Rename files using first x chars of a tag

[mrkphth]

I run the following command.


exiftool -d %Y.%m.%d(%I.%M.%p) "-testname<${CreationDate}_$ContentIdentifier.%le" "E:\Pictures\IMG_5999.mov"

I only want to use the first 8 chars $ContentIdentifier in the new name of the file.

Any assistance is appreciated.

[StarGeek]

You would have to use the Advanced formatting feature and insert some Perl code, of which there are many ways to do that

For example
exiftool -d %Y.%m.%d(%I.%M.%p) "-testname<${CreationDate}_${ContentIdentifier;s/^(.{8}).*/$1/}.%le" "E:\Pictures\IMG_5999.mov"

Heh, literally the same question from  StackOverflow.  You would just use it on the default value of the tag which is $_

exiftool -d %Y.%m.%d(%I.%M.%p) "-testname<${CreationDate}_${ContentIdentifier;$_=substr($_, 0, 8 )}.%le" "E:\Pictures\IMG_5999.mov"

I learned most of what I know of Perl from googling what I want to do and "perl".  This is what I used here.  Even though I knew I wanted to use substr, I wasn't quite sure of the parameters so I had to double check.

[mrkphth]

Thanks for the assistance. Used the second option. Works like a charm.