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Using boolean operations in an Inkscape extension
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<h1>Using boolean operations in an Inkscape extension</h1>
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<div id="article-date">2025-11-22</div>
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<p class="tags">
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<a href="/index/inkscape.html" class="tag">inkscape</a>
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<a href="/index/python.html" class="tag">python</a>
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<a href="/index/tip.html" class="tag">tip</a>
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<p>I've wasted 3 days doing this, so I will at least publish my findings on the web
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so you don't have to waste another 3 days. I wasn't able to find a good example
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online and the docs are not well-made (not saying that they should be a
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priority), so figuring it out does require some code research.
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</p><p>The <code>inkex</code> module provides lots of things, but boolean operations aren't one of
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them. Thus, you will have to call Inkscape yourself; luckily, <code>inkex</code> does
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provide that.
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</p><p>Even though they are listed as arguments, no special processing is done to the
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values, which are still strings.
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</p><p>I leave a minimal example:
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</p><pre data-language="python">import inkex
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import io
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class UnionTwoPaths(inkex.EffectExtension):
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def effect(self):
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selected = list(self.svg.selection)
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if len(selected) != 2:
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inkex.errormsg("Select exactly two paths!")
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return
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# Make a string of the IDs
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ids = ",".join([elem.get_id() for elem in selected])
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# Call Inkscape to make a union
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union_svg_bytes = inkex.command.inkscape_command(
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self.document,
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select=ids,
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actions="path-union"
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)
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# Send the drawing back
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self.document = inkex.load_svg(union_svg_bytes)
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if __name__ == "__main__":
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UnionTwoPaths().run()
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</pre><pre data-language="xml"><?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<inkscape-extension xmlns="http://www.inkscape.org/namespace/inkscape/extension">
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<name>Union of two paths</name>
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<id>org.inkscape.boolean.union_two_paths</id>
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<effect>
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<!-- Enable only on path objects (could use 'all' if preferred) -->
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<object-type>path</object-type>
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<effects-menu>
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<submenu name="Generate from Path"/>
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</effects-menu>
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</effect>
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<script>
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<command reldir="extensions" interpreter="python">union_two_paths.py</command>
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</script>
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</inkscape-extension>
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</pre>
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