Extract part of filename and write to "Title" field in IPTC

[opn_morgan]

I have a series of files that follow the naming convention shown below.

RED = Date and is always 6 digits

BLUE = This string is a product code which can contain up to 3 letters followed by up to 6 digits, separated by an underscore

What is the best way to extract what is in blue and write this to the Title field in IPTC?

032917_R_1234_Description.tif

Thank you,

Morgan

[SuperMerlin · Accepted solution]

Try this for selected documents...

#target bridge

if(BridgeTalk.appName == "bridge" ) {
	addTitle = MenuElement.create("command", "Add Title2", "at the end of Tools");
}

addTitle.onSelect = function () {
	var thumbs = app.document.selections;
	if (ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript == undefined) ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript = new ExternalObject("lib:AdobeXMPScript");

	for(var a = 0; a < thumbs.length; a++) {
		var selectedFile = new Thumbnail(thumbs[a]);
		Title = decodeURI(selectedFile.spec.name).split("_");
		if (Title.length < 3) continue;
		newTitle = (Title[1] + "_" + Title[2]);
		app.synchronousMode = true;
		var xmp = new XMPMeta(selectedFile.synchronousMetadata.serialize());
		xmp.setLocalizedText( XMPConst.NS_DC, "title", null, "en-US", newTitle);
		var newPacket = xmp.serialize(XMPConst.SERIALIZE_USE_COMPACT_FORMAT);
		selectedFile.metadata = new Metadata(newPacket);
	}

	ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript.unload();
	ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript = undefined;
};

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

I like these questions as they are a good way for me to practice regular expressions and ExifTool commands etc.

Here is an ExifTool solution that uses a regular expression based search/replace to write the required part of the filename to the title metadata. Note that any content that already exists in the title field will be replaced:

exiftool -r '-title<${filename;s/(^\d+?_)(.+?_\d+?)(_.+)/$2/}' '/path/to file/or main top level folder/here'

This command is from the Mac OS, for Win OS simply change the straight single ' quotes to straight double " quotes if the path to the top level folder has a word space in it. Further commands can be added to only process specific file formats and or to ignore specific folders under the main top level folder. Further commands can be added to overwrite the original files rather than making a backup _original duplicate copy.

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

Here is a Bridge script that I modifed to use the same regular expression capture group find/replace as used in the previous ExifTool example. I personally find it easier to work with regular expressions to modify a script, as I am only a beginner with JavaScript/ExtendScript so the methods used by SuperMerlin are not as clear to me as RegEx. Note that any content that already exists in the title field will be replaced:

// https://imagesimple.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/cs5-filename-to-title-script/
// https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2455681
// Input filename: 032917_R_1234_Description.tif
// Output Title metadata: R_1234
#target bridge

if (BridgeTalk.appName == "bridge" ) {
	FT = MenuElement.create("command", "Add Specific Filename RegEx Pattern to Title", "at the end of Tools");
}

FT.onSelect = function () {
	AddFilenameToTitle();
}

function AddFilenameToTitle() {
	var thumbs = app.document.selections;
	if (!thumbs.length) return;
	if (ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript == undefined) ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript = new ExternalObject("lib:AdobeXMPScript");
	for(var a in thumbs) {
		var selectedFile = thumbs[a].spec;
		var Title = decodeURI(selectedFile.name).replace(/(^\d+?_)(.+?_\d+?)(_.+)/, '$2')
		var myXmpFile = new XMPFile(selectedFile.fsName, XMPConst.UNKNOWN, XMPConst.OPEN_FOR_UPDATE);
		var myXmp = myXmpFile.getXMP();
		myXmp.deleteProperty(XMPConst.NS_DC, "title");
		myXmp.appendArrayItem(XMPConst.NS_DC, "title", Title, 0, XMPConst.ALIAS_TO_ALT_TEXT);
		myXmp.setQualifier(XMPConst.NS_DC, "title[1]", "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace", "lang", "x-default");

		if (myXmpFile.canPutXMP(myXmp)) {
			myXmpFile.putXMP(myXmp);
			myXmpFile.closeFile(XMPConst.CLOSE_UPDATE_SAFELY);
		}
	}
}

Prepression: Downloading and Installing Adobe Scripts

[opn_morgan]

Hi Stephen,

Thank you so much for your quick response and solution! It worked!!!!

I am not a programmer of any kind but spend a lot of time looking at how I can leverage existing data for DAM solutions.

Thanks again,

Morgan

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

Hi Morgan, thank you for the reply and for providing me with an opportunity to practice and learn.

[opn_morgan]

Hi Stephen,

You might already know of this site but I tried using this to try and understand regex syntax.

https://regex101.com/

Thanks,

Morgan

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

Hi Morgan, yes, that is one of my main “go to” sites!

I also like:

RegExr: Learn, Build, & Test RegEx

Regex Tester and Debugger Online - Javascript, PCRE, PHP  

As you may know, there are multiple valid regular expressions that lead to the same result, some more concise/verbose than others and some more robust than others.