ExifTool Forum

Hi Phil, StarGeek, everyone...

Quick question -- Is there an option for when EXIFtool is writing out to the console, to make it use/display the same names for tags as it would do if you had specified -csv ?

Hope that makes sense, but please shout it not and I can try and clarify 👍🏼

I'm not quite sure what you mean but I think you mean tag names vs tag descriptions, FAQ #2 (https://exiftool.org/faq.html#Q2).

Quote from: StarGeek on May 23, 2023, 12:36:13 PMI think you mean tag names vs tag descriptions -- see FAQ #2 (https://exiftool.org/faq.html#Q2).

Hi StarGeek,

Thanks that's perfect - yes, it was the tag names I was after, so I could more easily match a quick test output to the console with some previous/other EXIFtool output to a CSV. Cheers!

PS: To aid anyone looking for this in the future, I will edit the post title to make this clearer (... if I can)
 └  EDIT: I tried to set the title to "✅ SOLVED:  Use tag names / CSV column headers when outputting to console" but wasn't able to -- If you (or another moderator) fancy changing it for me (assuming you are able) that would be great, but no worries if not as really not a big deal!

I've added "[Solved]" to the title (although not necessary because we generally don't do this in the forum)

- Phil

Thanks Phil! 👍🏼  (and point noted)


Random mini question -- is there a way to "thumbs up" or "like" a reply?...  The reason for asking, using this thread / reply as a good example -- sometimes I will want to acknowledge a comment and say thanks to yourself or StarGeek etc, but it doesn't necessarily warrant an explicit reply AND am conscious of creating even more things for you/others to read... but I don't know how to "say thanks" any other way than in a reply 🤔

No, it's much more casual here.  Personally, I've seen way to many rude control freaks on other forums who's only response to every post seems to be "why don't you read the manual", of course, in much cruder language.

My only real pet peeve is necroposting, adding to a thread that hasn't needed a response in several years.  Back when forums were more common, sometimes I would spend a long time typing up an response only to realize that the new post was in a 3 year old thread which had already been answered.  Used to have a whole collection of images like these to post in those threads

(https://i.imgur.com/5QNpcn8.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/FBSaNzk.png)

Quote from: StarGeek on June 16, 2023, 07:33:41 PMMy only real pet peeve is necroposting, adding to a thread that hasn't needed a response in several years.

Oooops, I hope I haven't done that here! 🤔... I do search the forum (well at least via google) before posting and if there is an existing thread on the same topic I will generally add a new comment to it, rather than starting a new post; sorry if I inadvertently resurrected any antediluvian threads!

---

Also, you must love stackoverflow.com / superuser.com then? 🤔 -- maybe it's just me, but I have not always had great experiences/engagement on that site. To be clear, it is a great resource and I use it at least probably weekly to find answers and solutions, but asking questions can be so draining...

• One time that is particularly seared into my mind was when I wanted to try and understand best practice for .cmd/.bat files...
• Over the years I've written quite a lot of these (100+), some have been created as .bat's while I've saved others as .cmd files. I've never really known if it makes any differences, but if it does which is best, whether it's worth converting all my .bat >> .cmd's etc, or if this might break any code inside them.
• There were a number of questions and 'answers' on stackoverflow.com / superuser.com but none were 'great' as they were either extremely old (warning users of differences in Windows 98, etc), inconclusive or conflicted with others.
• After 30 mins of reading I decided to try and get a definitive answer, so spent another 30 minutes writing out the question...
  
  • I included links to several existing questions on the site but explained the above (i.e. why they didn't answer my question)
  • The 'best' answer was 10-15 years old if I recall so I specifically phrased my question as to consider the current year/technology (i.e. I wanted to understand the answer in the context of a typical user in 2021/22, on Windows 10 and so was not looking for answers that talked about the differences when running 32-bit O/S or on versions of DOS that haven't been used for 10+ years, etc)
• After spending an hour reading/typing, I posted my question but it was almost immediately slapped down as a "duplicate" and I was told this had been answered 15 years ago (apparently IT hasn't changed since then) and to cap it off, the question mine was flagged as a duplicate of, was the first one I listed in my intro as being I'd read and explained why this didn't answer my question.

They so militant (sometimes), I just find it really off-putting as it seems pretty antithetical to whole concept of a community knowledge-base.

❓ "I'd like to ask a question please about if there are any key differences between .cmd's and .bat's in 2021. I know there were some considerations in 32-bit versions of Windows but seeing as these haven't been in use for nearly a decade, are there any differences that still apply and if so, is it worth converting .cmd's to .bat's (or vice versa)"

😡 "Shut up!... How dare you ask that question, we answered that IT question 15 years ago you pleb, RTFM!"

---

Lol, ooops - I think I triggered myself again! 🙈

Quote from: Martin Z on June 17, 2023, 03:50:07 AM

Quote from: StarGeek on June 16, 2023, 07:33:41 PMMy only real pet peeve is necroposting, adding to a thread that hasn't needed a response in several years.

Oooops, I hope I haven't done that here!

I usually just ignore it, as it is just a minor annoyance in most cases.  I might separate it off into its own thread and mention the red text that pops up when an post is really old.  At most, I just completely ignore that thread and then the user if they show over and over they aren't reading what is posted.

QuoteAlso, you must love stackoverflow.com / superuser.com then? 🤔 -- maybe it's just me, but I have not always had great experiences/engagement on that site. To be clear, it is a great resource and I use it at least probably weekly to find answers and solutions, but asking questions can be so draining...

Yeah, that site is a major reason why I try to be patient when explaining things, especially when someone is obviously new to the subject. They aren't going to necessarily know what the right term to search on would be and while the answer is obvious to someone who is experienced, a new person doesn't know where to start.

But then, I've been told I'm way too patient.  Years ago (bah, decades now), I would help people out in the MMOs I was playing and a couple of my guild mates kept telling me I was too helpful and to concentrate on my own quests rather than helping other people out :D

Also sort of related.  One thing I commonly see in tech forums that I find annoying, is that you don't need a virus checker, Windows Defender and "Common Sense" are all you need.  But they don't really mean common sense. What they really mean is experience.  My mother has common sense, but she doesn't necessarily know the difference between a bad link and a good one.  She just doesn't use the web enough to have come across the bad ones, as she's mostly selling stuff on etsy/ebay/craigslist/etc.

QuoteThey so militant (sometimes), I just find it really off-putting as it seems pretty antithetical to whole concept of a community knowledge-base.

That's has often been my experience as well.  I was trying to do something with exiftool and asked a question there on how to do it without using the CPAN module that would make it trivial to do.  Someone decided that what I wanted wasn't really what I wanted and made it clear in the comments.  Or something like that, it was a long time ago.  I really haven't asked a question since, it's not worth it most of the time.  But I still keep answering questions when I can.

Quote from: StarGeek on June 17, 2023, 02:34:06 PMI might separate it off into its own thread and mention the red text that pops up when an post is really old.

Hmmm... So, I might have seen that very text today actually 🙈 -- But in my defence, I did think about starting a new thread, but it seemed like almost pure duplication as I would have had to quote chunks of the several messages from the original thread for context. And I was directly following on from the last comment... it was just that the last comment was from several years ago (eeep!)

Quote from: StarGeek on June 17, 2023, 02:34:06 PMBut then, I've been told I'm way too patient.  Years ago (bah, decades now), I would help people out in the MMOs I was playing and a couple of my guild mates kept telling me I was too helpful and to concentrate on my own quests rather than helping other people out :D

Oh god, OK we might be much more kindred spirits than I thought!
1️⃣ I also have a habit of helping too much, and sometimes get behind in my own work because I spend my time helping others with theirs
2️⃣ But also, I had some 'interesting' experiences in a MMO I used to play a LOT a few years ago...

• I spent a ton of time geeking out with some real techies, mining the game data, calculating optimum strategies, etc
  
• When I then tried to share the results with my guild and chat things like:
  
  • "Hi guys, we crunched all the add-on packs and for anyone paying, XXX has the best gold:$$$ ratio"
  • "For any players below level 30, make sure you have 40 dark matter in your cargo at all times if you can, as this will stop you getting wiped out if your shield drops"
• While I thought I was "helping my team save real-world money" or "stopping lower players getting zero-ed"...
• I got flack for "giving unsolicited advice" and for "telling people how to play"... oops!

Quote from: StarGeek on June 17, 2023, 02:34:06 PMSomeone decided that what I wanted wasn't really what I wanted and made it clear in the comments.

Oh yeah, I had forgotten that but you are so right!
1️⃣ I asked a question about whether it was possible to rename the Windows properties DataRate and TotalBitrate as I wanted to make them clearer... I basically go nothing but attacks / criticism, people saying: "All Windows properties are really well defined already"... "I don't see what your problem is, they seem fine to me"... "That's a really bad idea"
2️⃣ Someone asked what the best algorithm was for comparing files (i.e. quickest/most efficiency but sufficiently thorough), he also explained that he had to transfer large files over a network and wanted to check they were transmitted OK. I wanted to do something v. similar, except I couldn't as despite being 10+ comments, not one person actually gave an answer, they were all just like: "Please explain why you're doing this?"... "I wouldn't do that if I was you, there are better ways to transfer the files"... "Just use Robocopy"
-- I have literally never seen so many people go out of their way and spend their time and NOT help someone by just telling them the answer! It was so bad!

Quote from: StarGeek on June 17, 2023, 02:34:06 PMI really haven't asked a question since, it's not worth it most of the time.

Can definitely relate, when I had my major 'duplication slap-down' I explicitly didn't post, and hardly even read the site for over a year. Although I have started using it again and asked maybe 1-2 questions since, I debate it much more heavily now!

-- For me, the real kicker was that I spent a big chunk of time doing my due diligence (e.g. searching and reading multiple answers) and then writing a detailed question, taking the effort to cite existing answers and explain why my question was different... All for someone to skim my question in 30 seconds, do a search on the site, look at the first search result and go "meh, this question seems close enough, I'm gonna mark this one as a duplicate", click a button and immediately wipe out and waste all the time and effort I put in.