该算法基于求出指定直线与包含指定点的正交直线的交点，并计算其距离。在线段的情况下，我们必须检查交点是否在线段的点之间，如果不是这样，则最小距离是指定点与线段的一个端点之间的距离。这是一个c#实现。

Double Distance(Point a, Point b)
{
    double xdiff = a.X - b.X, ydiff = a.Y - b.Y;
    return Math.Sqrt((long)xdiff * xdiff + (long)ydiff * ydiff);
}

Boolean IsBetween(double x, double a, double b)
{
    return ((a <= b && x >= a && x <= b) || (a > b && x <= a && x >= b));
}

Double GetDistance(Point pt, Point pt1, Point pt2, out Point intersection)
{
    Double a, x, y, R;

    if (pt1.X != pt2.X) {
        a = (double)(pt2.Y - pt1.Y) / (pt2.X - pt1.X);
        x = (a * (pt.Y - pt1.Y) + a * a * pt1.X + pt.X) / (a * a + 1);
        y = a * x + pt1.Y - a * pt1.X; }
    else { x = pt1.X;  y = pt.Y; }

    if (IsBetween(x, pt1.X, pt2.X) && IsBetween(y, pt1.Y, pt2.Y)) {
        intersection = new Point((int)x, (int)y);
        R = Distance(intersection, pt); }
    else {
        double d1 = Distance(pt, pt1), d2 = Distance(pt, pt2);
        if (d1 < d2) { intersection = pt1; R = d1; }
        else { intersection = pt2; R = d2; }}

    return R;
}

2D坐标数组的Python Numpy实现:

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, :])

在f#中，点c到a和b之间的线段的距离为:

let pointToLineSegmentDistance (a: Vector, b: Vector) (c: Vector) =
  let d = b - a
  let s = d.Length
  let lambda = (c - a) * d / s
  let p = (lambda |> max 0.0 |> min s) * d / s
  (a + p - c).Length

向量d沿着线段从a指向b。d/s与c-a的点积给出了无限直线与点c之间最接近点的参数。使用min和max函数将该参数钳制到范围0..s，使该点位于a和b之间。最后，a+p-c的长度是c到线段上最近点的距离。

使用示例:

pointToLineSegmentDistance (Vector(0.0, 0.0), Vector(1.0, 0.0)) (Vector(-1.0, 1.0))

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);

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.

嘿，我昨天才写的。它在Actionscript 3.0中，基本上是Javascript，尽管你可能没有相同的Point类。

//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;
}

此外，这里有一个关于这个问题的相当完整和可读的讨论:notejot.com