Need Help setting exif tags from name

[notimportantrn]

I have an old image I want to set the datetimecreated tag from the name.
If I set it to a specific one, it works but not from the name.

Code Select Expand

C:\Users\x\Desktop>exiftool -DateTimeOriginal="2021:12:08 12:00:00" IMG_20181130_830002.jpg
    1 image files updated

C:\Users\x\Desktop>exiftool -overwrite_original "-DateTimeOriginal<${filename;$_ =~ /(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2})/ ? $1.' 00:00:00' : ''}" IMG_20181130_830002.jpg
Warning: No writable tags set from IMG_20181130_830002.jpg
    0 image files updated
    1 image files unchanged


[StarGeek]

Your regex is looking for 1234-56-78, but your filename doesn't include any dashes.

Just grab the first 8 numbers and pass that directly to exiftool.  Exiftool will figure it out and format it correctly (see FAQ #5, paragraph starting "Having said this...")

exiftool -overwrite_original "-DateTimeOriginal<${filename;$_ =~m/^img_(\d{8})/i;$_=$1} 00:00:00" IMG_20181130_830002.jpg

Though using the conditional is interesting.  Just set it to undef on failure instead. And $_=~/<regex> by itself will not change the value of $_.  It will return a 0 or 1 depending upon success.  You have to assign the result of the conditional operator back into $_
exiftool -overwrite_original "-DateTimeOriginal<${filename;$_=($_ =~m/^img_(\d{8})/i) ? $1.'000000' : undef}" IMG_20181130_830002.jpg

Code Select Expand

C:\>exiftool -P -overwrite_original "-DateTimeOriginal<${filename;$_=($_ =~m/^img_(\d{8})/i) ? $1.'000000' : undef}" "Y:\!temp\aaaa\IMG_2018 nope 1130_830002.jpg" Y:\!temp\aaaa\IMG_20181130_830002.jpg
Warning: [minor] Advanced formatting expression returned undef for 'filename' - Y:/!temp/aaaa/IMG_2018 nope 1130_830002.jpg
Warning: No writable tags set from Y:/!temp/aaaa/IMG_2018 nope 1130_830002.jpg
    1 image files updated
    1 image files unchanged

C:\>exiftool -G1 -a -s -DateTimeOriginal  "Y:\!temp\aaaa\IMG_2018 nope 1130_830002.jpg" Y:\!temp\aaaa\IMG_20181130_830002.jpg
======== Y:/!temp/aaaa/IMG_2018 nope 1130_830002.jpg
======== Y:/!temp/aaaa/IMG_20181130_830002.jpg
[ExifIFD]      DateTimeOriginal                : 2018:11:30 00:00:00
    2 image files read

[notimportantrn]

Thanks but still doesn't work, I included verbose and the existing meta, if that helps...

Code Select Expand

C:\Users\Galax\Desktop>exiftool -a -G1 -s IMG_20181130_830002.jpg
[ExifTool]      ExifToolVersion                 : 12.62
[System]        FileName                        : IMG_20181130_830002.jpg
[System]        Directory                       : .
[System]        FileSize                        : 94 kB
[System]        FileModifyDate                  : 2023:05:27 10:30:56+02:00
[System]        FileAccessDate                  : 2023:05:27 10:33:21+02:00
[System]        FileCreateDate                  : 2023:05:26 20:04:57+02:00
[System]        FilePermissions                 : -rw-rw-rw-
[File]          FileType                        : JPEG
[File]          FileTypeExtension               : jpg
[File]          MIMEType                        : image/jpeg
[File]          ExifByteOrder                   : Little-endian (Intel, II)
[File]          CurrentIPTCDigest               : b443520a10119da99c2550175e6d0efb
[File]          ImageWidth                      : 1600
[File]          ImageHeight                     : 1200
[File]          EncodingProcess                 : Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
[File]          BitsPerSample                   : 8
[File]          ColorComponents                 : 3
[File]          YCbCrSubSampling                : YCbCr4:2:0 (2 2)
[JFIF]          JFIFVersion                     : 1.01
[JFIF]          ResolutionUnit                  : None
[JFIF]          XResolution                     : 1
[JFIF]          YResolution                     : 1
[IFD0]          Software                        : Picasa
[IFD0]          YCbCrSubSampling                : YCbCr4:2:0 (2 2)
[ExifIFD]       ExifVersion                     : 0220
[ExifIFD]       DateTimeOriginal                : 2021:12:08 12:00:00
[ExifIFD]       ColorSpace                      : sRGB
[ExifIFD]       ExifImageWidth                  : 1600
[ExifIFD]       ExifImageHeight                 : 1200
[ExifIFD]       ImageUniqueID                   : a9d93225f080d2350000000000000000
[InteropIFD]    InteropIndex                    : R98 - DCF basic file (sRGB)
[InteropIFD]    InteropVersion                  : 0100
[IFD1]          Compression                     : JPEG (old-style)
[IFD1]          XResolution                     : 72
[IFD1]          YResolution                     : 72
[IFD1]          ResolutionUnit                  : inches
[IFD1]          ThumbnailOffset                 : 356
[IFD1]          ThumbnailLength                 : 4624
[IFD1]          ThumbnailImage                  : (Binary data 4624 bytes, use -b option to extract)
[XMP-x]         XMPToolkit                      : XMP Core 5.5.0
[IPTC]          EnvelopeRecordVersion           : 4
[IPTC]          CodedCharacterSet               : UTF8
[IPTC]          ApplicationRecordVersion        : 4
[Photoshop]     IPTCDigest                      : b443520a10119da99c2550175e6d0efb
[Composite]     ImageSize                       : 1600x1200
[Composite]     Megapixels                      : 1.9

C:\Users\Galax\Desktop>exiftool -v -overwrite_original "-DateTimeOriginal<${filename;$_ =~m/^img_(\d{8})/i ? $1.'000000' : undef}" IMG_20181130_830002.jpg
======== IMG_20181130_830002.jpg
Setting new values from IMG_20181130_830002.jpg
Warning: No writable tags set from IMG_20181130_830002.jpg
Nothing changed in IMG_20181130_830002.jpg
    0 image files updated
    1 image files unchanged


[StarGeek]

My first example should work as is.  It captures the regex match and sets $_ equal to that value.

For the conditional, I used the correct format in the example output, but forgot to change it earlier on. It should be fixed now.  As I said, $_=~/<regex> does not work.  You have to put parenthesis around that so it returns 1 or 0 so that gets passed to the conditional operator.  Then you have to assign the whole thing back to the default variable.