这里是与c++答案相同的东西，但移植到pascal。点参数的顺序已经改变，以适应我的代码，但还是一样的东西。

function Dot(const p1, p2: PointF): double;
begin
  Result := p1.x * p2.x + p1.y * p2.y;
end;
function SubPoint(const p1, p2: PointF): PointF;
begin
  result.x := p1.x - p2.x;
  result.y := p1.y - p2.y;
end;

function ShortestDistance2(const p,v,w : PointF) : double;
var
  l2,t : double;
  projection,tt: PointF;
begin
  // Return minimum distance between line segment vw and point p
  //l2 := length_squared(v, w);  // i.e. |w-v|^2 -  avoid a sqrt
  l2 := Distance(v,w);
  l2 := MPower(l2,2);
  if (l2 = 0.0) then begin
    result:= Distance(p, v);   // v == w case
    exit;
  end;
  // 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 := Dot(SubPoint(p,v),SubPoint(w,v)) / l2;
  if (t < 0.0) then begin
    result := Distance(p, v);       // Beyond the 'v' end of the segment
    exit;
  end
  else if (t > 1.0) then begin
    result := Distance(p, w);  // Beyond the 'w' end of the segment
    exit;
  end;
  //projection := v + t * (w - v);  // Projection falls on the segment
  tt.x := v.x + t * (w.x - v.x);
  tt.y := v.y + t * (w.y - v.y);
  result := Distance(p, tt);
end;

对于懒人来说，以下是我在Objective-C语言中移植@Grumdrig的解决方案:

CGFloat sqr(CGFloat x) { return x*x; }
CGFloat dist2(CGPoint v, CGPoint w) { return sqr(v.x - w.x) + sqr(v.y - w.y); }
CGFloat distanceToSegmentSquared(CGPoint p, CGPoint v, CGPoint w)
{
    CGFloat l2 = dist2(v, w);
    if (l2 == 0.0f) return dist2(p, v);

    CGFloat t = ((p.x - v.x) * (w.x - v.x) + (p.y - v.y) * (w.y - v.y)) / l2;
    if (t < 0.0f) return dist2(p, v);
    if (t > 1.0f) return dist2(p, w);
    return dist2(p, CGPointMake(v.x + t * (w.x - v.x), v.y + t * (w.y - v.y)));
}
CGFloat distanceToSegment(CGPoint point, CGPoint segmentPointV, CGPoint segmentPointW)
{
    return sqrtf(distanceToSegmentSquared(point, segmentPointV, segmentPointW));
}

GLSL版:

// line (a -> b ) point p[enter image description here][1]
float distanceToLine(vec2 a, vec2 b, vec2 p) {
    float aside = dot((p - a),(b - a));
    if(aside< 0.0) return length(p-a);
    float bside = dot((p - b),(a - b));
    if(bside< 0.0) return length(p-b);
    vec2 pointOnLine = (bside*a + aside*b)/pow(length(a-b),2.0);
    return length(p - pointOnLine);
}

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)

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

JavaScript中一个基于这个公式的更简洁的解决方案:

distToSegment: function (point, linePointA, linePointB){

    var x0 = point.X;
    var y0 = point.Y;

    var x1 = linePointA.X;
    var y1 = linePointA.Y;

    var x2 = linePointB.X;
    var y2 = linePointB.Y;

    var Dx = (x2 - x1);
    var Dy = (y2 - y1);

    var numerator = Math.abs(Dy*x0 - Dx*y0 - x1*y2 + x2*y1);
    var denominator = Math.sqrt(Dx*Dx + Dy*Dy);
    if (denominator == 0) {
        return this.dist2(point, linePointA);
    }

    return numerator/denominator;

}