Is it possible to display an empty string instead of - for a missing tag?

[delerious]

I know that if you use the -f option and specify a tag that does not exist, then it will print out a dash (-) by default for the value.

Is it possible to change the default value to empty string instead of dash? I have tried the following commands with the -api MissingTagValue option, but they don't output an empty string:

Code Select Expand

G:\Documents>exiftool -f -SubSecTimeOriginal -api MissingTagValue="" "h:\IMG_1833.jpg"
Sub Sec Time Original           : -

G:\Documents>exiftool -f -SubSecTimeOriginal -api MissingTagValue= "h:\IMG_1833.jpg"
Sub Sec Time Original           : -

G:\Documents>exiftool -f -SubSecTimeOriginal -api MissingTagValue='' "h:\IMG_1833.jpg"
Sub Sec Time Original           : ''


[Phil Harvey]

This is the correct syntax:

-api missingtagvalue^=

The ^= is a special operator that allows you to assign an empty value.  Otherwise simply = will delete the tag/option if a value isn't given.

- Phil

[StarGeek]

The caret is a special character under Windows, so you'll need to put it in quotes if that's your OS.

[Phil Harvey]

@StarGeek:  Good point.  Thanks.  So:

-api "missingtagvalue^="

- Phil

[delerious]

Thanks guys!

On Windows, I found a few different ways to handle the caret.

-api "MissingTagValue^="
-api MissingTagValue"^"=
-api MissingTagValue"^="
-api MissingTagValue^^=