SetTimestampByExifOrFilename is useful for fixing the creation or modification date of an image or video file.
Let's think about when you copy images from one disk to another, without the appropriate precautions on the original date of the images, or when you recover from a backup or when you restore the WhatsApp archive in a new mobile phone.
Sorting by date doesn't work anymore in the image and video gallery!
So we could use some paid software or apps or try these simple scripts.
These scripts works under Linux, Windows and Android.
For both Linux and Windows the original date is first looked for in the metadata inside the file (exif) and if not found in the file name itself.
In the Android script, the original date is taken from the file name only.
- images: use tag 'CreateDate' or 'ExifDTOrig' (id 36868) if present or 'DateTimeOriginal' or 'ExifDTDigitized' (id 36867)
- videos (only Linux): use tag 'MediaCreateDate'
Note: on Linux you can use exiftool -D -S <image_file> to see the id tag
- IMG[-]YYYYMMDD[-]HHmmss.*$ Generic image file
- VID[-]YYYYMMDD[-]HHmmss.*$ Generic video file
- SAVE[-]YYYYMMDD[-]HHmmss.*$ Generic image/video file saved
- ^[A-Za-z]{3,5}[-]YYYYMMDD[-]hhmmss.*$ Generic format
- WhatsApp:
- IMG-YYYYMMDD-WASEQ.*$ Generic "WhatsApp Image" file
- VID-YYYYMMDD-WASEQ.*$ Generic "WhatsApp Video" file
- AUD-YYYYMMDD-WASEQ.*$ Generic "WhatsApp Audio" file
- STK-YYYYMMDD-WASEQ.*$ Generic "WhatsApp Stickers" file
- PTT-YYYYMMDD-WASEQ.*$ Generic "WhatsApp Voice Notes" file
- ^[A-Za-z]{3,5}[-]YYYYMMDD[-]WASEQ.*$ Generic "WhatsApp format" file
Note: On WhatsApp file the "WASEQ" is tranlated from seq (WA0000 - WA9999) to hhmmss (000000 - 024639)
SetTimestampByExifOrFilename.sh <file|directory>
To extract the exif metadata, the exiftool command is used and must be installed separately otherwise only the file name will be used to know the file creation date.
exiftool can be installed easily based on the Linux distribution:
- Ubuntu and derivatives:
apt install -y libimage-exiftool-perl - RHEL 9:
- subscription-manager repos --enable codeready-builder-for-rhel-9-$(arch)-rpms
- dnf install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-9.noarch.rpm
- AlmaLinux 9, Rocky Linux 9:
- dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb
- dnf install epel-release
- RHEL 8:
- subscription-manager repos --enable codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-$(arch)-rpms
- dnf install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm
- AlmaLinux 8, Rocky Linux 8:
- dnf config-manager --set-enabled powertools
- dnf install epel-release
- RHEL 7:
- subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-*-optional-rpms --enable rhel-*-extras-rpms --enable rhel-ha-for-rhel-*-server-rpms
- yum install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm
- CentOS 7:
- yum install epel-release
SetTimestampByExifOrFilename.sh $HOME/Images/IMG_20230108_122531.jpg
SetTimestampByExifOrFilename.sh $HOME/Images
Set-TimestampByExifOrFilename.ps1 -File <file|directory>
Get-Help ./Set-TimestampByExifOrFilename.ps1
./Set-TimestampByExifOrFilename.ps1 -File IMG_20221109_WA1356.jpg
./Set-TimestampByExifOrFilename.ps1 -File Images
SetTimestampByFilenameAndroidAdb.sh <file|directory>
To use this script on Android you need to connect the device to the computer via USB cable and then connect from the PC with the adb command.
To use the adb command and to be able to connect, you need to enable Developer Options and then usb debugging.
If you don't know how to do it, search online for "How Do I Enable USB Debugging".
adb can be found at https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools#downloads
Note: SetTimestampByFilenameAndroidAdb.sh use commands sed and basename available from Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
The primary storage path is in environment variable $EXTERNAL_STORAGE or is /sdcard
adb devices
pri_storage=$(adb shell 'echo $EXTERNAL_STORAGE')
pri_storage=${pri_storage:-/sdcard}
echo $pri_storage
We use $pri_storage variable later in adb command.
To copy the script we enter the folder that contains it and use the commands:
adb devices
adb push SetTimestampByFilenameAndroidAdb.sh $pri_storage
adb shell ls -al ${pri_storage}/
At this point the script is inside the internal memory of the Android device.
adb shell
s=$EXTERNAL_STORAGE
s=${s:-/sdcard}
echo $s
cd $s
sh ./SetTimestampByFilenameAndroidAdb.sh DCIM/Camera/IMG_20230105_123335.jpg
sh ./SetTimestampByFilenameAndroidAdb.sh DCIM/Camera/VID_20230105_124001.mp4
adb shell
s=$EXTERNAL_STORAGE
s=${s:-/sdcard}
echo $s
cd $s
sh ./SetTimestampByFilenameAndroidAdb.sh "Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Images/IMG-20230102-WA0007.jpg"
adb shell
s=$EXTERNAL_STORAGE
s=${s:-/sdcard}
echo $s
cd $s
sh ./SetTimestampByFilenameAndroidAdb.sh "Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Images"
Copyright (c) 2023 Enio Carboni - Italy
This file is part of SetTimestampByExifOrFilename.
SetTimestampByExifOrFilename is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later
version.
SetTimestampByExifOrFilename is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
with SetTimestampByExifOrFilename. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.