Organization Format String

The --format option is a powerful feature that allows you to precisely control the directory structure and filenames of your organized media within the destination directory.

You define a template string containing placeholders enclosed in curly braces {}. MediaCurator replaces these placeholders with actual metadata or file information during processing. You can combine these placeholders with static text (like /, -, or _) and directory separators (/) to build your desired output path relative to the destination directory.

Available Placeholders

Here is a list of the available placeholders:

Date Placeholders

Date placeholders allow you to organize files based on timestamps. You must specify the source of the date using a prefix:

• I. : Use the Image Date (extracted from EXIF metadata, typically the 'Date Taken'). Available only for images with valid EXIF date information.
• F. : Use the File Creation Date (obtained from the file system). Available for all files.
• D. : Use the Default Mixed Date. This is the recommended option for general use. It prioritizes the Image Date (I.) if available and valid, otherwise it falls back to the File Creation Date (F.).

Replace the ? in the examples below with I, F, or D.

• Year: {?.YYYY} (e.g., 2023), {?.YY} (e.g., 23)
• Month: {?.MMMM} (Full name, e.g., January), {?.MMM} (Abbreviated name, e.g., Jan), {?.MM} (2-digit number, e.g., 01), {?.M} (1 or 2-digit number, e.g., 1)
• Day: {?.DD} (2-digit day of month, e.g., 05), {?.D} (1 or 2-digit day of month, e.g., 5)
• Weekday: {?.DDDD} (Full name, e.g., Sunday), {?.DDD} (Abbreviated name, e.g., Sun)
• Hour: {?.HH} (24-hour, 2-digit, e.g., 14), {?.H} (24-hour, 1 or 2-digit, e.g., 14), {?.hh} (12-hour, 2-digit, e.g., 02), {?.h} (12-hour, 1 or 2-digit, e.g., 2)
• Minute: {?.mm} (2-digit, e.g., 08), {?.m} (1 or 2-digit, e.g., 8)
• Second: {?.ss} (2-digit, e.g., 09), {?.s} (1 or 2-digit, e.g., 9)
• AM/PM: {?.a} (lowercase am/pm), {?.A} (uppercase AM/PM)
• Week: {?.WW} (Week number of the year, 01-53, e.g., 01)

Filename Placeholders

These placeholders relate to the original file's name and extension.

• {NAME}: Original filename without the extension.
• {NAME.L}: Original filename without the extension, converted to lowercase.
• {NAME.U}: Original filename without the extension, converted to uppercase.
• {EXT}: Original file extension, including the leading dot (e.g., .jpg, .mp4).

Metadata Placeholders

These placeholders use metadata extracted from the file. If the metadata is not available, the placeholder will be replaced with an empty string (unless otherwise noted).

• {GEO}: GPS coordinates in latitude_longitude format (e.g., 34.0522_-118.2437). Empty if no GPS data is found.
• {CAM}: Camera model name (e.g., iPhone 14 Pro, Canon EOS R5). Empty if not found.
• {TYPE}: The type of media, either Image or Video.

Conditional Placeholders

These placeholders provide a simple text value based on the presence or absence of certain metadata.

• {HAS.GEO}: Outputs GeoTagged if GPS data exists, otherwise NoGeo.
• {HAS.CAM}: Outputs WithCamera if camera model data exists, otherwise NoCamera.
• {HAS.DATE}: Outputs Dated if EXIF Image Date exists, otherwise NoDate.

Other Placeholders

• {RND}: A random 8-character hexadecimal string (e.g., a1b2c3d4). This is extremely useful for adding to filenames to prevent potential collisions if multiple files might otherwise end up with the exact same name in the same target directory.

Examples

Let's see how these can be combined:

• Standard Year/Month/Day Structure:

  --format "{D.YYYY}/{D.MM}/{D.DD}/{NAME}{EXT}"

  Result Example: 2023/04/15/MyPhoto.jpg

• Group by Camera Model, then Year, Add Random Suffix:

  --format "{HAS.CAM}/{CAM}/{D.YYYY}/{NAME}_{RND}{EXT}"

  Result Examples:

  • WithCamera/Canon EOS R5/2023/IMG_1234_a1b2c3d4.jpg
  • NoCamera/Unknown/2023/VideoClip_b4c5d6e7.mp4 (If camera model is missing, {CAM} becomes empty, but {HAS.CAM} still works)

• Include Type and Full Date in Filename:

  --format "{TYPE}/{D.YYYY}-{D.MM}-{D.DD}_{NAME}{EXT}"

  Result Example: Image/2023-04-15_MyPhoto.jpg

• Organize by Geotag Status and Year/Month:

  --format "{HAS.GEO}/{D.YYYY}/{D.MMMM}/{NAME}{EXT}"

  Result Examples:

  • GeoTagged/2024/January/VacationPic.jpg
  • NoGeo/2024/February/IndoorShot.png*

Experiment with different combinations to achieve the organization structure that best suits your needs! Remember to use the --debug option first to preview the results without moving files.