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;

}

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;

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));
    };
}

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);
}

这里没有看到Java实现，所以我将Javascript函数从接受的答案转换为Java代码:

static double sqr(double x) {
    return x * x;
}
static double dist2(DoublePoint v, DoublePoint w) {
    return sqr(v.x - w.x) + sqr(v.y - w.y);
}
static double distToSegmentSquared(DoublePoint p, DoublePoint v, DoublePoint w) {
    double l2 = dist2(v, w);
    if (l2 == 0) return dist2(p, v);
    double t = ((p.x - v.x) * (w.x - v.x) + (p.y - v.y) * (w.y - v.y)) / l2;
    if (t < 0) return dist2(p, v);
    if (t > 1) return dist2(p, w);
    return dist2(p, new DoublePoint(
            v.x + t * (w.x - v.x),
            v.y + t * (w.y - v.y)
    ));
}
static double distToSegment(DoublePoint p, DoublePoint v, DoublePoint w) {
    return Math.sqrt(distToSegmentSquared(p, v, w));
}
static class DoublePoint {
    public double x;
    public double y;

    public DoublePoint(double x, double y) {
        this.x = x;
        this.y = y;
    }
}

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)
}