Just a VERY minor typo in the ExifTool Application Documentation (https://exiftool.org/exiftool_pod.html#srcfile-FMT)...
-srcfile FMT
Third paragraph: If than one -srcfile option is specified,...
I'm assuming you meant to include the word "more".
Fixed. Thanks! This update will appear in the next release.
- Phil
from exiftool Application Documentation:
-tagsFromFile SRCFILE or FMT (https://exiftool.org/exiftool_pod.html#tagsFromFile-SRCFILE-or-FMT)
Notes:
4). The order of operations...
exiftool -One=1 -tagsFromFile s.jpg -Two -Four=4 -Three d.jpg
Forgive me if I'm wrong (but if I'm understanding this example correctly), I think this perhaps should have been written as:
exiftool -One=1 -tagsFromFile s.jpg -Two=2 -Four=4 -Three=3 d.jpg
No, because this example is showing the order of operations when you mix assignment with copying tags.
In the file d.jpg, first, One is set to a value of 1
Then the value of Two is copied over from s.jpg to d.jpg
Then the value of Three is copied over from s.jpg to d.jpg
And only then, because it is a "tag assignment to the right of the -tagsFromFile option", is the value of Four set to 4
Let's replace the number tag names with actual tags. Assume the value of Description and Title in s.jpg are set to S2 and S3 respectively
exiftool -Description=1 -tagsFromFile s.jpg -Description -Title=4 -Title d.jpg
In the the file d.jpg,
First, Description is set to the value of 1
Then Description copied from s.jpg and is now set to S2
Then Title is copied from s.jpg and is now set to S3
Finally, Title is set to the value of 4.
The final result is Description is set to S2 (copied from s.jpg) and Title is set to 4 (direct assignment).
Normally, later assignments override earlier ones, but as you can see in the example of Title, this isn't the case when -tagsFromFile is involved.
aha. ok. Thanks StarGeek. I get it now! It does require some mental gymnastics, perhaps for which I am not always up to par. ;)
This would be a situation I would normally avoid. It's nice to have options and know how they work, but if you need to do something like this, you're doing something way to complicated and probably should look to simplify the process.
meh. You're right of course, but I always over-complicate everything in life, because... what could possibly go wrong?
Hey... where did all my 43000 images suddenly disappear to? :o