How to organize/sort images by EXIF image data
I have recovered images from a lost partition and I need to sort them or put them into a folder by the creation date in the EXIF data of each image.
I have installed digiKam and also shotwell but have not found the way to do this on any of the options.
Can anyone explain to me how to do it with either of those programs or by any other method?
Solution 1:
My favorite solution is to set the file date the same as the exif photo date. Doing this, you can sort the files using any file explorer tool.
- Install jhead (
apt-get install jhead) - Go to the photos directory and run this command
jhead -ft *. This will set the file date in the filesystem with the create date of the exif metadata - Now just go to the top menu (in Ubuntu you most go with the mouse through the top of the monitor screen), select View → Sort Images → By Date.
Solution 2:
I recommend using exiftool. You can install it with
sudo apt install exiftool
Here's a sample command that renames the files based on creation date in YYYYMMDD format and appends a sequence number at the end.
exiftool '-filename<CreateDate' -d %Y%m%d%%-.4nc.%%le -r
And here's a sample command that moves image.jpg into a directory with its creation date as its name, in the 'YYYY-MM-DD' format.
exiftool -d %Y-%m-%d "-directory<datetimeoriginal" image.jpg
There's more sample commands in the documentation: https://sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/filename.html
Solution 3:
This is the code I am using. It renames the photos adding YYYYMMDD_originalname.jpg
#! /bin/bash
shopt -s globstar || exit
for PIC in **
do
# look only for jpg
if [[ "$PIC" =~ \.JPG$ ]] || [[ "$PIC" =~ \.jpg$ ]]; then
# ignore jpg that have 8 numbers at beginning followed by _ or after IMG_ or P_ and followed by _ (already date stamped)
if [[ "$PIC" =~ [[:digit:]]{8}_.*$ ]] || [[ "$PIC" =~ IMG_[[:digit:]]{8}_.*$] ]] || [[ "$PIC" =~ P_[[:digit:]]{8}_.*$] ]]; then
:
else
# get the date and time from the tag
DATE=$(exiftool -p '$DateTimeOriginal' "$PIC" | sed 's/[: ]//g')
echo "file_$PIC"
# customize date, in this case eliminate the time, getting only the date in 8 numbers and adding _
DATEMOD2=$(echo $DATE | sed -e 's/^\(.\{8\}\).*/\1_/')
echo "datemod2_$DATEMOD2"
# check if DateTimeOriginal was present
if [[ "$PIC" == "$DATEMOD2$PIC" ]];then
# as DateTimeOriginal is not present try with HistoryWhen
DATE=$(exiftool -p '$HistoryWhen' "$PIC" | sed 's/[: ]//g')
DATEMOD2B=$(echo $DATE | sed -e 's/^\(.\{8\}\).*/\1_/')
echo "datemod2B_$DATEMOD2B"
# check if HistoryWhen is present
if [[ "$PIC" == "$DATEMOD2B$PIC" ]];then
# nor the tag DateTimeOriginal, nor HistoryWhen present
echo "skip"
else
# this will be done
echo "mv -i "$PIC" $(dirname "$PIC")/"$DATEMOD2B""$PIC""
#uncomment if you like it
#mv -i "$PIC" $(dirname "$PIC")/"$DATEMOD2B""$PIC"
fi
else
# this will be done
echo "mv -i "$PIC" $(dirname "$PIC")/"$DATEMOD2""$PIC""
#uncomment if you like it
#mv -i "$PIC" $(dirname "$PIC")/"$DATEMOD2""$PIC"
fi
fi
fi
done
EDIT. In this modification, the date in the tag is passed to the name and also to the date attribute with touch. Also, if those tags do not exist, the date of modification tag is passed to the name of the file.
#! /bin/bash
shopt -s globstar || exit
for PIC in **
do
# look only for jpg
if [[ "$PIC" =~ \.JPG$ ]] || [[ "$PIC" =~ \.jpg$ ]]; then
echo "file_$PIC"
# get the date and time from the tag DateTimeOriginal
DATE=$(exiftool -p '$DateTimeOriginal' "$PIC" | sed 's/[: ]//g')
LONGDATE=$(echo $DATE | sed -e 's/^\(.\{12\}\).*/\1/')
# check if DateTimeOriginal is 0000... OR empty
if [[ "$LONGDATE" != "000000000000" ]] && [[ -n "$LONGDATE" ]]; then
echo "datetimeoriginal_$LONGDATE"
# modify the attribute date with the info in the tag date
touch -t $LONGDATE "$PIC"
# customize date, in this case eliminate the time, getting only the date in 8 numbers and adding _
DATEMOD2=$(echo $DATE | sed -e 's/^\(.\{8\}\).*/\1_/')
echo "datemod2_$DATEMOD2"
# skip renaming if
# 8 numbers at beginning followed by _ or after IMG_ or P_ and followed by _ (already date stamped)
if [[ "$PIC" =~ [[:digit:]]{8}_.*$ ]] || [[ "$PIC" =~ IMG_[[:digit:]]{8}_.*$] ]] || [[ "$PIC" =~ P_[[:digit:]]{8}_.*$] ]]; then
:
else
# this will be done
filename=$(basename "$PIC")
echo "$filename"
echo "mv -i \""$PIC"\" \""$(dirname "$PIC")"/"$DATEMOD2""$filename"\""
#uncomment if you like it
mv -i "$PIC" "$(dirname "$PIC")/$DATEMOD2$filename"
fi
else
# get the date and time from the tag HistoryWhen
DATE=$(exiftool -p '$HistoryWhen' "$PIC" | sed 's/[: ]//g')
LONGDATE=$(echo $DATE | sed -e 's/^\(.\{12\}\).*/\1/')
# check if Historywhen is 0000... or empty
if [[ "$LONGDATE" != "000000000000" ]] && [[ -n "$LONGDATE" ]]; then
echo "historywhentag_$LONGDATE"
touch -t $LONGDATE "$PIC"
DATEMOD2B=$(echo $DATE | sed -e 's/^\(.\{8\}\).*/\1_/')
echo "datemod2B_$DATEMOD2B"
if [[ "$PIC" =~ [[:digit:]]{8}_.*$ ]] || [[ "$PIC" =~ IMG_[[:digit:]]{8}_.*$] ]] || [[ "$PIC" =~ P_[[:digit:]]{8}_.*$] ]]; then
:
else
# this will be done
filename=$(basename "$PIC")
echo "$filename"
echo "mv -i \""$PIC"\" \""$(dirname "$PIC")"/"$DATEMOD2B""$filename"\""
#uncomment if you like it
mv -i "$PIC" "$(dirname "$PIC")/$DATEMOD2B$filename"
fi
else
# get the date and time from the tag tag filemodifydate
DATE=$(exiftool -p '$filemodifydate' "$PIC" | sed 's/[: ]//g')
LONGDATE=$(echo $DATE | sed -e 's/^\(.\{12\}\).*/\1/')
# check if filemodifydate is 0000... or empty
if [[ "$LONGDATE" != "000000000000" ]] && [[ -n "$LONGDATE" ]]; then
#echo "filemodifydatetag_$LONGDATE"
#touch -t $LONGDATE "$PIC"
DATEMOD2C=$(echo $DATE | sed -e 's/^\(.\{8\}\).*/\1_/')
echo "datemod2C_$DATEMOD2C"
if [[ "$PIC" =~ [[:digit:]]{8}_.*$ ]] || [[ "$PIC" =~ IMG_[[:digit:]]{8}_.*$] ]] || [[ "$PIC" =~ P_[[:digit:]]{8}_.*$] ]]; then
:
else
# this will be done
filename=$(basename "$PIC")
echo "$filename"
echo "mv -i \""$PIC"\" \""$(dirname "$PIC")"/"$DATEMOD2C""$filename"\""
#uncomment if you like it
mv -i "$PIC" "$(dirname "$PIC")/$DATEMOD2C$filename"
fi
else
echo "Error, NO date available"
fi
fi
fi
fi
done
For sorting in folders (year and month) (YYYYMM):
exiftool "-Directory<DateTimeOriginal" -d "%Y%m" *