如果它是一条无限大的直线，而不是一条线段，最简单的方法是这样(在ruby中)，其中mx + b是直线，(x1, y1)是已知的点

(y1 - mx1 - b).abs / Math.sqrt(m**2 + 1)

这是一个自成体系的Delphi / Pascal版本的函数，基于上面约书亚的答案。使用TPoint用于VCL屏幕图形，但应该易于根据需要进行调整。

function DistancePtToSegment( pt, pt1, pt2: TPoint): double;
var
   a, b, c, d: double;
   len_sq: double;
   param: double;
   xx, yy: double;
   dx, dy: double;
begin
   a := pt.x - pt1.x;
   b := pt.y - pt1.y;
   c := pt2.x - pt1.x;
   d := pt2.y - pt1.y;

   len_sq := (c * c) + (d * d);
   param := -1;

   if (len_sq <> 0) then
   begin
      param := ((a * c) + (b * d)) / len_sq;
   end;

   if param < 0 then
   begin
      xx := pt1.x;
      yy := pt1.y;
   end
   else if param > 1 then
   begin
      xx := pt2.x;
      yy := pt2.y;
   end
   else begin
      xx := pt1.x + param * c;
      yy := pt1.y + param * d;
   end;

   dx := pt.x - xx;
   dy := pt.y - yy;
   result := sqrt( (dx * dx) + (dy * dy))
end;

看起来几乎每个人都在StackOverflow上贡献了一个答案(目前为止有23个答案)，所以这里是我对c#的贡献。这主要是基于M. Katz的回答，而Katz的回答又基于Grumdrig的回答。

   public struct MyVector
   {
      private readonly double _x, _y;


      // Constructor
      public MyVector(double x, double y)
      {
         _x = x;
         _y = y;
      }


      // Distance from this point to another point, squared
      private double DistanceSquared(MyVector otherPoint)
      {
         double dx = otherPoint._x - this._x;
         double dy = otherPoint._y - this._y;
         return dx * dx + dy * dy;
      }


      // Find the distance from this point to a line segment (which is not the same as from this 
      //  point to anywhere on an infinite line). Also returns the closest point.
      public double DistanceToLineSegment(MyVector lineSegmentPoint1, MyVector lineSegmentPoint2,
                                          out MyVector closestPoint)
      {
         return Math.Sqrt(DistanceToLineSegmentSquared(lineSegmentPoint1, lineSegmentPoint2, 
                          out closestPoint));
      }


      // Same as above, but avoid using Sqrt(), saves a new nanoseconds in cases where you only want 
      //  to compare several distances to find the smallest or largest, but don't need the distance
      public double DistanceToLineSegmentSquared(MyVector lineSegmentPoint1, 
                                              MyVector lineSegmentPoint2, out MyVector closestPoint)
      {
         // Compute length of line segment (squared) and handle special case of coincident points
         double segmentLengthSquared = lineSegmentPoint1.DistanceSquared(lineSegmentPoint2);
         if (segmentLengthSquared < 1E-7f)  // Arbitrary "close enough for government work" value
         {
            closestPoint = lineSegmentPoint1;
            return this.DistanceSquared(closestPoint);
         }

         // Use the magic formula to compute the "projection" of this point on the infinite line
         MyVector lineSegment = lineSegmentPoint2 - lineSegmentPoint1;
         double t = (this - lineSegmentPoint1).DotProduct(lineSegment) / segmentLengthSquared;

         // Handle the two cases where the projection is not on the line segment, and the case where 
         //  the projection is on the segment
         if (t <= 0)
            closestPoint = lineSegmentPoint1;
         else if (t >= 1)
            closestPoint = lineSegmentPoint2;
         else 
            closestPoint = lineSegmentPoint1 + (lineSegment * t);
         return this.DistanceSquared(closestPoint);
      }


      public double DotProduct(MyVector otherVector)
      {
         return this._x * otherVector._x + this._y * otherVector._y;
      }

      public static MyVector operator +(MyVector leftVector, MyVector rightVector)
      {
         return new MyVector(leftVector._x + rightVector._x, leftVector._y + rightVector._y);
      }

      public static MyVector operator -(MyVector leftVector, MyVector rightVector)
      {
         return new MyVector(leftVector._x - rightVector._x, leftVector._y - rightVector._y);
      }

      public static MyVector operator *(MyVector aVector, double aScalar)
      {
         return new MyVector(aVector._x * aScalar, aVector._y * aScalar);
      }

      // Added using ReSharper due to CodeAnalysis nagging

      public bool Equals(MyVector other)
      {
         return _x.Equals(other._x) && _y.Equals(other._y);
      }

      public override bool Equals(object obj)
      {
         if (ReferenceEquals(null, obj)) return false;
         return obj is MyVector && Equals((MyVector) obj);
      }

      public override int GetHashCode()
      {
         unchecked
         {
            return (_x.GetHashCode()*397) ^ _y.GetHashCode();
         }
      }

      public static bool operator ==(MyVector left, MyVector right)
      {
         return left.Equals(right);
      }

      public static bool operator !=(MyVector left, MyVector right)
      {
         return !left.Equals(right);
      }
   }

这是一个小测试程序。

   public static class JustTesting
   {
      public static void Main()
      {
         Stopwatch stopwatch = new Stopwatch();
         stopwatch.Start();

         for (int i = 0; i < 10000000; i++)
         {
            TestIt(1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0.70710678118654757);
            TestIt(5, 4, 0, 0, 20, 10, 1.3416407864998738);
            TestIt(30, 15, 0, 0, 20, 10, 11.180339887498949);
            TestIt(-30, 15, 0, 0, 20, 10, 33.541019662496844);
            TestIt(5, 1, 0, 0, 10, 0, 1.0);
            TestIt(1, 5, 0, 0, 0, 10, 1.0);
         }

         stopwatch.Stop();
         TimeSpan timeSpan = stopwatch.Elapsed;
      }


      private static void TestIt(float aPointX, float aPointY, 
                                 float lineSegmentPoint1X, float lineSegmentPoint1Y, 
                                 float lineSegmentPoint2X, float lineSegmentPoint2Y, 
                                 double expectedAnswer)
      {
         // Katz
         double d1 = DistanceFromPointToLineSegment(new MyVector(aPointX, aPointY), 
                                              new MyVector(lineSegmentPoint1X, lineSegmentPoint1Y), 
                                              new MyVector(lineSegmentPoint2X, lineSegmentPoint2Y));
         Debug.Assert(d1 == expectedAnswer);

         /*
         // Katz using squared distance
         double d2 = DistanceFromPointToLineSegmentSquared(new MyVector(aPointX, aPointY), 
                                              new MyVector(lineSegmentPoint1X, lineSegmentPoint1Y), 
                                              new MyVector(lineSegmentPoint2X, lineSegmentPoint2Y));
         Debug.Assert(Math.Abs(d2 - expectedAnswer * expectedAnswer) < 1E-7f);
          */

         /*
         // Matti (optimized)
         double d3 = FloatVector.DistanceToLineSegment(new PointF(aPointX, aPointY), 
                                                new PointF(lineSegmentPoint1X, lineSegmentPoint1Y), 
                                                new PointF(lineSegmentPoint2X, lineSegmentPoint2Y));
         Debug.Assert(Math.Abs(d3 - expectedAnswer) < 1E-7f);
          */
      }

      private static double DistanceFromPointToLineSegment(MyVector aPoint, 
                                             MyVector lineSegmentPoint1, MyVector lineSegmentPoint2)
      {
         MyVector closestPoint;  // Not used
         return aPoint.DistanceToLineSegment(lineSegmentPoint1, lineSegmentPoint2, 
                                             out closestPoint);
      }

      private static double DistanceFromPointToLineSegmentSquared(MyVector aPoint, 
                                             MyVector lineSegmentPoint1, MyVector lineSegmentPoint2)
      {
         MyVector closestPoint;  // Not used
         return aPoint.DistanceToLineSegmentSquared(lineSegmentPoint1, lineSegmentPoint2, 
                                                    out closestPoint);
      }
   }

如您所见，我试图衡量使用避免Sqrt()方法的版本与使用普通版本之间的差异。我的测试表明你可能可以节省2.5%，但我甚至不确定——各种测试运行中的变化是相同的数量级。我还试着测量了Matti发布的版本(加上一个明显的优化)，该版本似乎比基于Katz/Grumdrig代码的版本慢了大约4%。

编辑:顺便说一句，我还尝试过测量一种方法，该方法使用叉乘(和平方根())来查找到无限直线(不是线段)的距离，它大约快32%。

在javascript中使用几何:

var a = { x:20, y:20};//start segment    
var b = { x:40, y:30};//end segment   
var c = { x:37, y:14};//point   

// magnitude from a to c    
var ac = Math.sqrt( Math.pow( ( a.x - c.x ), 2 ) + Math.pow( ( a.y - c.y ), 2) );    
// magnitude from b to c   
var bc = Math.sqrt( Math.pow( ( b.x - c.x ), 2 ) + Math.pow( ( b.y - c.y ), 2 ) );    
// magnitude from a to b (base)     
var ab = Math.sqrt( Math.pow( ( a.x - b.x ), 2 ) + Math.pow( ( a.y - b.y ), 2 ) );    
 // perimeter of triangle     
var p = ac + bc + ab;    
 // area of the triangle    
var area = Math.sqrt( p/2 * ( p/2 - ac) * ( p/2 - bc ) * ( p/2 - ab ) );    
 // height of the triangle = distance    
var h = ( area * 2 ) / ab;    
console.log ("height: " + h);

Consider this modification to Grumdrig's answer above. Many times you'll find that floating point imprecision can cause problems. I'm using doubles in the version below, but you can easily change to floats. The important part is that it uses an epsilon to handle the "slop". In addition, you'll many times want to know WHERE the intersection happened, or if it happened at all. If the returned t is < 0.0 or > 1.0, no collision occurred. However, even if no collision occurred, many times you'll want to know where the closest point on the segment to P is, and thus I use qx and qy to return this location.

double PointSegmentDistanceSquared( double px, double py,
                                    double p1x, double p1y,
                                    double p2x, double p2y,
                                    double& t,
                                    double& qx, double& qy)
{
    static const double kMinSegmentLenSquared = 0.00000001;  // adjust to suit.  If you use float, you'll probably want something like 0.000001f
    static const double kEpsilon = 1.0E-14;  // adjust to suit.  If you use floats, you'll probably want something like 1E-7f
    double dx = p2x - p1x;
    double dy = p2y - p1y;
    double dp1x = px - p1x;
    double dp1y = py - p1y;
    const double segLenSquared = (dx * dx) + (dy * dy);
    if (segLenSquared >= -kMinSegmentLenSquared && segLenSquared <= kMinSegmentLenSquared)
    {
        // segment is a point.
        qx = p1x;
        qy = p1y;
        t = 0.0;
        return ((dp1x * dp1x) + (dp1y * dp1y));
    }
    else
    {
        // Project a line from p to the segment [p1,p2].  By considering the line
        // extending the segment, parameterized as p1 + (t * (p2 - p1)),
        // we find projection of point p onto the line. 
        // It falls where t = [(p - p1) . (p2 - p1)] / |p2 - p1|^2
        t = ((dp1x * dx) + (dp1y * dy)) / segLenSquared;
        if (t < kEpsilon)
        {
            // intersects at or to the "left" of first segment vertex (p1x, p1y).  If t is approximately 0.0, then
            // intersection is at p1.  If t is less than that, then there is no intersection (i.e. p is not within
            // the 'bounds' of the segment)
            if (t > -kEpsilon)
            {
                // intersects at 1st segment vertex
                t = 0.0;
            }
            // set our 'intersection' point to p1.
            qx = p1x;
            qy = p1y;
            // Note: If you wanted the ACTUAL intersection point of where the projected lines would intersect if
            // we were doing PointLineDistanceSquared, then qx would be (p1x + (t * dx)) and qy would be (p1y + (t * dy)).
        }
        else if (t > (1.0 - kEpsilon))
        {
            // intersects at or to the "right" of second segment vertex (p2x, p2y).  If t is approximately 1.0, then
            // intersection is at p2.  If t is greater than that, then there is no intersection (i.e. p is not within
            // the 'bounds' of the segment)
            if (t < (1.0 + kEpsilon))
            {
                // intersects at 2nd segment vertex
                t = 1.0;
            }
            // set our 'intersection' point to p2.
            qx = p2x;
            qy = p2y;
            // Note: If you wanted the ACTUAL intersection point of where the projected lines would intersect if
            // we were doing PointLineDistanceSquared, then qx would be (p1x + (t * dx)) and qy would be (p1y + (t * dy)).
        }
        else
        {
            // The projection of the point to the point on the segment that is perpendicular succeeded and the point
            // is 'within' the bounds of the segment.  Set the intersection point as that projected point.
            qx = p1x + (t * dx);
            qy = p1y + (t * dy);
        }
        // return the squared distance from p to the intersection point.  Note that we return the squared distance
        // as an optimization because many times you just need to compare relative distances and the squared values
        // works fine for that.  If you want the ACTUAL distance, just take the square root of this value.
        double dpqx = px - qx;
        double dpqy = py - qy;
        return ((dpqx * dpqx) + (dpqy * dpqy));
    }
}

Matlab代码，内置“自检”，如果他们调用函数没有参数:

function r = distPointToLineSegment( xy0, xy1, xyP )
% r = distPointToLineSegment( xy0, xy1, xyP )

if( nargin < 3 )
    selfTest();
    r=0;
else
    vx = xy0(1)-xyP(1);
    vy = xy0(2)-xyP(2);
    ux = xy1(1)-xy0(1);
    uy = xy1(2)-xy0(2);
    lenSqr= (ux*ux+uy*uy);
    detP= -vx*ux + -vy*uy;

    if( detP < 0 )
        r = norm(xy0-xyP,2);
    elseif( detP > lenSqr )
        r = norm(xy1-xyP,2);
    else
        r = abs(ux*vy-uy*vx)/sqrt(lenSqr);
    end
end


    function selfTest()
        %#ok<*NASGU>
        disp(['invalid args, distPointToLineSegment running (recursive)  self-test...']);

        ptA = [1;1]; ptB = [-1;-1];
        ptC = [1/2;1/2];  % on the line
        ptD = [-2;-1.5];  % too far from line segment
        ptE = [1/2;0];    % should be same as perpendicular distance to line
        ptF = [1.5;1.5];      % along the A-B but outside of the segment

        distCtoAB = distPointToLineSegment(ptA,ptB,ptC)
        distDtoAB = distPointToLineSegment(ptA,ptB,ptD)
        distEtoAB = distPointToLineSegment(ptA,ptB,ptE)
        distFtoAB = distPointToLineSegment(ptA,ptB,ptF)
        figure(1); clf;
        circle = @(x, y, r, c) rectangle('Position', [x-r, y-r, 2*r, 2*r], ...
            'Curvature', [1 1], 'EdgeColor', c);
        plot([ptA(1) ptB(1)],[ptA(2) ptB(2)],'r-x'); hold on;
        plot(ptC(1),ptC(2),'b+'); circle(ptC(1),ptC(2), 0.5e-1, 'b');
        plot(ptD(1),ptD(2),'g+'); circle(ptD(1),ptD(2), distDtoAB, 'g');
        plot(ptE(1),ptE(2),'k+'); circle(ptE(1),ptE(2), distEtoAB, 'k');
        plot(ptF(1),ptF(2),'m+'); circle(ptF(1),ptF(2), distFtoAB, 'm');
        hold off;
        axis([-3 3 -3 3]); axis equal;
    end

end