这个答案是基于公认答案的JavaScript解决方案。 它主要只是格式更好，函数名更长，当然函数语法更短，因为它是在ES6 + CoffeeScript中。

JavaScript版本(ES6)

distanceSquared = (v, w)=> Math.pow(v.x - w.x, 2) + Math.pow(v.y - w.y, 2);
distance = (v, w)=> Math.sqrt(distanceSquared(v, w));

distanceToLineSegmentSquared = (p, v, w)=> {
    l2 = distanceSquared(v, w);
    if (l2 === 0) {
        return distanceSquared(p, v);
    }
    t = ((p.x - v.x) * (w.x - v.x) + (p.y - v.y) * (w.y - v.y)) / l2;
    t = Math.max(0, Math.min(1, t));
    return distanceSquared(p, {
        x: v.x + t * (w.x - v.x),
        y: v.y + t * (w.y - v.y)
    });
}
distanceToLineSegment = (p, v, w)=> {
    return Math.sqrt(distanceToLineSegmentSquared(p, v));
}

CoffeeScript版本

distanceSquared = (v, w)-> (v.x - w.x) ** 2 + (v.y - w.y) ** 2
distance = (v, w)-> Math.sqrt(distanceSquared(v, w))

distanceToLineSegmentSquared = (p, v, w)->
    l2 = distanceSquared(v, w)
    return distanceSquared(p, v) if l2 is 0
    t = ((p.x - v.x) * (w.x - v.x) + (p.y - v.y) * (w.y - v.y)) / l2
    t = Math.max(0, Math.min(1, t))
    distanceSquared(p, {
        x: v.x + t * (w.x - v.x)
        y: v.y + t * (w.y - v.y)
    })

distanceToLineSegment = (p, v, w)->
    Math.sqrt(distanceToLineSegmentSquared(p, v, w))

请参见以下网站中的Matlab几何工具箱: http://people.sc.fsu.edu/~jburkardt/m_src/geometry/geometry.html

按Ctrl +f，输入“segment”，查找线段相关函数。函数“segment_point_dist_2d.”和segment_point_dist_3d。M "是你需要的。

几何代码有C版本、c++版本、FORTRAN77版本、FORTRAN90版本和MATLAB版本。

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;

}

如果它是一条无限大的直线，而不是一条线段，最简单的方法是这样(在ruby中)，其中mx + b是直线，(x1, y1)是已知的点

(y1 - mx1 - b).abs / Math.sqrt(m**2 + 1)

以下是Grumdrig解决方案的一个更完整的说明。这个版本还返回最近的点本身。

#include "stdio.h"
#include "math.h"

class Vec2
{
public:
    float _x;
    float _y;

    Vec2()
    {
        _x = 0;
        _y = 0;
    }

    Vec2( const float x, const float y )
    {
        _x = x;
        _y = y;
    }

    Vec2 operator+( const Vec2 &v ) const
    {
        return Vec2( this->_x + v._x, this->_y + v._y );
    }

    Vec2 operator-( const Vec2 &v ) const
    {
        return Vec2( this->_x - v._x, this->_y - v._y );
    }

    Vec2 operator*( const float f ) const
    {
        return Vec2( this->_x * f, this->_y * f );
    }

    float DistanceToSquared( const Vec2 p ) const
    {
        const float dX = p._x - this->_x;
        const float dY = p._y - this->_y;

        return dX * dX + dY * dY;
    }

    float DistanceTo( const Vec2 p ) const
    {
        return sqrt( this->DistanceToSquared( p ) );
    }

    float DotProduct( const Vec2 p ) const
    {
        return this->_x * p._x + this->_y * p._y;
    }
};

// return minimum distance between line segment vw and point p, and the closest point on the line segment, q
float DistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( const Vec2 v, const Vec2 w, const Vec2 p, Vec2 * const q )
{
    const float distSq = v.DistanceToSquared( w ); // i.e. |w-v|^2 ... avoid a sqrt
    if ( distSq == 0.0 )
    {
        // v == w case
        (*q) = v;

        return v.DistanceTo( p );
    }

    // 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

    const float t = ( p - v ).DotProduct( w - v ) / distSq;
    if ( t < 0.0 )
    {
        // beyond the v end of the segment
        (*q) = v;

        return v.DistanceTo( p );
    }
    else if ( t > 1.0 )
    {
        // beyond the w end of the segment
        (*q) = w;

        return w.DistanceTo( p );
    }

    // projection falls on the segment
    const Vec2 projection = v + ( ( w - v ) * t );

    (*q) = projection;

    return p.DistanceTo( projection );
}

float DistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( float segmentX1, float segmentY1, float segmentX2, float segmentY2, float pX, float pY, float *qX, float *qY )
{
    Vec2 q;

    float distance = DistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( Vec2( segmentX1, segmentY1 ), Vec2( segmentX2, segmentY2 ), Vec2( pX, pY ), &q );

    (*qX) = q._x;
    (*qY) = q._y;

    return distance;
}

void TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( float segmentX1, float segmentY1, float segmentX2, float segmentY2, float pX, float pY )
{
    float qX;
    float qY;
    float d = DistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( segmentX1, segmentY1, segmentX2, segmentY2, pX, pY, &qX, &qY );
    printf( "line segment = ( ( %f, %f ), ( %f, %f ) ), p = ( %f, %f ), distance = %f, q = ( %f, %f )\n",
            segmentX1, segmentY1, segmentX2, segmentY2, pX, pY, d, qX, qY );
}

void TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint()
{
    TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0 );
    TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( 0, 0, 20, 10, 5, 4 );
    TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( 0, 0, 20, 10, 30, 15 );
    TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( 0, 0, 20, 10, -30, 15 );
    TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( 0, 0, 10, 0, 5, 1 );
    TestDistanceFromLineSegmentToPoint( 0, 0, 0, 10, 1, 5 );
}

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;