Question to help: -csv[[+]=*CSVFILE*]

[herb]

Hello Phil,

In helpfile of Exiftool 12.40 at about line 713 we find the following text for -csv=*CSVFILE*

Empty values are ignored when importing (unless the -f option is
used and the API MissingTagValue is set to an empty string, in
which case the tag is deleted).

For me an "empty string" is a string with length 0.
Some tests with *.csv file showed:
- an empty string inside the *.csv file is not working: it does not delete the tag
- BUT an string defined with -api missingtagvalue=... works

So I think the above helptext should be more clear in the sense that "empty string" means "string defined by -f and missingtagvalue.

Thanks in advance
Best regards
herb

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Herb,

I don't understand.

For me an "empty string" is a string with length 0.
Some tests with *.csv file showed:
- an empty string inside the *.csv file is not working: it does not delete the tag

Exactly.  The empty CSV entry is ignored:  ie. nothing is done -- tag is not deleted.

- BUT an string defined with -api missingtagvalue=... works

Yes.  In this case the empty value is not ignored and the tag is deleted (as stated in the docs).

- Phil

[herb]

Hello Phil,

thanks for your answer.
To be clear: I had problems to set MissingTagValue to an empty string.
But with the knowledge of "Questions to options -m and -f -api missingtagvalue=" https://exiftool.org/forum/index.php?topic=13411.0
things became much more clear.

Best regards
herb