basic structure; zsh default; no desktop assumed

_custom/.local/bin/pdfsection

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#!/bin/zsh
+# Extract a page range from a PDF file
+# 1 original PDF file path
+# 2 first page of desired range
+# 3 last page of desired range (optional)
+source ~/.local/lib/pdf_tools.sh
+
+typeset -r             numpages=$(pdf_num_pages $1)
+typeset -r             digits=$#numpages
+typeset -r -Z${digits} first=$2
+typeset    -Z${digits} last=${numpages}
+
+if (( $# >= 3 )); then
+    (( $3 > ${numpages} )) && echo "The document is only ${numpages} pages long, which is less than $3!" && exit 1
+    last=$3
+fi
+pdf_extract_range "$1" $2 $3 "${1%.pdf}_${first}-${last}.pdf" > /dev/null