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.

下面是devnullicus转换为c#的c++版本。对于我的实现，我需要知道交叉点，并找到他的解决方案。

public static bool PointSegmentDistanceSquared(PointF point, PointF lineStart, PointF lineEnd, out double distance, out PointF intersectPoint)
{
    const double kMinSegmentLenSquared = 0.00000001; // adjust to suit.  If you use float, you'll probably want something like 0.000001f
    const double kEpsilon = 1.0E-14; // adjust to suit.  If you use floats, you'll probably want something like 1E-7f
    double dX = lineEnd.X - lineStart.X;
    double dY = lineEnd.Y - lineStart.Y;
    double dp1X = point.X - lineStart.X;
    double dp1Y = point.Y - lineStart.Y;
    double segLenSquared = (dX * dX) + (dY * dY);
    double t = 0.0;

    if (segLenSquared >= -kMinSegmentLenSquared && segLenSquared <= kMinSegmentLenSquared)
    {
        // segment is a point.
        intersectPoint = lineStart;
        t = 0.0;
        distance = ((dp1X * dp1X) + (dp1Y * dp1Y));
    }
    else
    {
        // Project a line from p to the segment [p1,p2].  By considering the line
        // extending the segment, parameterized as p1 + (t * (p2 - p1)),
        // we find projection of point p onto the line. 
        // It falls where t = [(p - p1) . (p2 - p1)] / |p2 - p1|^2
        t = ((dp1X * dX) + (dp1Y * dY)) / segLenSquared;
        if (t < kEpsilon)
        {
            // intersects at or to the "left" of first segment vertex (lineStart.X, lineStart.Y).  If t is approximately 0.0, then
            // intersection is at p1.  If t is less than that, then there is no intersection (i.e. p is not within
            // the 'bounds' of the segment)
            if (t > -kEpsilon)
            {
                // intersects at 1st segment vertex
                t = 0.0;
            }
            // set our 'intersection' point to p1.
            intersectPoint = lineStart;
            // Note: If you wanted the ACTUAL intersection point of where the projected lines would intersect if
            // we were doing PointLineDistanceSquared, then intersectPoint.X would be (lineStart.X + (t * dx)) and intersectPoint.Y would be (lineStart.Y + (t * dy)).
        }
        else if (t > (1.0 - kEpsilon))
        {
            // intersects at or to the "right" of second segment vertex (lineEnd.X, lineEnd.Y).  If t is approximately 1.0, then
            // intersection is at p2.  If t is greater than that, then there is no intersection (i.e. p is not within
            // the 'bounds' of the segment)
            if (t < (1.0 + kEpsilon))
            {
                // intersects at 2nd segment vertex
                t = 1.0;
            }
            // set our 'intersection' point to p2.
            intersectPoint = lineEnd;
            // Note: If you wanted the ACTUAL intersection point of where the projected lines would intersect if
            // we were doing PointLineDistanceSquared, then intersectPoint.X would be (lineStart.X + (t * dx)) and intersectPoint.Y would be (lineStart.Y + (t * dy)).
        }
        else
        {
            // The projection of the point to the point on the segment that is perpendicular succeeded and the point
            // is 'within' the bounds of the segment.  Set the intersection point as that projected point.
            intersectPoint = new PointF((float)(lineStart.X + (t * dX)), (float)(lineStart.Y + (t * dY)));
        }
        // return the squared distance from p to the intersection point.  Note that we return the squared distance
        // as an optimization because many times you just need to compare relative distances and the squared values
        // works fine for that.  If you want the ACTUAL distance, just take the square root of this value.
        double dpqX = point.X - intersectPoint.X;
        double dpqY = point.Y - intersectPoint.Y;

        distance = ((dpqX * dpqX) + (dpqY * dpqY));
    }

    return true;
}

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;

}

在javascript中使用几何:

var a = { x:20, y:20};//start segment    
var b = { x:40, y:30};//end segment   
var c = { x:37, y:14};//point   

// magnitude from a to c    
var ac = Math.sqrt( Math.pow( ( a.x - c.x ), 2 ) + Math.pow( ( a.y - c.y ), 2) );    
// magnitude from b to c   
var bc = Math.sqrt( Math.pow( ( b.x - c.x ), 2 ) + Math.pow( ( b.y - c.y ), 2 ) );    
// magnitude from a to b (base)     
var ab = Math.sqrt( Math.pow( ( a.x - b.x ), 2 ) + Math.pow( ( a.y - b.y ), 2 ) );    
 // perimeter of triangle     
var p = ac + bc + ab;    
 // area of the triangle    
var area = Math.sqrt( p/2 * ( p/2 - ac) * ( p/2 - bc ) * ( p/2 - ab ) );    
 // height of the triangle = distance    
var h = ( area * 2 ) / ab;    
console.log ("height: " + h);

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))
    }

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 );
}