以下是Grumdrig解决方案的一个更完整的说明。这个版本还返回最近的点本身。

#include "stdio.h"
#include "math.h"

class Vec2
{
public:
    float _x;
    float _y;

    Vec2()
    {
        _x = 0;
        _y = 0;
    }

    Vec2( const float x, const float y )
    {
        _x = x;
        _y = y;
    }

    Vec2 operator+( const Vec2 &v ) const
    {
        return Vec2( this->_x + v._x, this->_y + v._y );
    }

    Vec2 operator-( const Vec2 &v ) const
    {
        return Vec2( this->_x - v._x, this->_y - v._y );
    }

    Vec2 operator*( const float f ) const
    {
        return Vec2( this->_x * f, this->_y * f );
    }

    float DistanceToSquared( const Vec2 p ) const
    {
        const float dX = p._x - this->_x;
        const float dY = p._y - this->_y;

        return dX * dX + dY * dY;
    }

    float DistanceTo( const Vec2 p ) const
    {
        return sqrt( this->DistanceToSquared( p ) );
    }

    float DotProduct( const Vec2 p ) const
    {
        return this->_x * p._x + this->_y * p._y;
    }
};

// return minimum distance between line segment vw and point p, and the closest point on the line segment, q
float DistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( const Vec2 v, const Vec2 w, const Vec2 p, Vec2 * const q )
{
    const float distSq = v.DistanceToSquared( w ); // i.e. |w-v|^2 ... avoid a sqrt
    if ( distSq == 0.0 )
    {
        // v == w case
        (*q) = v;

        return v.DistanceTo( p );
    }

    // 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

    const float t = ( p - v ).DotProduct( w - v ) / distSq;
    if ( t < 0.0 )
    {
        // beyond the v end of the segment
        (*q) = v;

        return v.DistanceTo( p );
    }
    else if ( t > 1.0 )
    {
        // beyond the w end of the segment
        (*q) = w;

        return w.DistanceTo( p );
    }

    // projection falls on the segment
    const Vec2 projection = v + ( ( w - v ) * t );

    (*q) = projection;

    return p.DistanceTo( projection );
}

float DistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( float segmentX1, float segmentY1, float segmentX2, float segmentY2, float pX, float pY, float *qX, float *qY )
{
    Vec2 q;

    float distance = DistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( Vec2( segmentX1, segmentY1 ), Vec2( segmentX2, segmentY2 ), Vec2( pX, pY ), &q );

    (*qX) = q._x;
    (*qY) = q._y;

    return distance;
}

void TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( float segmentX1, float segmentY1, float segmentX2, float segmentY2, float pX, float pY )
{
    float qX;
    float qY;
    float d = DistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( segmentX1, segmentY1, segmentX2, segmentY2, pX, pY, &qX, &qY );
    printf( "line segment = ( ( %f, %f ), ( %f, %f ) ), p = ( %f, %f ), distance = %f, q = ( %f, %f )\n",
            segmentX1, segmentY1, segmentX2, segmentY2, pX, pY, d, qX, qY );
}

void TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint()
{
    TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0 );
    TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( 0, 0, 20, 10, 5, 4 );
    TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( 0, 0, 20, 10, 30, 15 );
    TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( 0, 0, 20, 10, -30, 15 );
    TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( 0, 0, 10, 0, 5, 1 );
    TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( 0, 0, 0, 10, 1, 5 );
}

c#版本

public static FP DistanceToLineSegment(FPVector3 a, FPVector3 b, FPVector3 point)
{
  var d = b - a;
  var s = d.SqrMagnitude;
  var ds = d / s;
  var lambda = FPVector3.Dot(point - a, ds);
  var p = FPMath.Clamp01(lambda) * d;
  return (a + p - point).Magnitude;
}

在数学

它使用线段的参数描述，并将点投影到线段定义的直线中。当参数在线段内从0到1时，如果投影在这个范围之外，我们计算到相应端点的距离，而不是法线到线段的直线。

Clear["Global`*"];
 distance[{start_, end_}, pt_] := 
   Module[{param},
   param = ((pt - start).(end - start))/Norm[end - start]^2; (*parameter. the "."
                                                       here means vector product*)

   Which[
    param < 0, EuclideanDistance[start, pt],                 (*If outside bounds*)
    param > 1, EuclideanDistance[end, pt],
    True, EuclideanDistance[pt, start + param (end - start)] (*Normal distance*)
    ]
   ];  

策划的结果:

Plot3D[distance[{{0, 0}, {1, 0}}, {xp, yp}], {xp, -1, 2}, {yp, -1, 2}]

画出比截断距离更近的点:

等高线图:

基于Joshua Javascript的AutoHotkeys版本:

plDist(x, y, x1, y1, x2, y2) {
    A:= x - x1
    B:= y - y1
    C:= x2 - x1
    D:= y2 - y1

    dot:= A*C + B*D
    sqLen:= C*C + D*D
    param:= dot / sqLen

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

    dx:= x - xx
    dy:= y - yy

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

忍不住用python来编码:)

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)

fortran也是一样:)

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

我需要一个Godot (GDscript)的实现，所以我写了一个基于grumdrig接受的答案:

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)