ExifTool Forum

Hello all,

I want to replace certain keywords by others.

I have found in the forum the correct syntax.

exiftool -if "$subject =~ /\bTAGtoreplace\b/i" -subject-=TAGtoreplace -subject+=TAGreplaced -r DIR

The problem I have is the following. In some cases the tag to replace is also part of another tag.

For example : I want to replace the tag Abbaye by the tag Abbaye-Couvent-Monastère.

I actually ran the following command :

exiftool -if "$subject =~ /\bAbbaye\b/i" -subject-=Abbaye -subject+=Abbaye-Couvent-Monastère -r DIR

I saw that the number of files updated corresponded to the second tag and not the first one (there are more of the second tag).

So I think the regular expression of the if function is matching ALL tags with "Abbaye" in it whereas I want the replacement to happen only on images where the tag is Abbaye not those where it is Abbaye-Couvent-Monastère.

What is the syntax for this?

Thanks in advance,

Use the -sep option (https://exiftool.org/exiftool_pod.html#sep-STR--separator) and regex match the separator characters as well as start/end of line.  Here's what I use
-sep "##" -if "$Subject=~/(?:##|^)Word(?:$|##)/i"

Hey StarGeek, thanks a lot for the quick answer !.

You say to match "separator characters".

Should I not include "-" with "?:##|^" : so the syntax would be

-sep "##" -if "$Subject=~/(-?:##|^)Word(-?:$|##)/i"

Cheers,

I don't understand where you're getting the dash from.

Using your example of Abbaye and Abbaye-Couvent-Monastère.  As you can see belowonly Test3.jpg gets a match, not Test4.jpg.
C:\>exiftool -G1 -a -s -Subject y:\!temp\Test3.jpg y:\!temp\Test4.jpg
======== y:/!temp/Test3.jpg
[XMP-dc]        Subject                         : Abbaye-Couvent-Monastère, Another Keywords, Not Abbaye-Couvent-Monastère
======== y:/!temp/Test4.jpg
[XMP-dc]        Subject                         : Abbaye, Another Keywords, Not Abbaye
    2 image files read

C:\>exiftool -G1 -a -s -sep "##" -if "$Subject=~/(?:##|^)Abbaye(?:$|##)/i" -Subject y:\!temp\Test3.jpg y:\!temp\Test4.jpg
======== y:/!temp/Test4.jpg
[XMP-dc]        Subject                         : Abbaye##Another Keywords##Not Abbaye

Hi Stargeek,

Thanks for your answer and sorry for being daft about the "-".

So I ran the following command to test the command :

exiftool -G1 -a -s -charset filename=utf8 -sep "##" -if "$Subject=~/(?:##|^)Aéroport(?:$|##)/i" -subject-=Aéroport -subject+=Aéroport-Gare -r DIR

Had to use another word than Abbaye because my previous command actually replaced all occurences of Abbaye with Abbaye-Couvent-Monastère.

The command scanned my 38000+ files and told me there was no correspondance.

I know that Aéroport is present 5 times in all my files (thanks to another exiftool command).

Any idea why the command missed the five occurences ?

Thanks in advance,

Cheers,

Is this under Windows?  It might be due to the accent and Windows poor handling of UTF characters (FAQ #18 (https://exiftool.org/faq.html#Q18)).

Try running the command with the -L (latin) option (https://exiftool.org/exiftool_pod.html#L--latin).  Also, if you're under Windows 10, you might try this StackOverflow answer (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/57131654/using-utf-8-encoding-chcp-65001-in-command-prompt-windows-powershell-window/57134096#57134096).  Finally, double check to make sure it isn't a run-on keyword.  Take a look at the output using the -sep to see where the actual separations are. 

For example,
exiftool -sep ## -subject file.jpg

You nailed it, Worked perfectly with the -L option, five files updated! It was on W10.

Thanks a lot!

Since you're on Win 10, you might test out the StackOverflow answer.  It worked really well for me with regards to non-ascii characters.

Hi STargeek,

Thanks for the Stackoverflow tip, just activated it.