploaded image.

Request:

• File: The image file to process (supported formats: PNG, JPEG, etc.).

Response:

• text: The extracted text.

---

Project Structure

text-extraction-py/
├── venv/                  # Virtual environment
├── main.py                # FastAPI application
├── requirements.txt       # Python dependencies
├── README.md              # Project documentation
├── .gitignore             # Files to ignore in Git
└── image/                 # Folder for test images
    └── example-image.png

---

Usage

1. Upload an Image:

   Use the /extract-text/ endpoint to upload an image and extract text.

2. View Extracted Text:

   The API will return the extracted text in JSON format.

---

Example

Here’s an example of how to use the API with curl:

curl -X POST -F "file=@/path/to/your/image.png" http://localhost:8000/extract-text/

Response:

{
  "text": "This is the extracted text from the image."
}

---

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you'd like to contribute, please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch (git checkout -b feature/YourFeature).
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some feature').
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/YourFeature).
5. Open a pull request.

---

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

---

Acknowledgments

• FastAPI for the text extraction service.
• Tesseract OCR for text extraction.
• Pillow for image processing.

---

Contact

For questions or feedback, please reach out to me on LinkedIn or via email.

---