Parse Filename to create Timesstamps, Creationdate

[chess]

Hi,

I am trying to set my creationdate out if the Filename. I have the Year and Month in the filename, but not the day or the timestamps. I tried two ways, but unfortuntely both rrun into an error.

C:\Users\casuca\Documents\bb\exiftool "-datetimeoriginal=%%4.9f:%%2.14f:01 12:00:00" -overwrite_original .\Film_064_1991_10_Nokia_Masters_008.jpg

C:\Users\casuca\Documents\bb\exiftool "-datetimeoriginal=${filename;$_=substr($_,9,4)}:${filename;$_=substr($_,14,2)}:01 12:00:00" −overwrite_original .\Film_302_2000_10_Jever_Schwangerschaft_Carlotta__033.jpg

Any Idea how this can work?

Thanks

Carsten

[StarGeek]

In your first command, the %f notation only works with regards to writing to a filename, such as with the -w option or the Filename or Directory pseudo-tags.  You can't use it in a tag copy operation like this.

The problem with your second command is that you are using the equal sign =, Common Mistake #5c.  The equal sign is to assign a static value to the tag.  To copy a tag, you need to use the less/greater than signs </>. 

So if you change the equal sign to a less than sign in your second command, it should work.  But if you read FAQ #5, paragraph 3, you'll see don't need to format it exactly, just pull out the numbers you want.  So I'd probably try this:
exiftool "-datetimeoriginal<${filename;s/.*(\d{4}_\d\d).*/$1/} 01 12:00:00" −overwrite_original .\Film_302_2000_10_Jever_Schwangerschaft_Carlotta__033.jpg

It'll grab the pattern of 4 digits(Underscore)2 digits and remove everything else.  That will leave a string with a value of 2000_10 01 12:00:00 which exiftool will correctly parse into a time stamp of 2000:10:01 12:00:00  Note that you don't even need the spaces and colons.  If it was just 20001001120000, exiftool would parse it correctly.

[chess]

Thanks StarGeek.

I tried it, but under Windows PowerShell it throws and error:

exiftool "-datetimeoriginal<${filename;s/.*(\d{4}_\d\d_) ...
+                                                                 ~
Use the Variable name `{ instead of {.
    + CategoryInfo          : ParserError: ( [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : OpenBraceNeedsToBeBackTickedInVariableName


Any Idea what to use "{4}" under Windows PowerShell


I also seen the construct "s/.*(\d{4}_\d\d).*/$1/". ANy hint for me where I can learn how the Notation works?


Thanks

[Phil Harvey]

Any Idea what to use "{4}" under Windows PowerShell

I can't help here, but some googling for PowerShell escape may help.

I also seen the construct "s/.*(\d{4}_\d\d).*/$1/". ANy hint for me where I can learn how the Notation works?

See the last paragraph in StarGeek's post here.

- Phil

[StarGeek]

I tried it, but under Windows PowerShell it throws and error:

Try switching double quotes for single quotes.  Powershell seems to work more like bash when it comes to quotes.

I know some people swear by it, but Powershell is really crappy for use with exiftool.  For example, you can't stream binary data through file redirection or a pipe with it (see this post for details).  There was something else that was jaw droppingly stupid that PS did when using exiftool, but I can't remember what it was ATM.