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;

Lua解决方案

-- distance from point (px, py) to line segment (x1, y1, x2, y2)
function distPointToLine(px,py,x1,y1,x2,y2) -- point, start and end of the segment
    local dx,dy = x2-x1,y2-y1
    local length = math.sqrt(dx*dx+dy*dy)
    dx,dy = dx/length,dy/length -- normalization
    local p = dx*(px-x1)+dy*(py-y1)
    if p < 0 then
        dx,dy = px-x1,py-y1
        return math.sqrt(dx*dx+dy*dy), x1, y1 -- distance, nearest point
    elseif p > length then
        dx,dy = px-x2,py-y2
        return math.sqrt(dx*dx+dy*dy), x2, y2 -- distance, nearest point
    end
    return math.abs(dy*(px-x1)-dx*(py-y1)), x1+dx*p, y1+dy*p -- distance, nearest point
end

对于折线(有两条以上线段的线):

-- if the (poly-)line has several segments, just iterate through all of them:
function nearest_sector_in_line (x, y, line)
    local x1, y1, x2, y2, min_dist
    local ax,ay = line[1], line[2]
    for j = 3, #line-1, 2 do
        local bx,by = line[j], line[j+1]
        local dist = distPointToLine(x,y,ax,ay,bx,by)
        if not min_dist or dist < min_dist then
            min_dist = dist
            x1, y1, x2, y2 = ax,ay,bx,by
        end
        ax, ay = bx, by
    end
    return x1, y1, x2, y2
end

例子:

-- call it:
local x1, y1, x2, y2 = nearest_sector_in_line (7, 4, {0,0, 10,0, 10,10, 0,10})

下面是HSQLDB的SQL实现:

CREATE FUNCTION dist_to_segment(px double, py double, vx double, vy double, wx double, wy double)
  RETURNS double
BEGIN atomic
   declare l2 double;
   declare t double;
   declare nx double;
   declare ny double;
   set l2 =(vx - wx)*(vx - wx) + (vy - wy)*(vy - wy);
   IF l2 = 0 THEN
     RETURN sqrt((vx - px)*(vx - px) + (vy - py)*(vy - py));
   ELSE
     set t = ((px - vx) * (wx - vx) + (py - vy) * (wy - vy)) / l2;
     set t = GREATEST(0, LEAST(1, t));
     set nx=vx + t * (wx - vx);
     set ny=vy + t * (wy - vy);
     RETURN sqrt((nx - px)*(nx - px) + (ny - py)*(ny - py));
   END IF;
END;

Postgres的实现:

CREATE FUNCTION dist_to_segment(px numeric, py numeric, vx numeric, vy numeric, wx numeric, wy numeric)
  RETURNS numeric
AS $$
   declare l2 numeric;
   declare t numeric;
   declare nx numeric;
   declare ny numeric;
BEGIN 
   l2 := (vx - wx)*(vx - wx) + (vy - wy)*(vy - wy);
   IF l2 = 0 THEN
     RETURN sqrt((vx - px)*(vx - px) + (vy - py)*(vy - py));
   ELSE
     t := ((px - vx) * (wx - vx) + (py - vy) * (wy - vy)) / l2;
     t := GREATEST(0, LEAST(1, t));
     nx := vx + t * (wx - vx);
     ny := vy + t * (wy - vy);
     RETURN sqrt((nx - px)*(nx - px) + (ny - py)*(ny - py));
   END IF;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

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)
}

用Matlab直接实现Grumdrig

function ans=distP2S(px,py,vx,vy,wx,wy)
% [px py vx vy wx wy]
  t=( (px-vx)*(wx-vx)+(py-vy)*(wy-vy) )/idist(vx,wx,vy,wy)^2;
  [idist(px,vx,py,vy) idist(px,vx+t*(wx-vx),py,vy+t*(wy-vy)) idist(px,wx,py,wy) ];
  ans(1+(t>0)+(t>1)); % <0 0<=t<=1 t>1     
 end

function d=idist(a,b,c,d)
 d=abs(a-b+1i*(c-d));
end

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));
    };
}