Change in config file required

[Harald]

Hi Phil,
in the past you kindly helped creating the code for our Exiftool config file to join multiple tags into a single caption. We only need a small change now, but I am seemingly unable to do it myself. Could you please help.
We need to have a colon after all location tags, changing the final string from something like:

Code Select Expand

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Vens. Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, Rabjor, Topbgye and Holly in the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Singapore, Singapore, Photography:Venerable Roger Kunsang, Sep-2022to

Code Select Expand

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Vens. Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, Rabjor, Topbgye and Holly in the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Singapore, Singapore. Photography: Venerable Roger Kunsang, Sep-2022Note the "." after the second "Singapore"
And while this is a very rare case, it would be great if the second "Singapore" could be omitted. In other words, if City and Country are the same, it should be put only once.

The current code is:

Code Select Expand

%Image::ExifTool::UserDefined = (
    'Image::ExifTool::Composite' => {
        WebCaptionTag => {
            Desire => {
                0 => 'XMP:Coverage',
          #previously:      0 => 'XMP:Description',
                1 => 'XMP:Location',
                2 => 'XMP:City',
                3 => 'XMP:Country',
                4 => 'XMP:Creator',
                5 => 'EXIF:CreateDate',
            },
            ValueConv => q{
                my (@loc, @list);
                defined $val[$_] and push @loc, $val[$_] foreach 1..3;
                push @list, join(', ', @loc) if @loc;
                if (defined $val[4]) {
                    $val[4] = join(', ', @{$val[4]}) if ref $val[4] eq 'ARRAY';
                    push @list, "Photographer: $val[4]"
                }
                push @list, $prt[5] if defined $prt[5];
                my $prefix = defined($val[0]) ? "$val[0] - " : '';
                return $prefix . join('; ', @list);
            },
        },
    },
);
Thanks a lot in advance for your help.

PH Edit: Put code in [code][/code] blocks

[Harald]

small update: we recently had several case where the editor added an extra trailing space to the description, which is the first tag. Would be awesome if that could be removed where present. That might not be a big deal, but as I do not know PERL, for me it is

[Phil Harvey]

We need to have a colon after all location tags

If you mean a period and not a colon, this may do it for you:

Code Select Expand

%Image::ExifTool::UserDefined = (
    'Image::ExifTool::Composite' => {
        WebCaptionTag => {
            Desire => {
                0 => 'XMP:Coverage',
                #previously:      0 => 'XMP:Description',
                1 => 'XMP:Location',
                2 => 'XMP:City',
                3 => 'XMP:Country',
                4 => 'XMP:Creator',
                5 => 'EXIF:CreateDate',
            },
            ValueConv => q{
                my (@loc, @list);
                defined $val[$_] and push @loc, $val[$_] foreach 1..3;
                if (defined $val[4]) {
                    $val[4] = join(', ', @{$val[4]}) if ref $val[4] eq 'ARRAY';
                    push @list, "Photographer: $val[4]"
                }
                push @list, $prt[5] if defined $prt[5];
                my $prefix = defined($val[0]) ? "$val[0] - " : '';
                $prefix .= join(', ', @loc) . '. ' if @loc;
                $prefix .= join('; ', @list);
                $prefix =~ s/  +/ /g;
                $prefix =~ s/ $//;
                return $prefix;
            },
        },
    },
);
I have also removed double spaces and any trailing space.

- Phil

[Harald]

Phil, you are my here 
Thanks so much for you quick help. Works like a charm. And yes, "." and not ":", sorry.
I guess the "Singapore, Singapore" problem would be too much to ask? No problem, it occurs very rarely and we can hand edit those captions.
Thanks again for your always great and quick help. Very much appreciated!

[Phil Harvey]

The double country name can certainly be fixed, but I have 2 questions:

1. Can you show me the values of the source tags for a case like this?

2. Why is it separated by a comma and not a semicolon is in your config file?

- Phil

[Harald]

Code Select Expand

======== ./IMG_0558.jpg
City                            : Singapore
Country                         : Singapore
Date Created                    : 2022:09:04
Creator                         : Roger Kunsang
Coverage                        : Lama Zopa Rinpoche signing a large thangka being offered to a student
    1 directories scanned
    1 image files read
======== ./IMG_0558.jpg
Date Created                    : 2022:09:04
Web Caption Tag                 : Lama Zopa Rinpoche signing a large thangka being offered to a student, Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, Singapore. Photo by Roger Kunsang, 2022:09:04
This is the original tags and the web caption tag for a photo taken on iPhone and exported from Assetbank with Create Date mapped to IPTC:CreateDate (I have to use this tag as photos from Signal or Whatsapp have no dates and Assetbank does not allow download mapping into EXIF:CreateDate). As you can see your code works perfectly, except that the date should have the format MMM-YYYY, as in Sep-2022. Could you add that? I have altered the code to use IPTC:CreateDate.

And for the dual Singapore: Our editors prefer the format where all location info is separated by comma. Not sure if there is an international standard for these things ...

Current code in ConfigFile is:

Code Select Expand

%Image::ExifTool::UserDefined = (
    'Image::ExifTool::Composite' => {
        WebCaptionTag => {
            Desire => {
                0 => 'XMP:Coverage',
                #previously:      0 => 'XMP:Description',
                1 => 'XMP:Location',
                2 => 'XMP:City',
                3 => 'XMP:Country',
                4 => 'XMP:Creator',
# Harald 20-10-2022 changed to'IPTC:DateCreated'
# as this is specified in embedded data mapping in AB for download.
                5 => 'IPTC:DateCreated',
#    5 => 'XMP:CreateDate',
            },
            ValueConv => q{
                my (@loc, @list);
                defined $val[$_] and push @loc, $val[$_] foreach 1..3;
                if (defined $val[4]) {
                    $val[4] = join(', ', @{$val[4]}) if ref $val[4] eq 'ARRAY';
                    push @list, "Photo by $val[4]"
                }
                push @list, $prt[5] if defined $prt[5];
                my $prefix = defined($val[0]) ? "$val[0], " : '';
                $prefix .= join(', ', @loc) . '. ' if @loc;
                $prefix .= join(', ', @list);
                $prefix =~ s/  +/ /g;
                $prefix =~ s/ $//;
                return $prefix;
            },
        },
    },
);
Thanks for all your valuable help

PH Edit: put code in [code][/code] blocks

[Phil Harvey]

Here you go.  This config file removes Country from the output if it is the same as City, and formats the date as you requested:

Code Select Expand

%Image::ExifTool::UserDefined = (
    'Image::ExifTool::Composite' => {
        WebCaptionTag => {
            Desire => {
                0 => 'XMP:Coverage',
                #previously:      0 => 'XMP:Description',
                1 => 'XMP:Location',
                2 => 'XMP:City',
                3 => 'XMP:Country',
                4 => 'XMP:Creator',
                # Harald 20-10-2022 changed to'IPTC:DateCreated'
                # as this is specified in embedded data mapping in AB for download.
                5 => 'IPTC:DateCreated',
                # 5 => 'XMP:CreateDate',
            },
            ValueConv => q{
                my (@loc, @list);
                defined $val[$_] and push @loc, $val[$_] foreach 1..3;
                pop @loc if @loc > 1 and $loc[-1] eq $loc[-2];
                if (defined $val[4]) {
                    $val[4] = join(', ', @{$val[4]}) if ref $val[4] eq 'ARRAY';
                    push @list, "Photo by $val[4]"
                }
                if (defined $val[5]) {
                    $_ = "$val[5] 00:00:00";
                    DateFmt('%b-%Y');
                    push @list, $_;
                }
                my $prefix = defined($val[0]) ? "$val[0], " : '';
                $prefix .= join(', ', @loc) . '. ' if @loc;
                $prefix .= join(', ', @list);
                $prefix =~ s/  +/ /g;
                $prefix =~ s/ $//;
                return $prefix;
            },
        },
    },
);
- Phil

Edit:  I suspect your command uses a -d option to set the date/time formatting, but changing XMP:CreateDate to IPTC:DateCreated broke this because the current version of ExifTool doesn't apply the -d formatting to date-only tags such as IPTC:DateCreated.  (Hence the reason I formatted the date manually in the config file using the DateFmt function.)  However, I will enhance ExifTool 12.50 to use the same trick as I applied here (ie. adding a dummy time) to allow the -d option to work for tags like this.

[Harald]

Hey Phil,
thanks so much for your incredible help and quick responses.
I copied over the code, but unfortunately there seems to be some glitch. It keeps saying "No writable tags set from <image name>". It must be related to the most recent changes as it had been working fine on my last test. Note that I am running the following batch file on a Windows Server 2016:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
X:
cd \SyncToGooglePhotos\2022\
exiftool -r -P -overwrite_original_in_place -EXT jpg -EXT jpeg -d "%%B %%d, %%Y" "-iptc:caption-abstract<WebCaptionTag" .
exiftool -r -P -overwrite_original_in_place -EXT jpg -EXT jpeg -d "%%B %%d, %%Y" "-description<WebCaptionTag" .
exiftool -filename .
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

any ideas?

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Harald,

I think it was likely a cut-n-paste problem copying from the forum post because it works for me.  I'll attach the file instead.

Also make sure the config file is installed correctly.

- Phil

[Phil Harvey]

Also, you should do this instead of running 2 separate commands:

cd \SyncToGooglePhotos\2022\
exiftool -r -P -overwrite_original_in_place -EXT jpg -EXT jpeg "-iptc:caption-abstract<WebCaptionTag" "-description<WebCaptionTag" .

(I've also removed the now-unnecessary -d option)

- Phil

[Harald]

unfortunately the problem persists. I cannot see an icon to attach a file, so please forgive me for adding the whole config file below. I have also tried to just paste the new web caption tag part into a previous backup of the file, but did not work either. The config file is in the folder Windows(C:) /Users/admin and has worked so far.
And thanks for simplifying the script in the batch file.

Code Select Expand

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# File:         example.config
#
# Description:  Example user configuration file for Image::ExifTool
#
# Notes:        This example file shows how to define your own shortcuts and
#               add new EXIF, IPTC, XMP, PNG, MIE and Composite tags, as well
#               as how to specify preferred lenses for the LensID tag, and
#               define new file types and default ExifTool option values.
#
#               Note that unknown tags may be extracted even if they aren't
#               defined, but tags must be defined to be written.  Also note
#               that it is possible to override an existing tag definition
#               with a user-defined tag.
#
#               To activate this file, rename it to ".ExifTool_config" and
#               place it in your home directory or the exiftool application
#               directory.  (On Windows and Mac systems this must be done via
#               the command line since the GUI's don't allow filenames to begin
#               with a dot.  Use the "rename" command in Windows or "mv" on the
#               Mac.)  This causes ExifTool to automatically load the file when
#               run.  Your home directory is determined by the first defined of
#               the following environment variables:
#
#                   1.  EXIFTOOL_HOME
#                   2.  HOME
#                   3.  HOMEDRIVE + HOMEPATH
#                   4.  (the current directory)
#
#               Alternatively, the -config option of the exiftool application
#               may be used to load a specific configuration file (note that
#               this must be the first option on the command line):
#
#                   exiftool -config example.config ...
#
#               This example file defines the following 16 new tags as well as
#               a number of Shortcut and Composite tags:
#
#                   1.  EXIF:NewEXIFTag
#                   2.  GPS:GPSPitch
#                   3.  GPS:GPSRoll
#                   4.  IPTC:NewIPTCTag
#                   5.  XMP-xmp:NewXMPxmpTag
#                   6.  XMP-exif:GPSPitch
#                   7.  XMP-exif:GPSRoll
#                   8.  XMP-xxx:NewXMPxxxTag1
#                   9.  XMP-xxx:NewXMPxxxTag2
#                  10.  XMP-xxx:NewXMPxxxTag3
#                  11.  XMP-xxx:NewXMPxxxStruct
#                  12.  PNG:NewPngTag1
#                  13.  PNG:NewPngTag2
#                  14.  PNG:NewPngTag3
#                  15.  MIE-Meta:NewMieTag1
#                  16.  MIE-Test:NewMieTag2
#
#               For detailed information on the definition of tag tables and
#               tag information hashes, see lib/Image/ExifTool/README.
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Shortcut tags are used when extracting information to simplify
# commonly used commands.  They can be used to represent groups
# of tags, or to provide an alias for a tag name.
%Image::ExifTool::UserDefined::Shortcuts = (
    MyVideoTags => ['XMP:country', 'XMP:City', 'XMP:location', 'XMP-iptcExt:PersonInImage', 'XMP:Event', 'XMP:CreatorWorkURL', 'XMP:Createdate', 'XMP:Description', 'XMP:MetadataDate', 'XMP:Creator', 'FILE:Filename', 'QuickTime:Duration', 'QuickTime:MajorBrand', 'QuickTime:CompressorID', 'QuickTime:BitDepth', 'Composite:AvgBitrate', 'QuickTime:Imageheight', 'QuickTime:VideoFrameRate'],
    MyAlias => 'FocalLengthIn35mmFormat',
);

# NOTE: All tag names used in the following tables are case sensitive.

# The %Image::ExifTool::UserDefined hash defines new tags to be added
# to existing tables.

%Image::ExifTool::UserDefined = (
    # All EXIF tags are added to the Main table, and WriteGroup is used to
    # specify where the tag is written (default is ExifIFD if not specified):
    'Image::ExifTool::Exif::Main' => {
        # Example 1.  EXIF:NewEXIFTag
        0xd000 => {
            Name => 'NewEXIFTag',
            Writable => 'int16u',
            WriteGroup => 'IFD0',
        },
        # add more user-defined EXIF tags here...
    },
    # the Geotag feature writes these additional GPS tags if available:
    'Image::ExifTool::GPS::Main' => {
        # Example 2.  GPS:GPSPitch
        0xd000 => {
            Name => 'GPSPitch',
            Writable => 'rational64s',
        },
        # Example 3.  GPS:GPSRoll
        0xd001 => {
            Name => 'GPSRoll',
            Writable => 'rational64s',
        },
    },
    # IPTC tags are added to a specific record type (eg. application record):
    # (Note: IPTC tag ID's are limited to the range 0-255)
    'Image::ExifTool::IPTC::ApplicationRecord' => {
        # Example 4.  IPTC:NewIPTCTag
        160 => {
            Name => 'NewIPTCTag',
            Format => 'string[0,16]',
        },
        # add more user-defined IPTC ApplicationRecord tags here...
    },
    # XMP tags may be added to existing namespaces:
    'Image::ExifTool::XMP::xmp' => {
        # Example 5.  XMP-xmp:NewXMPxmpTag
        NewXMPxmpTag => { Groups => { 2 => 'Author' } },
        # add more user-defined XMP-xmp tags here...
    },
    # special Geotag tags for XMP-exif:
    'Image::ExifTool::XMP::exif' => {
        # Example 6.  XMP-exif:GPSPitch
        GPSPitch => { Writable => 'rational', Groups => { 2 => 'Location' } },
        # Example 7.  XMP-exif:GPSRoll
        GPSRoll  => { Writable => 'rational', Groups => { 2 => 'Location' } },
    },
    # new XMP namespaces (eg. xxx) must be added to the Main XMP table:
    'Image::ExifTool::XMP::Main' => {
        # namespace definition for examples 8 to 11
        xxx => { # <-- must be the same as the NAMESPACE prefix
            SubDirectory => {
                TagTable => 'Image::ExifTool::UserDefined::xxx',
                # (see the definition of this table below)
            },
        },
        # add more user-defined XMP namespaces here...
    },
    # new PNG tags are added to the PNG::TextualData table:
    'Image::ExifTool::PNG::TextualData' => {
        # Example 12.  PNG:NewPngTag1
        NewPngTag1 => { },
        # Example 13.  PNG:NewPngTag2
        NewPngTag2 => { },
        # Example 14.  PNG:NewPngTag3
        NewPngTag3 => { },
    },
    # add a new MIE tag (NewMieTag1) and group (MIE-Test) to MIE-Meta
    # (Note: MIE group names must NOT end with a number)
    'Image::ExifTool::MIE::Meta' => {
        # Example 15.  MIE-Meta:NewMieTag1
        NewMieTag1 => {
            Writable => 'rational64u',
            Units => [ 'cm', 'in' ],
        },
        # new MIE "Test" group for example 16
        Test => {
            SubDirectory => {
                TagTable => 'Image::ExifTool::UserDefined::MIETest',
                DirName => 'MIE-Test',
            },
        },
    },
    # Composite tags are added to the Composite table:
    'Image::ExifTool::Composite' => {
        # Composite tags are unique:  The Require/Desire elements specify
        # tags that must/may exist, and the keys of these hashes are used as
        # indices in the @val array of the ValueConv expression to access
        # the numerical (-n) values of these tags.  All Require'd tags must
        # exist for the Composite tag to be evaluated.  If no Require'd tags
        # are specified, then at least one of the Desire'd tags must exist.
        # See the Composite table in Image::ExifTool::Exif for more
        # examples, and lib/Image/ExifTool/README for all of the details.
        BaseName => {
            Require => {
                0 => 'FileName',
            },
            # remove the extension from FileName
            ValueConv => '$val[0] =~ /(.*)\./ ? $1 : $val[0]',
        },
        # the next few examples demonstrate simplifications which may be
        # used if only one tag is Require'd or Desire'd:
        # 1) the Require lookup may be replaced with a simple tag name
        # 2) "$val" may be used to represent "$val[0]" in the expression
        FileExtension => {
            Require => 'FileName',
            ValueConv => '$val=~/\.([^.]*)$/; $1',
        },
        # override CircleOfConfusion tag to use D/1750 instead of D/1440
        CircleOfConfusion => {
            Require => 'ScaleFactor35efl',
            Groups => { 2 => 'Camera' },
            ValueConv => 'sqrt(24*24+36*36) / ($val * 1750)',
            # an optional PrintConv may be used to format the value
            PrintConv => 'sprintf("%.3f mm",$val)',
        },
        # generate a description for this file type
        FileTypeDescription => {
            Require => 'FileType',
            ValueConv => 'GetFileType($val,1) || $val',
        },
        # calculate physical image size based on resolution
        PhysicalImageSize => {
            Require => {
                0 => 'ImageWidth',
                1 => 'ImageHeight',
                2 => 'XResolution',
                3 => 'YResolution',
                4 => 'ResolutionUnit',
            },
            ValueConv => '$val[0]/$val[2] . " " . $val[1]/$val[3]',
            # (the @prt array contains print-formatted values)
            PrintConv => 'sprintf("%.1fx%.1f $prt[4]", split(" ",$val))',
        },
        # [advanced] select largest JPEG preview image
        BigImage => {
            Groups => { 2 => 'Preview' },
            Desire => {
                0 => 'JpgFromRaw',
                1 => 'PreviewImage',
                2 => 'OtherImage',
                # (DNG and A100 ARW may be have 2 PreviewImage's)
                3 => 'PreviewImage (1)',
            },
            # ValueConv may also be a code reference
            # Inputs: 0) reference to list of values, 1) ExifTool object
            ValueConv => sub {
                my $val = shift;
                my ($image, $bigImage, $len, $bigLen);
                foreach $image (@$val) {
                    next unless ref $image eq 'SCALAR';
                    # check for JPEG image (or "Binary data" if -b not used)
                    next unless $$image =~ /^(\xff\xd8\xff|Binary data (\d+))/;
                    $len = $2 || length $$image; # get image length
                    # save largest image
                    next if defined $bigLen and $bigLen >= $len;
                    $bigLen = $len;
                    $bigImage = $image;
                }
                return $bigImage;
            },
        },
        # **** ADD ADDITIONAL COMPOSITE TAG DEFINITIONS HERE ****
    },
);

# This is a basic example of the definition for a new XMP namespace.
# This table is referenced through a SubDirectory tag definition
# in the %Image::ExifTool::UserDefined definition above.
# The namespace prefix for these tags is 'xxx', which corresponds to
# an ExifTool family 1 group name of 'XMP-xxx'.
%Image::ExifTool::UserDefined::xxx = (
    GROUPS => { 0 => 'XMP', 1 => 'XMP-xxx', 2 => 'Image' },
    NAMESPACE => { 'xxx' => 'http://ns.myname.com/xxx/1.0/' },
    WRITABLE => 'string', # (default to string-type tags)
    # Example 8.  XMP-xxx:NewXMPxxxTag1 (an alternate-language tag)
    # - replace "NewXMPxxxTag1" with your own tag name (eg. "MyTag")
    NewXMPxxxTag1 => { Writable => 'lang-alt' },
    # Example 9.  XMP-xxx:NewXMPxxxTag2 (a string tag in the Author category)
    NewXMPxxxTag2 => { Groups => { 2 => 'Author' } },
    # Example 10.  XMP-xxx:NewXMPxxxTag3 (an unordered List-type tag)
    NewXMPxxxTag3 => { List => 'Bag' },
    # Example 11.  XMP-xxx:NewXMPxxxStruct (a structured tag)
    # - example structured XMP tag
    NewXMPxxxStruct => {
        # the "Struct" entry defines the structure fields
        Struct => {
            # optional namespace prefix and URI for structure fields
            # (required only if different than NAMESPACE above)
            NAMESPACE => { 'test' => 'http://x.y.z/test/' },
            # optional structure name (used for warning messages only)
            STRUCT_NAME => 'MyStruct',
            # optional rdf:type property for the structure
            TYPE => 'http://x.y.z/test/xystruct',
            # structure fields (very similar to tag definitions)
            X => { Writable => 'integer' },
            Y => { Writable => 'integer' },
            # a nested structure...
            Things => {
                List => 'Bag',
                Struct => {
                    NAMESPACE => { thing => 'http://x.y.z/thing/' },
                    What  => { },
                    Where => { },
                },
            },
        },
        List => 'Seq', # structures may also be elements of a list
    },
    # Each field in the structure has an automatically-generated
    # corresponding flattened tag with an ID that is the concatenation
    # of the original structure tag ID and the field name (after
    # capitalizing the first letter of the field name if necessary).
    # The Name and/or Description of these flattened tags may be changed
    # if desired, but all other tag properties are taken from the
    # structure field definition.  When this is done, the "Flat" flag
    # must also be set in the tag definition.  For example:
    NewXMPxxxStructX => { Name => 'SomeOtherName', Flat => 1 },
);

# Adding a new MIE group requires a few extra definitions
use Image::ExifTool::MIE;
%Image::ExifTool::UserDefined::MIETest = (
    %Image::ExifTool::MIE::tableDefaults,   # default MIE table entries
    GROUPS      => { 0 => 'MIE', 1 => 'MIE-Test', 2 => 'Document' },
    WRITE_GROUP => 'MIE-Test',
    # Example 16.  MIE-Test:NewMieTag2
    NewMieTag2  => { },     # new user-defined tag in MIE-Test group
);

# A special 'Lenses' list can be defined to give priority to specific lenses
# in the logic to determine a lens model for the Composite:LensID tag
@Image::ExifTool::UserDefined::Lenses = (
    'Sigma AF 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC',
    'Tokina AF193-2 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5',
);

# User-defined file types to recognize
%Image::ExifTool::UserDefined::FileTypes = (
    XXX => { # <-- the extension of the new file type (case insensitive)
        # BaseType specifies the format upon which this file is based.
        # If BaseType is defined, then the file will be fully supported,
        # and in this case the Magic pattern should not be defined
        BaseType => 'TIFF',
        MIMEType => 'image/x-xxx',
        Description => 'My XXX file type',
    },
    YYY => {
        # without BaseType, the file will be recognized but not supported
        Magic => '0123abcd',    # regular expression to match at start of file
        MIMEType => 'application/test',
        Description => 'Test imaginary file type',
    },
    ZZZ => {
        # if neither BaseType nor Magic are defined, the file will be
        # recognized by extension only.  MIMEType will be application/unknown
        # unless otherwise specified
        Description => 'My ZZZ file type',
    },
);

 
%Image::ExifTool::UserDefined = (
    'Image::ExifTool::Composite' => {
        WebCaptionTag => {
            Desire => {
                0 => 'XMP:Coverage',
                #previously:      0 => 'XMP:Description',
                1 => 'XMP:Location',
                2 => 'XMP:City',
                3 => 'XMP:Country',
                4 => 'XMP:Creator',
                # Harald 20-10-2022 changed to'IPTC:DateCreated'
                # as this is specified in embedded data mapping in AB for download.
                5 => 'IPTC:DateCreated',
                # 5 => 'XMP:CreateDate',
            },
            ValueConv => q{
                my (@loc, @list);
                defined $val[$_] and push @loc, $val[$_] foreach 1..3;
                pop @loc if @loc > 1 and $loc[-1] eq $loc[-2];
                if (defined $val[4]) {
                    $val[4] = join(', ', @{$val[4]}) if ref $val[4] eq 'ARRAY';
                    push @list, "Photo by $val[4]"
                }
                if (defined $val[5]) {
                    $_ = "$val[5] 00:00:00";
                    DateFmt('%b-%Y');
                    push @list, $_;
                }
                my $prefix = defined($val[0]) ? "$val[0], " : '';
                $prefix .= join(', ', @loc) . '. ' if @loc;
                $prefix .= join(', ', @list);
                $prefix =~ s/  +/ /g;
                $prefix =~ s/ $//;
                return $prefix;
            },
        },
    },
);



# Specify default ExifTool option values
# (see the Options function documentation for available options)
%Image::ExifTool::UserDefined::Options = (
    CoordFormat => '%.6f',  # change default GPS coordinate format
    Duplicates => 1,        # make -a default for the exiftool app
    GeoMaxHDOP => 4,        # ignore GPS fixes with HDOP > 4
    LargeFileSupport => 1,
);

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1;  #end
PH Edit: Please put your code in [code][/code] blocks

[Phil Harvey]

I can't tell in the pasted version whether all the characters are proper ASCII because the forum changes them for me.  This is possibly your problem if you have pasted some Unicode non-breaking-spaces or something like that.

- Phil

[Harald]

I compared the two last versions and found that the differences are only on two positions. I commented out the first one, that eliminates equal locations. That did not make a difference.
I then commented out the date formatting and replaced it with the simple line from the previous version and it works.
Thus there is something not working in this piece of code:
                if (defined $val[5]) {
                    $_ = "$val[5] 00:00:00";
                    DateFmt('%b-%Y');
                    push @list, $_;
                }

I notice that you used to write $prt[5]
   push @list, $prt[5] if defined $prt[5];

But now you are using $val[5]. Are they both valid?
Copy - paste has worked for all my trials, so there is definitely no issue here

[Phil Harvey]

$val[5] is just the unformatted version of $prt[5].

The only thing I can think of is that you are using a very old (> 5 years) version of ExifTool before the DateFmt feature was added because the config file I attached works fine for me here with the current version of ExifTool.  If it doesn't work for you with a recent version of ExifTool, then upload a sample image so I can try to reproduce your problem.

- Phil

[Harald]

That's exactly it. We have just switched server and I would have thought that our IT installed the latest version but it seems he copied over the old one. It is 9.49 which according to your history is from 2014!
I will install the latest version and test again. Thanks so much for catching this.