title: Extracting String Data from PDF Multi-Page Columns with Python
body: <p>I have some PDFs that are organised into columns that I need to scrape.  The problem is that each column is multi-page and isn't in the typical layout for columns, for example:</p>
  
  <p><code>******Column 1******************Column 2*************</code></p>
  
  <p><code>Sombody once told me         Finger and her thumb
   The world was gonna          In the shape of an "L"
   Roll me. I ain't the         On her forehead. Well
   *******************NEXT PAGE**************************
   Sharpest tool in the         The years start coming
   Shed. She was looking        And they don't stop coming
   Kind of dumb with her</code>       </p>
  
  <p>I have tried using standard PDF scrapers like PDFMiner but it will just return a string that reads like:</p>
  
  <p>Sombody once told me<br>
   The world was gonna<br>
   Roll me. I ain't the<br>
   Finger and her thumb</p>
  
  <p>Any help would be appreciated!</p>