A page range expression like 1-3,5,8-10,15 is the standard way to select pages in PDF software, print dialogs, and batch jobs. Type yours below and watch the grid light up before you run a split or print.
Click any row to load it into the parser.
1-5First five pages
1,3,5,7,9Five odd pages, no ranges
1-10,90-100Front matter and back matter
1-3,2-5,7Overlapping ranges, parser merges them
1-12Every page in a 12 page PDF
This parser shows you what your expression means. PDF Merge and Split is the free Chrome extension that actually does the cut. Drop in a PDF, paste the same expression, and get the output instantly. Works fully offline on your machine.
Get PDF Merge and SplitIt is a comma-separated list of pages or page ranges. A single number like 5 means just page 5. A range like 8-10 means pages 8, 9, and 10. The full string 1-3,5,8-10 selects pages 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, and 10. Order does not matter for the selection itself, but the canonical form sorts ascending.
The convention comes from print dialogs going back decades. It is compact, easy to type, and lets you pick scattered pages without clicking through page thumbnails. Almost every PDF reader, printer driver, and split tool supports it, so learning it once pays off across dozens of apps.
Each segment must be a positive integer or two positive integers separated by a hyphen, with the first less than or equal to the second. All numbers must be at least 1 and at most the total page count. Spaces around numbers are allowed and ignored. Leading zeros are fine. Trailing commas are tolerated.
Most PDF tools reject reverse ranges and this parser does the same. If you want pages 2 through 5, write 2-5. If you want pages in reverse order in the output, that is a separate operation done after selection, not part of the syntax. Reverse ranges in this parser will flag a validation error so you can fix the typo.
The PDF Merge and Split Chrome extension accepts this exact syntax when you tell it which pages to extract or rearrange. This parser is a quick sanity check before you run a real split, especially on long PDFs where a typo could cost you the right output or force a redo.