Trying to test a folder of files for compression

[ArchivesDrone]

I am trying to test a folder full of TIFF files to see if any compression was applied to the images. In my test case, I have some images with LZW applied and some without. I've tried using the following command, derived from reading the documentation for -if, to get exiftool to output the names of the files that have been compressed

exiftool -r -if '$compression eq "LZW"' -filename "C:\Path\To\Folder Full\Of\TestImages"

The path to the directory is quoted as there is a space in the name of one the folders. I am unable to change that. The return from the command shows that the directories were scanned and that all the images failed the condition yet that no files were read. Again there are definitely files in there with LZW. If I do

exiftool -r -compression -filename "C:\Path\To\Folder Full\Of\TestImages"

I get back the expected list of files with filename and compression properly displayed. I've tried a million different variations thinking it might be the syntax but nothing has worked. Help?

[Phil Harvey]

If you are using cmd.exe, then you need double quotes around arguments.  Try this:

exiftool -r -if "$compression eq 'LZW'" -filename "C:\Path\To\Folder Full\Of\TestImages"

- Phil

[ArchivesDrone]

Well, that did work through the cmd.exe. I realize now the issue was, in addition to the double quotes, that I was using powershell. I've put the exiftool.exe into C:\Users\pulhamus\AppData\Local\Programs\Exiftool\ and put that on my path so I can access it through either. But it works in one but not the other. I wonder what causes it to fail in powershell. This may actually become an issue for me as my machine is managed and I may only have access to powershell.

In any event, thanks for your help and the wonder that is ExifTool.

[Phil Harvey]

It should work in PowerShell, but the quoting is different.  I think PowerShell requires single quotes around arguments containing a "$" symbol.  But the PowerShell piping is absolutely broken, so don't use it for that.  In general, I think it is best to stay away from PowerShell.

- Phil