How files are processed and resolving unitialized values

[sn.11362]

I am very new to exiftool having just started working with it over the weekend. It is indeed a very powerful and useful tool. I hope this is the right forum to post my questions.

I am running under Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS 64-bit with an Intel Core i7-9700K CPU and a GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER Graphics card.

I started by moving 42 photos to a directory to learn some basic commands. I had already renamed the files NY_OCT21-01.ext to NY_OCT21-42.ext where ext can take on the value JPG, jpg, or PNG.

I moved to the directory and executed the following command:
$ exiftool -AllDates="2021:11:08 12:00:00" .
   

Code Select Expand

1 directories scanned
       42 image files updated
So far so good

I then executed the following command to ascertain that all of a particular date was changed uniformly:
$exiftool -T -FileName -DateTimeOriginal .

Code Select Expand

NY_OCT21-08.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-31.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-30.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
Use of uninitialized value $val in bitwise and (&) at /usr/local/share/perl/5.30.0/Image/ExifTool.pm line 8740, <EXIFTOOL_FILE> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value $val in bitwise and (&) at /usr/local/share/perl/5.30.0/Image/ExifTool.pm line 8740, <EXIFTOOL_FILE> chunk 3.
NY_OCT21-02.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-04.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-10.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-21.jpg         2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-11.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-37.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-23.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-19.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-40.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-12.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-14.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-24.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-42.jpg         2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-33.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-18.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-36.jpg         2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-27.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-15.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
Use of uninitialized value $val in bitwise and (&) at /usr/local/share/perl/5.30.0/Image/ExifTool.pm line 8740, <EXIFTOOL_FILE> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value $val in bitwise and (&) at /usr/local/share/perl/5.30.0/Image/ExifTool.pm line 8740, <EXIFTOOL_FILE> chunk 3.
NY_OCT21-07.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-38.jpg         2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-25.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-16.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-28.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-09.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-13.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-20.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-35.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-41.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-17.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-03.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-29.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-05.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-32.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-26.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-22.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-01.png         2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-06.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-34.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00
NY_OCT21-39.JPG 2021:11:08 12:00:00

The command worked as it should have. However, I have two queries for the forum. First - in the directory all of the files are in numerical order, yet they are output in what looks to be a random order. Is that expected? Secondly, can someone give me an idea of what the warning message means and how this might be fixed? Thanks in advance for your help and for your time

[Phil Harvey]

That specific warning has been patched for the next ExifTool release.  It occurred because a data block is smaller than expected in the file.

The ordering of the files is system dependent when scanning a directory, but you can use the exiftool -fileOrder option to order them however you want.  In this case, try -fileorder filename.

- Phil

[sn.11362]

Thanks for the prompt reply