Shortest distance between a point and a line segme

Question

I need a basic function to find the shortest distance between a point and a line segment. Feel free to write the solution in any language you want; I can translate it into what I'm using (Javascript).

EDIT: My line segment is defined by two endpoints. So my line segment AB is defined by the two points A (x1,y1) and B (x2,y2). I'm trying to find the distance between this line segment and a point C (x3,y3). My geometry skills are rusty, so the examples I've seen are confusing, I'm sorry to admit.

Answer 1

I'm assuming you want to find the shortest distance between the point and a line segment; to do this, you need to find the line (lineA) which is perpendicular to your line segment (lineB) which goes through your point, determine the intersection between that line (lineA) and your line which goes through your line segment (lineB); if that point is between the two points of your line segment, then the distance is the distance between your point and the point you just found which is the intersection of lineA and lineB; if the point is not between the two points of your line segment, you need to get the distance between your point and the closer of two ends of the line segment; this can be done easily by taking the square distance (to avoid a square root) between the point and the two points of the line segment; whichever is closer, take the square root of that one.

Answer 2

The above function is not working on vertical lines. Here is a function that is working fine! Line with points p1, p2. and CheckPoint is p;

public float DistanceOfPointToLine2(PointF p1, PointF p2, PointF p)
{
  //          (y1-y2)x + (x2-x1)y + (x1y2-x2y1)
  //d(P,L) = --------------------------------
  //         sqrt( (x2-x1)pow2 + (y2-y1)pow2 )

  double ch = (p1.Y - p2.Y) * p.X + (p2.X - p1.X) * p.Y + (p1.X * p2.Y - p2.X * p1.Y);
  double del = Math.Sqrt(Math.Pow(p2.X - p1.X, 2) + Math.Pow(p2.Y - p1.Y, 2));
  double d = ch / del;
  return (float)d;
}

Answer 3

Hey, I just wrote this yesterday. It's in Actionscript 3.0, which is basically Javascript, though you might not have the same Point class.

//st = start of line segment
//b = the line segment (as in: st + b = end of line segment)
//pt = point to test
//Returns distance from point to line segment.  
//Note: nearest point on the segment to the test point is right there if we ever need it
public static function linePointDist( st:Point, b:Point, pt:Point ):Number
{
    var nearestPt:Point; //closest point on seqment to pt

    var keyDot:Number = dot( b, pt.subtract( st ) ); //key dot product
    var bLenSq:Number = dot( b, b ); //Segment length squared

    if( keyDot <= 0 )  //pt is "behind" st, use st
    {
        nearestPt = st  
    }
    else if( keyDot >= bLenSq ) //pt is "past" end of segment, use end (notice we are saving twin sqrts here cuz)
    {
        nearestPt = st.add(b);
    }
    else //pt is inside segment, reuse keyDot and bLenSq to get percent of seqment to move in to find closest point
    {
        var keyDotToPctOfB:Number = keyDot/bLenSq; //REM dot product comes squared
        var partOfB:Point = new Point( b.x * keyDotToPctOfB, b.y * keyDotToPctOfB );
        nearestPt = st.add(partOfB);
    }

    var dist:Number = (pt.subtract(nearestPt)).length;

    return dist;
}

Also, there's a pretty complete and readable discussion of the problem here: notejot.com

Answer 4

%Matlab solution by Tim from Cody
function ans=distP2S(x0,y0,x1,y1,x2,y2)
% Point is x0,y0
z=complex(x0-x1,y0-y1);
complex(x2-x1,y2-y1);
abs(z-ans*min(1,max(0,real(z/ans))));

Answer 5

Here is the simplest complete code in Javascript.

x, y is your target point and x1, y1 to x2, y2 is your line segment.

UPDATED: fix for 0 length line problem from comments.

function pDistance(x, y, x1, y1, x2, y2) {

  var A = x - x1;
  var B = y - y1;
  var C = x2 - x1;
  var D = y2 - y1;

  var dot = A * C + B * D;
  var len_sq = C * C + D * D;
  var param = -1;
  if (len_sq != 0) //in case of 0 length line
      param = dot / len_sq;

  var xx, yy;

  if (param < 0) {
    xx = x1;
    yy = y1;
  }
  else if (param > 1) {
    xx = x2;
    yy = y2;
  }
  else {
    xx = x1 + param * C;
    yy = y1 + param * D;
  }

  var dx = x - xx;
  var dy = y - yy;
  return Math.sqrt(dx * dx + dy * dy);
}

Answer 6

Here it is using Swift

    /* Distance from a point (p1) to line l1 l2 */
func distanceFromPoint(p: CGPoint, toLineSegment l1: CGPoint, and l2: CGPoint) -> CGFloat {
    let A = p.x - l1.x
    let B = p.y - l1.y
    let C = l2.x - l1.x
    let D = l2.y - l1.y

    let dot = A * C + B * D
    let len_sq = C * C + D * D
    let param = dot / len_sq

    var xx, yy: CGFloat

    if param < 0 || (l1.x == l2.x && l1.y == l2.y) {
        xx = l1.x
        yy = l1.y
    } else if param > 1 {
        xx = l2.x
        yy = l2.y
    } else {
        xx = l1.x + param * C
        yy = l1.y + param * D
    }

    let dx = p.x - xx
    let dy = p.y - yy

    return sqrt(dx * dx + dy * dy)
}