Shortest distance between a point and a line segment

This is an implementation made for FINITE LINE SEGMENTS, not infinite lines like most other functions here seem to be (that's why I made this).

Implementation of theory by Paul Bourke.

Python:

def dist(x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3): # x3,y3 is the point
    px = x2-x1
    py = y2-y1

    norm = px*px + py*py

    u =  ((x3 - x1) * px + (y3 - y1) * py) / float(norm)

    if u > 1:
        u = 1
    elif u < 0:
        u = 0

    x = x1 + u * px
    y = y1 + u * py

    dx = x - x3
    dy = y - y3

    # Note: If the actual distance does not matter,
    # if you only want to compare what this function
    # returns to other results of this function, you
    # can just return the squared distance instead
    # (i.e. remove the sqrt) to gain a little performance

    dist = (dx*dx + dy*dy)**.5

    return dist

AS3:

public static function segmentDistToPoint(segA:Point, segB:Point, p:Point):Number
{
    var p2:Point = new Point(segB.x - segA.x, segB.y - segA.y);
    var something:Number = p2.x*p2.x + p2.y*p2.y;
    var u:Number = ((p.x - segA.x) * p2.x + (p.y - segA.y) * p2.y) / something;

    if (u > 1)
        u = 1;
    else if (u < 0)
        u = 0;

    var x:Number = segA.x + u * p2.x;
    var y:Number = segA.y + u * p2.y;

    var dx:Number = x - p.x;
    var dy:Number = y - p.y;

    var dist:Number = Math.sqrt(dx*dx + dy*dy);

    return dist;
}

Java

private double shortestDistance(float x1,float y1,float x2,float y2,float x3,float y3)
    {
        float px=x2-x1;
        float py=y2-y1;
        float temp=(px*px)+(py*py);
        float u=((x3 - x1) * px + (y3 - y1) * py) / (temp);
        if(u>1){
            u=1;
        }
        else if(u<0){
            u=0;
        }
        float x = x1 + u * px;
        float y = y1 + u * py;

        float dx = x - x3;
        float dy = y - y3;
        double dist = Math.sqrt(dx*dx + dy*dy);
        return dist;

    }

In my own question thread how to calculate shortest 2D distance between a point and a line segment in all cases in C, C# / .NET 2.0 or Java? I was asked to put a C# answer here when I find one: so here it is, modified from http://www.topcoder.com/tc?d1=tutorials&d2=geometry1&module=Static :

//Compute the dot product AB . BC
private double DotProduct(double[] pointA, double[] pointB, double[] pointC)
{
    double[] AB = new double[2];
    double[] BC = new double[2];
    AB[0] = pointB[0] - pointA[0];
    AB[1] = pointB[1] - pointA[1];
    BC[0] = pointC[0] - pointB[0];
    BC[1] = pointC[1] - pointB[1];
    double dot = AB[0] * BC[0] + AB[1] * BC[1];

    return dot;
}

//Compute the cross product AB x AC
private double CrossProduct(double[] pointA, double[] pointB, double[] pointC)
{
    double[] AB = new double[2];
    double[] AC = new double[2];
    AB[0] = pointB[0] - pointA[0];
    AB[1] = pointB[1] - pointA[1];
    AC[0] = pointC[0] - pointA[0];
    AC[1] = pointC[1] - pointA[1];
    double cross = AB[0] * AC[1] - AB[1] * AC[0];

    return cross;
}

//Compute the distance from A to B
double Distance(double[] pointA, double[] pointB)
{
    double d1 = pointA[0] - pointB[0];
    double d2 = pointA[1] - pointB[1];

    return Math.Sqrt(d1 * d1 + d2 * d2);
}

//Compute the distance from AB to C
//if isSegment is true, AB is a segment, not a line.
double LineToPointDistance2D(double[] pointA, double[] pointB, double[] pointC, 
    bool isSegment)
{
    double dist = CrossProduct(pointA, pointB, pointC) / Distance(pointA, pointB);
    if (isSegment)
    {
        double dot1 = DotProduct(pointA, pointB, pointC);
        if (dot1 > 0) 
            return Distance(pointB, pointC);

        double dot2 = DotProduct(pointB, pointA, pointC);
        if (dot2 > 0) 
            return Distance(pointA, pointC);
    }
    return Math.Abs(dist);
} 

I'm @SO not to answer but ask questions so I hope I don't get million down votes for some reasons but constructing critic. I just wanted (and was encouraged) to share somebody else's ideas since the solutions in this thread are either with some exotic language (Fortran, Mathematica) or tagged as faulty by somebody. The only useful one (by Grumdrig) for me is written with C++ and nobody tagged it faulty. But it's missing the methods (dot etc.) that are called.

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

One line solution using arctangents:

The idea is to move A to (0, 0) and rotate triangle clockwise to make C lay on X axis, when this happen, By will be the distance.

1. a angle = Atan(Cy - Ay, Cx - Ax);
2. b angle = Atan(By - Ay, Bx - Ax);
3. AB length = Sqrt( (Bx - Ax)^2 + (By - Ay)^2 )
4. By = Sin ( bAngle - aAngle) * ABLength

C#

public double Distance(Point a, Point b, Point c)
{
    // normalize points
    Point cn = new Point(c.X - a.X, c.Y - a.Y);
    Point bn = new Point(b.X - a.X, b.Y - a.Y);

    double angle = Math.Atan2(bn.Y, bn.X) - Math.Atan2(cn.Y, cn.X);
    double abLength = Math.Sqrt(bn.X*bn.X + bn.Y*bn.Y);

    return Math.Sin(angle)*abLength;
}

One line C# (to be converted to SQL)

double distance = Math.Sin(Math.Atan2(b.Y - a.Y, b.X - a.X) - Math.Atan2(c.Y - a.Y, c.X - a.X)) * Math.Sqrt((b.X - a.X) * (b.X - a.X) + (b.Y - a.Y) * (b.Y - a.Y))

Couldn't resist coding it in python :)

from math import sqrt, fabs
def pdis(a, b, c):
    t = b[0]-a[0], b[1]-a[1]           # Vector ab
    dd = sqrt(t[0]**2+t[1]**2)         # Length of ab
    t = t[0]/dd, t[1]/dd               # unit vector of ab
    n = -t[1], t[0]                    # normal unit vector to ab
    ac = c[0]-a[0], c[1]-a[1]          # vector ac
    return fabs(ac[0]*n[0]+ac[1]*n[1]) # Projection of ac to n (the minimum distance)

print pdis((1,1), (2,2), (2,0))        # Example (answer is 1.414)

Ditto for fortran :)

real function pdis(a, b, c)
    real, dimension(0:1), intent(in) :: a, b, c
    real, dimension(0:1) :: t, n, ac
    real :: dd
    t = b - a                          ! Vector ab
    dd = sqrt(t(0)**2+t(1)**2)         ! Length of ab
    t = t/dd                           ! unit vector of ab
    n = (/-t(1), t(0)/)                ! normal unit vector to ab
    ac = c - a                         ! vector ac
    pdis = abs(ac(0)*n(0)+ac(1)*n(1))  ! Projection of ac to n (the minimum distance)
end function pdis


program test
    print *, pdis((/1.0,1.0/), (/2.0,2.0/), (/2.0,0.0/))   ! Example (answer is 1.414)
end program test

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.

Here's the code I ended up writing. This code assumes that a point is defined in the form of {x:5, y:7}. Note that this is not the absolute most efficient way, but it's the simplest and easiest-to-understand code that I could come up with.

// a, b, and c in the code below are all points

function distance(a, b)
{
    var dx = a.x - b.x;
    var dy = a.y - b.y;
    return Math.sqrt(dx*dx + dy*dy);
}

function Segment(a, b)
{
    var ab = {
        x: b.x - a.x,
        y: b.y - a.y
    };
    var length = distance(a, b);

    function cross(c) {
        return ab.x * (c.y-a.y) - ab.y * (c.x-a.x);
    };

    this.distanceFrom = function(c) {
        return Math.min(distance(a,c),
                        distance(b,c),
                        Math.abs(cross(c) / length));
    };
}

GLSL version:

// line (a -> b ) point p[enter image description here][1]
float distanceToLine(vec2 a, vec2 b, vec2 p) {
    float aside = dot((p - a),(b - a));
    if(aside< 0.0) return length(p-a);
    float bside = dot((p - b),(a - b));
    if(bside< 0.0) return length(p-b);
    vec2 pointOnLine = (bside*a + aside*b)/pow(length(a-b),2.0);
    return length(p - pointOnLine);
}

Python Numpy implementation for 2D coordinate array:

import numpy as np


def dist2d(p1, p2, coords):
    ''' Distance from points to a finite line btwn p1 -> p2 '''
    assert coords.ndim == 2 and coords.shape[1] == 2, 'coords is not 2 dim'
    dp = p2 - p1
    st = dp[0]**2 + dp[1]**2
    u = ((coords[:, 0] - p1[0]) * dp[0] + (coords[:, 1] - p1[1]) * dp[1]) / st

    u[u > 1.] = 1.
    u[u < 0.] = 0.

    dx = (p1[0] + u * dp[0]) - coords[:, 0]
    dy = (p1[1] + u * dp[1]) - coords[:, 1]

    return np.sqrt(dx**2 + dy**2)


# Usage:
p1 = np.array([0., 0.])
p2 = np.array([0., 10.])

# List of coordinates
coords = np.array(
    [[0., 0.],
     [5., 5.],
     [10., 10.],
     [20., 20.]
     ])

d = dist2d(p1, p2, coords)

# Single coordinate
coord = np.array([25., 25.])
d = dist2d(p1, p2, coord[np.newaxis, :])

Here is one based on vector math; this solution will also work for higher dimensions and also report on the interection point (on the line segment).

def dist(x1,y1,x2,y2,px,py):
    a = np.array([[x1,y1]]).T
    b = np.array([[x2,y2]]).T
    x = np.array([[px,py]]).T
    tp = (np.dot(x.T, b) - np.dot(a.T, b)) / np.dot(b.T, b)
    tp = tp[0][0]
    tmp = x - (a + tp*b)
    d = np.sqrt(np.dot(tmp.T,tmp)[0][0])
    return d, a+tp*b

x1,y1=2.,2.
x2,y2=5.,5.
px,py=4.,1.

d, inters = dist(x1,y1, x2,y2, px,py)
print (d)
print (inters)

Result is

2.1213203435596424
[[2.5]
 [2.5]]

The math is explained here

https://brilliant.org/wiki/distance-between-point-and-line/

Solution for dart and flutter:

import 'dart:math' as math;
 class Utils {
   static double shortestDistance(Point p1, Point p2, Point p3){
      double px = p2.x - p1.x;
      double py = p2.y - p1.y;
      double temp = (px*px) + (py*py);
      double u = ((p3.x - p1.x)*px + (p3.y - p1.y)* py) /temp;
      if(u>1){
        u=1;
      }
      else if(u<0){
        u=0;
      }
      double x = p1.x + u*px;
      double y = p1.y + u*py;
      double dx = x - p3.x;
      double dy = y - p3.y;
      double dist = math.sqrt(dx*dx+dy*dy);
      return dist;
   }
}

class Point {
  double x;
  double y;
  Point(this.x, this.y);
}

This answer is based on the accepted answer's JavaScript solution. It's mainly just formatted nicer, with longer function names, and of course shorter function syntax because it's in ES6 + CoffeeScript.

JavaScript version (ES6)

distanceSquared = (v, w)=> Math.pow(v.x - w.x, 2) + Math.pow(v.y - w.y, 2);
distance = (v, w)=> Math.sqrt(distanceSquared(v, w));

distanceToLineSegmentSquared = (p, v, w)=> {
    l2 = distanceSquared(v, w);
    if (l2 === 0) {
        return distanceSquared(p, v);
    }
    t = ((p.x - v.x) * (w.x - v.x) + (p.y - v.y) * (w.y - v.y)) / l2;
    t = Math.max(0, Math.min(1, t));
    return distanceSquared(p, {
        x: v.x + t * (w.x - v.x),
        y: v.y + t * (w.y - v.y)
    });
}
distanceToLineSegment = (p, v, w)=> {
    return Math.sqrt(distanceToLineSegmentSquared(p, v));
}

CoffeeScript version

distanceSquared = (v, w)-> (v.x - w.x) ** 2 + (v.y - w.y) ** 2
distance = (v, w)-> Math.sqrt(distanceSquared(v, w))

distanceToLineSegmentSquared = (p, v, w)->
    l2 = distanceSquared(v, w)
    return distanceSquared(p, v) if l2 is 0
    t = ((p.x - v.x) * (w.x - v.x) + (p.y - v.y) * (w.y - v.y)) / l2
    t = Math.max(0, Math.min(1, t))
    distanceSquared(p, {
        x: v.x + t * (w.x - v.x)
        y: v.y + t * (w.y - v.y)
    })

distanceToLineSegment = (p, v, w)->
    Math.sqrt(distanceToLineSegmentSquared(p, v, w))

Swift implementation of http://paulbourke.net/geometry/pointlineplane/source.c

    static func magnitude(p1: CGPoint, p2: CGPoint) -> CGFloat {
        let vector = CGPoint(x: p2.x - p1.x, y: p2.y - p1.y)
        return sqrt(pow(vector.x, 2) + pow(vector.y, 2))
    }

    /// http://paulbourke.net/geometry/pointlineplane/
    /// http://paulbourke.net/geometry/pointlineplane/source.c
    static func pointDistanceToLine(point: CGPoint, lineStart: CGPoint, lineEnd: CGPoint) -> CGFloat? {

        let lineMag = magnitude(p1: lineEnd, p2: lineStart)
        let u = (((point.x - lineStart.x) * (lineEnd.x - lineStart.x)) +
                ((point.y - lineStart.y) * (lineEnd.y - lineStart.y))) /
                (lineMag * lineMag)

        if u < 0 || u > 1 {
            // closest point does not fall within the line segment
            return nil
        }

        let intersectionX = lineStart.x + u * (lineEnd.x - lineStart.x)
        let intersectionY = lineStart.y + u * (lineEnd.y - lineStart.y)

        return magnitude(p1: point, p2: CGPoint(x: intersectionX, y: intersectionY))
    }

The Lua solution

-- distance from point (px, py) to line segment (x1, y1, x2, y2)
function distPointToLine(px,py,x1,y1,x2,y2) -- point, start and end of the segment
    local dx,dy = x2-x1,y2-y1
    local length = math.sqrt(dx*dx+dy*dy)
    dx,dy = dx/length,dy/length -- normalization
    local p = dx*(px-x1)+dy*(py-y1)
    if p < 0 then
        dx,dy = px-x1,py-y1
        return math.sqrt(dx*dx+dy*dy), x1, y1 -- distance, nearest point
    elseif p > length then
        dx,dy = px-x2,py-y2
        return math.sqrt(dx*dx+dy*dy), x2, y2 -- distance, nearest point
    end
    return math.abs(dy*(px-x1)-dx*(py-y1)), x1+dx*p, y1+dy*p -- distance, nearest point
end

For polyline (line with more than two segments):

-- if the (poly-)line has several segments, just iterate through all of them:
function nearest_sector_in_line (x, y, line)
    local x1, y1, x2, y2, min_dist
    local ax,ay = line[1], line[2]
    for j = 3, #line-1, 2 do
        local bx,by = line[j], line[j+1]
        local dist = distPointToLine(x,y,ax,ay,bx,by)
        if not min_dist or dist < min_dist then
            min_dist = dist
            x1, y1, x2, y2 = ax,ay,bx,by
        end
        ax, ay = bx, by
    end
    return x1, y1, x2, y2
end

Example:

-- call it:
local x1, y1, x2, y2 = nearest_sector_in_line (7, 4, {0,0, 10,0, 10,10, 0,10})

Here is SQL implementation for HSQLDB:

CREATE FUNCTION dist_to_segment(px double, py double, vx double, vy double, wx double, wy double)
  RETURNS double
BEGIN atomic
   declare l2 double;
   declare t double;
   declare nx double;
   declare ny double;
   set l2 =(vx - wx)*(vx - wx) + (vy - wy)*(vy - wy);
   IF l2 = 0 THEN
     RETURN sqrt((vx - px)*(vx - px) + (vy - py)*(vy - py));
   ELSE
     set t = ((px - vx) * (wx - vx) + (py - vy) * (wy - vy)) / l2;
     set t = GREATEST(0, LEAST(1, t));
     set nx=vx + t * (wx - vx);
     set ny=vy + t * (wy - vy);
     RETURN sqrt((nx - px)*(nx - px) + (ny - py)*(ny - py));
   END IF;
END;

And implementation for Postgres:

CREATE FUNCTION dist_to_segment(px numeric, py numeric, vx numeric, vy numeric, wx numeric, wy numeric)
  RETURNS numeric
AS $$
   declare l2 numeric;
   declare t numeric;
   declare nx numeric;
   declare ny numeric;
BEGIN 
   l2 := (vx - wx)*(vx - wx) + (vy - wy)*(vy - wy);
   IF l2 = 0 THEN
     RETURN sqrt((vx - px)*(vx - px) + (vy - py)*(vy - py));
   ELSE
     t := ((px - vx) * (wx - vx) + (py - vy) * (wy - vy)) / l2;
     t := GREATEST(0, LEAST(1, t));
     nx := vx + t * (wx - vx);
     ny := vy + t * (wy - vy);
     RETURN sqrt((nx - px)*(nx - px) + (ny - py)*(ny - py));
   END IF;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

I needed a Godot (GDscript) implementation of this so I wrote one based on grumdrig's accepted answer:

func minimum_distance(v: Vector2, w: Vector2, p: Vector2):
    # Return minimum distance between line segment vw and point p
    var l2: float = (v - w).length_squared()  # i.e. |w-v|^2 -  avoid a sqrt
    if l2 == 0.0:
        return p.distance_to(v) # v == w case

    # Consider the line extending the segment, parameterized as v + t (w - v).
    # We find projection of point p onto the line.
    # It falls where t = [(p-v) . (w-v)] / |w-v|^2
    # We clamp t from [0,1] to handle points outside the segment vw.
    var t: float = max(0, min(1, (p - v).dot(w - v) / l2))
    var projection: Vector2 = v + t * (w - v)  # Projection falls on the segment
    
    return p.distance_to(projection)