files could not be read

[snowdyD]

Hi there,

Am running macOS Catalina, and I'm just getting started with exiftool, but am struggling to get it to rename files based on capture date.

From what I've read, using the command

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exiftool 'filename<CreateDate' -d %y%m%d%%-c.%%le /sorted/

should rename the files in /sorted based on their capture date.

Instead I'm getting an error each time,

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Error: File not found - filename<CreateDate
Error: File not found - /sorted/
    0 image files read
    2 files could not be read

I've also tried running the command while in the 'sorted' folder, doing so just returns

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Error: File not found - filename<CreateDate.

Can anyone suggest what I'm doing wrong please?

Thanks in advance!

Martin

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Martin,

You need a dash before the tag name.  Also "/sorted/ would only work if the "sorted" directory is at the top level of your hard disk.  If it is in the current directory, use "sorted" instead.  So the command would be:

exiftool '-filename<CreateDate' -d %y%m%d%%-c.%%le sorted

or use "~/sorted" if it is in your home directory.

or use "." to represent the current directory if you are in the sorted directory.

- Phil

[snowdyD]

Thank you so much Phil, I've been trying to figure out what I was doing wrong for hours!

All working now 

Thanks again,

Martin