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<h2 class='up'>Writing "FileName" and "Directory" tags</h2>
<p>By writing the <b>FileName</b> and/or <b>Directory</b> tags, ExifTool can be
used to rename and/or move images into directories according to any information
contained in the image. This is a powerful feature when combined with the
<code>-tagsFromFile</code> ability to copy the values from other tags. The most
common use of this feature is to organize images by date/time, but any other tag
value may also be used.</p>
<p>Writing the <b>Directory</b> tag moves a file to a specified directory. The
directory is created if it doesn't already exist.</p>
<p>Writing the <b>FileName</b> tag renames a file. If the new <b>FileName</b>
has a directory specification (ie. contains a '<code>/</code>' character), then
the file is also moved to the specified directory (see
<a href="#ex6">example 6</a> below). Existing files will not be overwritten
(but see "Warning" below).</p>
<p>The write-only <b>TestName</b> tag provides a mechanism for dry-run testing
of the rename feature. Writing <b>TestName</b> displays the old and new names
without making any changes to the files. (Note that there is no corresponding
test tag for <b>Directory</b>, but <b>TestName</b> supports a full path name
just like <b>FileName</b>, so the directory may be tested as well.)</p>
<p>The <code>%d</code>, <code>%f</code>, <code>%e</code> file name format codes
may be used to represent the directory, name and extension of the original file
when specifying <b>FileName</b> and <b>Directory</b> tags via the command-line
interface. (In a similar way to the <code>-o</code>, <code>-w</code> and
<code>-tagsFromFile</code> options.) Also, <code>%c</code> may be used to add a
copy number to the output file name to avoid collisions with existing file
names. Note that these codes must be escaped with an extra <code>%</code> if
used within a date format string. Modifiers may also be used to change the
default behaviour of these format codes. See the <code>-w</code> option in the
<a href="exiftool_pod.html">application documentation</a> for details.</p>
<p>When organizing files by date/time, use of the <code>-d</code> (date format)
option is essential to specify a format for the filename (and/or directory
name). The examples below demonstrate the use of this feature. Also, a list of
of <a href="#codes">common date format codes</a> is provided for reference.</p>
<blockquote class=prog><b class=red>Advanced feature:</b> The write-only
<b>HardLink</b> tag may be written using a technique similar to <b>FileName</b>.
Instead of renaming or moving the file, writing <b>HardLink</b> creates a hard
link with the specified name. This feature allows files to be organized without
affecting the originals. See the <a href="TagNames/extra.html">Extra Tags
documentation</a> for more information.</blockquote>
<h3>Notes:</h3>
<p>Writing the <b>FileName</b> and/or <b>Directory</b> tags alone causes the
file to be renamed or moved, not copied. However, if any "real" tags are
written at the same time, then the file is rewritten to the new destination and
the original file is left unchanged. (Only the four writable "pseudo" tags,
<b>FileName</b>, <b>Directory</b>, <b>FileModifyDate</b> and
<b>FileCreateDate</b>, may be set without causing the file to be rewritten.) If
desired, the <code>-overwrite_original</code> option may be used to remove the
original copy when the file is rewritten.</p>
<p>Conversely, the <code>-o</code> option may be used to force exiftool to
always create a copy of the file, even if no meta-information tags are written.
This is true even if the <code>-o</code> option is superseded by writing the
<b>Directory</b> tag, or through a <b>FileName</b> which includes a directory
specification. (See <a href="#ex5">example 5</a> below. Also see
<a href="#ex11">example 11</a> for the directory precedence rules.)</p>
<p>If the <code>-d</code> option is used, the unformatted date/time value must
be valid (ie. in the form "<code>YYYY:mm:dd HH:MM:SS</code>"), otherwise the
date formatting will fail and the file will not be renamed or moved.</p>
<p>In a Windows batch file, all <code>%</code> characters must be escaped as
<code>%%</code>. This can result in extreme format codes like
<code>%%%%f</code> when using the <code>-d</code> option.</p>
<blockquote class=prog><b class=red>Warning:</b>
Writing <b>illegal file names</b> in Windows can have unpredictable results and
may result in <b>data loss</b>. Illegal characters in Windows file names are:
<pre class=code> / \ ? * : | " < ></pre>
Any tag used in generating a file name which may contain these characters must
first be filtered to remove or translate these characters. A special feature
allows these characters to be removed from a tag value by adding a semicolon
inside the braces after a tag name. For example:
<pre class=code> exiftool "-filename<${model;}.%e" c:\images</pre>
This advanced formatting feature may also be used to do arbitrary reformatting
of any tag value used in a format string. See the <code>-p</code> option in the
<a href="exiftool_pod.html">application documentation</a> for more details.
</blockquote>
<h2>Examples</h2>
<a name="ex0"></a><table cellpadding=6>
<tr><td valign='top'> 0.</td><td bgcolor='#dddddd'><code class='blk'>
exiftool -d %Y%m%d_%H%M%%-c.%%e "-testname<CreateDate" DIR
</code></td></tr></table>
<blockquote>
The <b>TestName</b> tag is used for dry-run testing of the file renaming
feature. The above command is identical to that of the next example except that
<b>TestName</b> is written instead of <b>FileName</b>. So instead of renaming
the files, this command prints the old and new file names without actually
changing anything. For example:
<blockquote><pre>> <span class=code>exiftool -d %Y%m%d_%H%M%%-c.%%e "-testname<CreateDate" tmp</span>
'tmp/a.jpg' --> 'tmp/20031031_1544.jpg'
'tmp/b.jpg' --> 'tmp/20010519_1836.jpg'
1 directories scanned
0 image files updated
2 image files unchanged</pre></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<a name="ex1"></a><table cellpadding=6>
<tr><td valign='top'> 1.</td><td bgcolor='#dddddd'><code class='blk'>
exiftool -d %Y%m%d_%H%M%%-c.%%e "-filename<CreateDate" DIR
</code></td></tr></table>
<blockquote>
Rename all images in directory '<code>DIR</code>' to names like
'<code>20060327_1058-2.jpg</code>', with individual file names derived from the
value of the CreateDate (plus a copy number with a leading '<code>-</code>' if a
file with the same name already exists), and with the same extension as the
original image. <i class=lt>[Note that copying tag values with '<code><</code>' implies
'<code>-tagsfromfile @</code>' unless otherwise specified. See the
<code>-tagsFromFile</code> description in the
<a href="exiftool_pod.html">application documentation</a> for details.]</i>
<p><b>FAQ:</b> <i>"Why doesn't this command rename my files?"</i></p>
<p>There are 2 common reasons for this:</p>
<p>a) When a directory name is specified, this command will only rename "writable"
files in the directory. Use '<code>exiftool -listwf</code>' to list the
extensions of currently writable file types. The <code>-ext</code> option may
be used to rename other file types (eg. '<code>-ext avi</code>').</p>
<p>b) For this command to work, the CreateDate tag must exist in the source
file. Use '<code>exiftool -createdate FILE</code>' to see if a file contains
this information. If it doesn't, you may need to use another date/time tag such
as DateTimeOriginal or FileModifyDate. To see all available date/time tags in a
file (and their locations), use '<code>exiftool -a -G1 -s -time:all FILE</code>'.</p>
</blockquote>
<a name="ex2"></a><table cellpadding=6>
<tr><td valign='top'> 2.</td><td bgcolor='#dddddd'><code class='blk'>
exiftool -d %Y-%m-%d "-directory<datetimeoriginal" image.jpg
</code></td></tr></table>
<blockquote>
Move '<code>image.jpg</code>' into a directory with a name given by
DateTimeOriginal, in the form '<code>2006-03-27</code>'.
</blockquote>
<a name="ex3"></a><table cellpadding=6>
<tr><td valign='top'> 3.</td><td bgcolor='#dddddd'><code class='blk'>
exiftool '-filename<%f_$imagesize.%e' dir
</code></td></tr></table>
<blockquote>
This example uses an expression to add the image size to the name of all images
in directory '<code>dir</code>'. For example, this would remame a 640x480 image
called '<code>image.jpg</code>' to '<code>image_640x480.jpg</code>'. (Note that
the single quotes are necessary in Unix shells due to the '<code>$</code>'
symbol, but double quotes must be used instead when running in a Windows cmd shell.)
</blockquote>
<a name="ex4"></a><table cellpadding=6>
<tr><td valign='top'> 4.</td><td bgcolor='#dddddd'><code class='blk'>
exiftool -r -directory=%e_images/%d pics
</code></td></tr></table>
<blockquote>
Recursively move all images based in directory '<code>pics</code>' to
separate directory trees organized by file extension. For instance, in this
example the file '<code>pics/toys/new_car.jpg</code>' is moved to
'<code>jpg_images/pics/toys/new_car.jpg</code>'.
</blockquote>
<a name="ex5"></a><table cellpadding=6>
<tr><td valign='top'> 5.</td><td bgcolor='#dddddd'><code class='blk'>
exiftool -r -o %e_images/%d pics<br>
exiftool -r -o dummy/ -directory=%e_images/%d pics
</code></td></tr></table>
<blockquote>
Both of these commands have the same effect as example 3 above except that
images are copied instead of moved since the <code>-o</code> option was used. In
the second command the trailing '<code>/</code>' on '<code>dummy/</code>' is
necessary because otherwise '<code>dummy</code>' would be interpreted as a file
name. This technique of using <code>-o</code> with a dummy directory name is
necessary when the directory name is derived from the value of other tags (eg.
'<code>-directory<createDate</code>') and you want the files to be copied
instead of moved. (Because the values of other tags may not be used with the
<code>-o</code> option.)
</blockquote>
<a name="ex6"></a><table cellpadding=6>
<tr><td valign='top'> 6.</td><td bgcolor='#dddddd'><code class='blk'>
exiftool -r -d %Y/%m/%d/image_%H%M%S.%%e "-filename<filemodifydate" DIR
</code></td></tr></table>
<blockquote>
Recusively rename all images in '<code>DIR</code>' and any contained
subdirectories to the form '<code>image_HHMMSS.EXT</code>' (where
'<code>ext</code>' is the original file extension), and move them into a new
directory hierarchy based on date of file modification, with path names like
'<code>2006/03/27/image_105859.jpg</code>'.
</blockquote>
<p>The following examples demonstrate the interaction of this feature with
other ExifTool options:</p>
<a name="ex7"></a><table cellpadding=6>
<tr><td valign='top'> 7.</td><td bgcolor='#dddddd'><code class='blk'>
exiftool -filename=new.jpg dir/image.jpg
</code></td></tr></table>
<blockquote>
Rename '<code>dir/image.jpg</code>' to '<code>dir/new.jpg</code>'.
</blockquote>
<a name="ex8"></a><table cellpadding=6>
<tr><td valign='top'> 8.</td><td bgcolor='#dddddd'><code class='blk'>
exiftool -filename=new.jpg -comment=xxx dir/image.jpg
</code></td></tr></table>
<blockquote>
Copy '<code>dir/image.jpg</code>', add a new comment, and write output to
'<code>dir/new.jpg</code>'. The original file '<code>dir/image.jpg</code>' is
not changed.
</blockquote>
<a name="ex9"></a><table cellpadding=6>
<tr><td valign='top'> 9.</td><td bgcolor='#dddddd'><code class='blk'>
exiftool -filename=new.jpg -comment=xxx -overwrite_original dir/image.jpg
</code></td></tr></table>
<blockquote>
Rewrite '<code>dir/image.jpg</code>', adding a new comment and writing output to
'<code>dir/new.jpg</code>'. The original file '<code>dir/image.jpg</code>' is
removed.
</blockquote>
<a name="ex10"></a><table cellpadding=6>
<tr><td valign='top'>10.</td><td bgcolor='#dddddd'><code class='blk'>
exiftool -o tmp/ -filename=new.jpg image.jpg<br>
exiftool -o tmp/xxx.jpg -filename=new.jpg image.jpg<br>
exiftool -o tmp/new.jpg image.jpg
</code></td></tr></table>
<blockquote>
A file name or directory specified via the <b>FileName</b> or <b>Directory</b>
tag takes precedence over that specified by the <code>-o</code> option, so these
three commands all have the same effect: '<code>tmp/new.jpg</code>' is created
without changing '<code>image.jpg</code>'. Note that in the first command, the
trailing '<code>/</code>' on '<code>tmp/</code>' is necessary if the
'<code>tmp</code>' directory doesn't already exist, otherwise '<code>tmp</code>'
would be taken as a file name and '<code>new.jpg</code>' would be created in the
current directory. As illustrated in example 4 above, the file is rewritten
instead of simply being renamed when the '<code>-o</code>' option is used.
</blockquote>
<a name="ex11"></a><table cellpadding=6>
<tr><td valign='top'>11.</td><td bgcolor='#dddddd'><code class='blk'>
exiftool -directory=dir1 -filename=dir2/out.jpg -o dir3/ dir4/image.jpg
</code></td></tr></table>
<blockquote>
This example demonstrates the priorities of directory names specified using
different techniques. The output directory is taken from the first directory
specified from the following list: 1) the <b>Directory</b> tag, 2) the
directory part of the <b>FileName</b> tag, 3) the directory part of the
<code>-o</code> option, or 4) the source directory, in that order. The order of
the arguments on the command line is not significant. In this example, the
target file is copied (not moved, because the <code>-o</code> option was used)
to '<code>dir1/image.jpg</code>'. </blockquote>
<blockquote>Note that both the <b>FileName</b> tag and the <code>-o</code>
option may be used without a directory specification, in which case the
directory with the next highest priority is used. Also note that if
<code>-o</code> specifies a directory, then the directory name must end with a
'<code>/</code>' or the directory must already exist, otherwise ExifTool will
interpret the last part as a file name. (eg. '<code>-o images/test</code>'
specifies the '<code>images</code>' directory unless the
'<code>images/test</code>' directory already exists, while '<code>-o
images/test/</code>' unabiguously specifies the '<code>images/test</code>'
directory.)
</blockquote>
<a name="ex12"></a><table cellpadding=6>
<tr><td valign='top'>12.</td><td bgcolor='#dddddd'><code class='blk'>
exiftool -d %Y/%m "-directory<filemodifydate" "-directory<createdate" "-directory<datetimeoriginal" .
</code></td></tr></table>
<blockquote>Move image files from the current directory (<code>.</code>) into a
directory hierarcy based on year/month. In this command the Directory tag is
set from multiple other date/time tags. ExifTool evaluates the command-line
arguments left to right, and latter assignments to the same tag override earlier
ones, so the Directory for each image is ultimately set by the rightmost copy
argument that is valid for that image. Specifically, Directory is set from
DateTimeOriginal if it exists, otherwise CreateDate if it exists, and finally
FileModifyDate (which always exists) is used as a fallback.</blockquote>
<a name="codes"></a><h2>Common Date Format Codes</h2>
<p>Date format codes are used in the argument to the <code>-d</code> option to
represent components of the date/time string. The codes listed below are common
to most systems, but additional codes may be available on your specific system
-- see your <i>strftime</i> man page for details.</p>
<blockquote><table>
<tr><th>%a</th><td>- abbreviated locale weekday name</td></tr>
<tr><th>%A</th><td>- full locale weekday name</td></tr>
<tr><th>%b</th><td>- abbreviated locale month name</td></tr>
<tr><th>%B</th><td>- full locale month name</td></tr>
<tr><th>%c</th><td>- preferred locale date/time representation</td></tr>
<tr><th>%d</th><td>- day of month (01-31)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%H</th><td>- hour on a 24-hour clock (00-23)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%I</th><td>- hour on a 12-hour clock (01-12)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%j</th><td>- day of year (001-366)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%m</th><td>- month number (01-12)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%M</th><td>- minute (00-59)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%p</th><td>- 'AM' or 'PM'</td></tr>
<tr><th>%s</th><td>- number of seconds since the Epoch, UTC (see note 1 below)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%S</th><td>- seconds (00-59)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%w</th><td>- weekday number (0-6)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%W</th><td>- week number of the year (00-53)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%x</th><td>- preferred locale date representation</td></tr>
<tr><th>%X</th><td>- preferred locale time representation</td></tr>
<tr><th>%y</th><td>- 2-digit year (00-99)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%Y</th><td>- 4-digit year (eg. 2006)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%z</th><td>- time zone in the form +/-hhmm (see note 1 below)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%Z</th><td>- system time zone name (see note 2 below)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%%</th><td>- a literal '%' character</td></tr>
</table></blockquote>
<p>ExifTool file name format codes may be used inside a date format
string when a date/time tag is used to set the value of the <b>FileName</b> or
<b>Directory</b> tags via the command-line interface. In this case, an extra
'<code>%</code>' must be added to pass the format code through the date/time
parser:</p>
<blockquote><table>
<tr><th>%%d</th><td>- original file directory (including trailing "/" if necessary)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%%f</th><td>- original file name (without the extension)</td></tr>
<tr><th>%%e</th><td>- original file extension (not including the ".")</td></tr>
<tr><th>%%c</th><td>- copy number (output files only)</td></tr>
</table></blockquote>
<p>See the <code>-w</code> option in the <a href="exiftool_pod.html">exiftool
application documentation</a> for details about special features available
with these name format codes.</p>
<p><b>Notes:</b></p>
<ol>
<li>The %s and %z format codes use the time zone specified by the date/time
value. If the date/time value does not include a time zone specification, then
it is interpreted as a local time in the system time zone. These format codes
are parsed by ExifTool, so they should work on all systems.<br><br></li>
<li>The %Z format code ignores any time zone specified in the date/time value,
and returns the system time-zone name for the given date/time interpreted as a
local system time.</li>
</ol>
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