本想在GLSL中这样做，但如果可能的话，最好避免所有这些条件。使用clamp()可以避免两种端点情况:

// find closest point to P on line segment AB:
vec3 closest_point_on_line_segment(in vec3 P, in vec3 A, in vec3 B) {
    vec3 AP = P - A, AB = B - A;
    float l = dot(AB, AB);
    if (l <= 0.0000001) return A;    // A and B are practically the same
    return AP - AB*clamp(dot(AP, AB)/l, 0.0, 1.0);  // do the projection
}

如果您可以确定A和B彼此不会非常接近，则可以简化为删除If()。事实上，即使A和B是相同的，我的GPU仍然给出了这个无条件版本的正确结果(但这是使用pre-OpenGL 4.1，其中GLSL除零是未定义的):

// find closest point to P on line segment AB:
vec3 closest_point_on_line_segment(in vec3 P, in vec3 A, in vec3 B) {
    vec3 AP = P - A, AB = B - A;
    return AP - AB*clamp(dot(AP, AB)/dot(AB, AB), 0.0, 1.0);
}

计算距离是很简单的——GLSL提供了一个distance()函数，你可以在这个最近的点和P。

灵感来自Iñigo Quilez的胶囊距离函数代码

快速实现http://paulbourke.net/geometry/pointlineplane/source.c

    static func magnitude(p1: CGPoint, p2: CGPoint) -> CGFloat {
        let vector = CGPoint(x: p2.x - p1.x, y: p2.y - p1.y)
        return sqrt(pow(vector.x, 2) + pow(vector.y, 2))
    }

    /// http://paulbourke.net/geometry/pointlineplane/
    /// http://paulbourke.net/geometry/pointlineplane/source.c
    static func pointDistanceToLine(point: CGPoint, lineStart: CGPoint, lineEnd: CGPoint) -> CGFloat? {

        let lineMag = magnitude(p1: lineEnd, p2: lineStart)
        let u = (((point.x - lineStart.x) * (lineEnd.x - lineStart.x)) +
                ((point.y - lineStart.y) * (lineEnd.y - lineStart.y))) /
                (lineMag * lineMag)

        if u < 0 || u > 1 {
            // closest point does not fall within the line segment
            return nil
        }

        let intersectionX = lineStart.x + u * (lineEnd.x - lineStart.x)
        let intersectionY = lineStart.y + u * (lineEnd.y - lineStart.y)

        return magnitude(p1: point, p2: CGPoint(x: intersectionX, y: intersectionY))
    }

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.

对于感兴趣的人，这里是Joshua的Javascript代码到Objective-C的简单转换:

- (double)distanceToPoint:(CGPoint)p fromLineSegmentBetween:(CGPoint)l1 and:(CGPoint)l2
{
    double A = p.x - l1.x;
    double B = p.y - l1.y;
    double C = l2.x - l1.x;
    double D = l2.y - l1.y;

    double dot = A * C + B * D;
    double len_sq = C * C + D * D;
    double param = dot / len_sq;

    double xx, yy;

    if (param < 0 || (l1.x == l2.x && l1.y == l2.y)) {
        xx = l1.x;
        yy = l1.y;
    }
    else if (param > 1) {
        xx = l2.x;
        yy = l2.y;
    }
    else {
        xx = l1.x + param * C;
        yy = l1.y + param * D;
    }

    double dx = p.x - xx;
    double dy = p.y - yy;

    return sqrtf(dx * dx + dy * dy);
}

我需要这个解决方案与MKMapPoint一起工作，所以我将分享它，以防其他人需要它。只是一些小的改变，这将返回米为单位的距离:

- (double)distanceToPoint:(MKMapPoint)p fromLineSegmentBetween:(MKMapPoint)l1 and:(MKMapPoint)l2
{
    double A = p.x - l1.x;
    double B = p.y - l1.y;
    double C = l2.x - l1.x;
    double D = l2.y - l1.y;

    double dot = A * C + B * D;
    double len_sq = C * C + D * D;
    double param = dot / len_sq;

    double xx, yy;

    if (param < 0 || (l1.x == l2.x && l1.y == l2.y)) {
        xx = l1.x;
        yy = l1.y;
    }
    else if (param > 1) {
        xx = l2.x;
        yy = l2.y;
    }
    else {
        xx = l1.x + param * C;
        yy = l1.y + param * D;
    }

    return MKMetersBetweenMapPoints(p, MKMapPointMake(xx, yy));
}

这里它使用Swift

    /* Distance from a point (p1) to line l1 l2 */
func distanceFromPoint(p: CGPoint, toLineSegment l1: CGPoint, and l2: CGPoint) -> CGFloat {
    let A = p.x - l1.x
    let B = p.y - l1.y
    let C = l2.x - l1.x
    let D = l2.y - l1.y

    let dot = A * C + B * D
    let len_sq = C * C + D * D
    let param = dot / len_sq

    var xx, yy: CGFloat

    if param < 0 || (l1.x == l2.x && l1.y == l2.y) {
        xx = l1.x
        yy = l1.y
    } else if param > 1 {
        xx = l2.x
        yy = l2.y
    } else {
        xx = l1.x + param * C
        yy = l1.y + param * D
    }

    let dx = p.x - xx
    let dy = p.y - yy

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

只是遇到了这个，我想我应该添加一个Lua实现。它假设点以表{x=xVal, y=yVal}给出，直线或线段由包含两个点的表给出(见下面的例子):

function distance( P1, P2 )
    return math.sqrt((P1.x-P2.x)^2 + (P1.y-P2.y)^2)
end

-- Returns false if the point lies beyond the reaches of the segment
function distPointToSegment( line, P )
    if line[1].x == line[2].x and line[1].y == line[2].y then
        print("Error: Not a line!")
        return false
    end

    local d = distance( line[1], line[2] )

    local t = ((P.x - line[1].x)*(line[2].x - line[1].x) + (P.y - line[1].y)*(line[2].y - line[1].y))/(d^2)

    local projection = {}
    projection.x = line[1].x + t*(line[2].x-line[1].x)
    projection.y = line[1].y + t*(line[2].y-line[1].y)

    if t >= 0 and t <= 1 then   -- within line segment?
        return distance( projection, {x=P.x, y=P.y} )
    else
        return false
    end
end

-- Returns value even if point is further down the line (outside segment)
function distPointToLine( line, P )
    if line[1].x == line[2].x and line[1].y == line[2].y then
        print("Error: Not a line!")
        return false
    end

    local d = distance( line[1], line[2] )

    local t = ((P.x - line[1].x)*(line[2].x - line[1].x) + (P.y - line[1].y)*(line[2].y - line[1].y))/(d^2)

    local projection = {}
    projection.x = line[1].x + t*(line[2].x-line[1].x)
    projection.y = line[1].y + t*(line[2].y-line[1].y)

    return distance( projection, {x=P.x, y=P.y} )
end

使用示例:

local P1 = {x = 0, y = 0}
local P2 = {x = 10, y = 10}
local line = { P1, P2 }
local P3 = {x = 7, y = 15}
print(distPointToLine( line, P3 ))  -- prints 5.6568542494924
print(distPointToSegment( line, P3 )) -- prints false