一个2D和3D的解决方案

考虑基底的变化，使得线段变成(0,0,0)-(d, 0,0)和点(u, v, 0)。在这个平面上，最短的距离由

    u ≤ 0 -> d(A, C)
0 ≤ u ≤ d -> |v|
d ≤ u     -> d(B, C)

(到其中一个端点或到支撑线的距离，取决于到该线的投影。等距轨迹由两个半圆和两条线段组成。)

式中，d为AB线段的长度，u、v分别为AB/d (AB方向的单位矢量)与AC的标量积和外积的模量。

AB.AC ≤ 0             -> |AC|
    0 ≤ AB.AC ≤ AB²   -> |ABxAC|/|AB|
          AB² ≤ AB.AC -> |BC|

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)
}

这是我最后写的代码。这段代码假设一个点以{x:5, y:7}的形式定义。注意，这不是绝对最有效的方法，但它是我能想到的最简单、最容易理解的代码。

// 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));
    };
}

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:

Grumdrig的c++ /JavaScript实现对我来说非常有用，所以我提供了我正在使用的Python直接端口。完整的代码在这里。

class Point(object):
  def __init__(self, x, y):
    self.x = float(x)
    self.y = float(y)

def square(x):
  return x * x

def distance_squared(v, w):
  return square(v.x - w.x) + square(v.y - w.y)

def distance_point_segment_squared(p, v, w):
  # Segment length squared, |w-v|^2
  d2 = distance_squared(v, w) 
  if d2 == 0: 
    # v == w, return distance to v
    return distance_squared(p, v)
  # 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
  t = ((p.x - v.x) * (w.x - v.x) + (p.y - v.y) * (w.y - v.y)) / d2;
  if t < 0:
    # Beyond v end of the segment
    return distance_squared(p, v)
  elif t > 1.0:
    # Beyond w end of the segment
    return distance_squared(p, w)
  else:
    # Projection falls on the segment.
    proj = Point(v.x + t * (w.x - v.x), v.y + t * (w.y - v.y))
    # print proj.x, proj.y
    return distance_squared(p, proj)

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%。