Identifying Problematic Files Post-ExifTool Processing

[Roy Brian]

Hello everyone!

I ran the following command on a folder containing thousands of pictures and videos:

Code Select Expand

exiftool -r -all:all= -tagsfromfile @ "-UserComment<Copyright" "DIRECTORY"

The command worked well, for the most par, as the last lines of the output read:

349 directories scanned
3313 image files updated
   17 image files unchanged
    1 files weren't updated due to errors

My question is simple, is there any to know exactly which files were unchanged or weren't updated, and due to what reason in each file?

Thank you!

[StarGeek]

Glad to see you made it over here.

Original Superuser post.

Sorry I haven't been quick enough to respond over there.

[Phil Harvey]

You should have gotten an error message for each file that wasn't written.

- Phil

[Roy Brian]

Hi StarGeeek,

No worries, and thanks for replying. This issue is quite pressing so I had to maximize my options I hope I'm not being rude.

Without a conclusion whether I should resume this discussion here or there, I'm going to do so in both.

So searching for warning after running the command with -v2, results in 27 matches (putting error or stderr does not yield any useful results).
This does not settle with the overall 14 "problem" files (13 unchanged, 1 wasn't updated due to an error).
Weirdly enough, checking the very files that had the warning the next to them shows that they were updated as expected.

Thanks!

[Phil Harvey]

Try searching for "Error" instead.

- Phil

[Roy Brian]

The only line containing the word "error" is the output's very last one:

Code Select Expand

1 files weren't updated due to errors

Thanks

[Phil Harvey]

I don't understand that.  There should be one line with "Error" (capital "E") for the file that wasn't written due to an error.

The files that weren't changed will have their original file modification date/time, but this will include the file with the error.

Also, you can add one or more -v options to the command to get more information about what was done to each file, although this may be more than you want.

- Phil

[Roy Brian]

I copied the output in its entirety to Notepad++. The ONLY line containing the word "error" (with or without a capital E) is the aforementioned one.

I ran (is this grammatically correct?) the command with "-v2".

Thanks!

[Hayo Baan]

Can't you post the exact command you used as well as its full output? That way we can better see what's going on.

[StarGeek]

Use redirection to save the output to a file.  With over 3,000 files, the command line buffer probably can't hold all the output.

[Phil Harvey]

This question has come up in the past, and currently there is no really good solution because the -v output can be much more verbose than necessary.  But at least it should give an error if it can't write the file for whatever reason, and if it doesn't that is a bug in ExifTool that needs fixing.

And in the -v output, files that aren't changed should generate a line like this:

Nothing changed in FILE

Perhaps it would be helpful to add new feature to exiftool to make this accounting easier to obtain.  But I hate adding new options because there are already too many.  However something like this should have the desired effect (this command works on Mac/Linux, but on Windows you would have to install a 'grep' utility):

exiftool -v ARGS | grep -E "(Error|Nothing)"

- Phil

[StarGeek]

I haven't tested it, but I think on windows you can use FindStr like this

exiftool -v ARGS | FindStr "Error Nothing"

[Roy Brian]

Can't you post the exact command you used as well as its full output? That way we can better see what's going on.

How do I do that without flooding this thread? The output is incredibly long.

And here is the command:

Code Select Expand

exiftool -r -v2 -all:all= -tagsfromfile @ "-UserComment<Copyright" "DIRECTORY"

Use redirection to save the output to a file.  With over 3,000 files, the command line buffer probably can't hold all the output.

How do I do that, please?

This question has come up in the past, and currently there is no really good solution because the -v output can be much more verbose than necessary.  But at least it should give an error if it can't write the file for whatever reason, and if it doesn't that is a bug in ExifTool that needs fixing.

And in the -v output, files that aren't changed should generate a line like this:

Nothing changed in FILE

Perhaps it would be helpful to add new feature to exiftool to make this accounting easier to obtain.  But I hate adding new options because there are already too many.  However something like this should have the desired effect (this command works on Mac/Linux, but on Windows you would have to install a 'grep' utility):

exiftool -v ARGS | grep -E "(Error|Nothing)"

- Phil

I haven't tested it, but I think on windows you can use FindStr like this

exiftool -v ARGS | FindStr "Error Nothing"

I have the options to test both methods as I have access to both operating systems. What should I do?

Thanks!

[StarGeek]

Use redirection to save the output to a file.  With over 3,000 files, the command line buffer probably can't hold all the output.

How do I do that, please?

Add something like >output.txt to the command.  This will save the output to output.txt in the current directory and nothing should appear on the screen while the command is running.  You can add a full path if you want output.txt to be saved someplace else.  This is not something exiftool does, but is part of the underlying OS.

So your command would be something like:
exiftool -r -v2 -all:all= -tagsfromfile @ "-UserComment<Copyright" "DIRECTORY" >output.txt

You could then attach output.txt to a post rather that copy/pasting it to a post.

[Roy Brian]

Hi folks,

You brilliant suggestions were spot on... StarGeek, indeed there was some missing information from the command prompt itself. When redirecting the output to a text file, everything was there, as Phil mentioned: 13 lines with "Nothing changed in..." and a line with an "Error", for the 13 unchanged files and 1 file that wasn't updated due to an error, respectively. I have decided to attach the output just in case you'd like to take a look, but for some reason the forum forbids me from directly attaching the file to this post (although it is well within the size limitations), so here's a link the file.

https://1drv.ms/t/s!AjiZgAbXI9jwlSJY9-CuBkmtuy8T

Thanks!