Video File Date Adjustment Script - set file data according to the metadata of the video content

videodate.sh

#!/bin/sh

# Video File Date Adjustment Script
#
# This script traverses a directory (and its subdirectories) to process video files
# (mp4, avi, mkv, mov) and their containing directories. For each video file, it:
#
# 1. Extracts the creation date from the file's metadata, prioritizing:
#    a) com.apple.quicktime.creationdate
#    b) container metadata
#    c) video stream metadata
# 2. Checks if the file's current creation time is valid (not in the future).
# 3. If metadata is available and valid, sets the file's creation time to match the metadata.
# 4. If metadata is unavailable or the date is in the future, sets the creation time to current time minus one minute.
# 5. Sets the file's modification time to the current time if any changes were made.
# 6. Updates the containing directory's modification time to match the oldest file within it.
#
# The script outputs a line for each processed video file in the format:
# filename|status|set_date|file_creation_time
#
# If any errors occur during processing, they are logged to stderr.
#
# Usage:
#   ./videodate.sh [directory_path]
#
# If no directory path is provided, the script processes the current directory.
#
# Dependencies: ffprobe (part of ffmpeg), date, stat, touch, find, sed, cut, basename, dirname
#
# Note: This script is designed for FreeBSD systems. Some modifications may be
# needed for other Unix-like systems.

set -e

filename_width=50

error_exit() {
    echo "error: $1" >&2
    exit 1
}

check_dependencies() {
    required_commands="ffprobe date stat touch find sed cut basename dirname"

    for cmd in $required_commands; do
        if ! command -v "$cmd" > /dev/null 2>&1; then
            error_exit "required command '$cmd' not found. please install it and try again."
        fi
    done

    if ! ffprobe -version | grep -q "ffprobe version"; then
        error_exit "ffprobe found, but unable to determine version. please ensure ffmpeg is correctly installed."
    fi
}

truncate_name() {
    name="$1"
    if [ ${#name} -gt $filename_width ]; then
        truncated=$(echo "$name" | cut -c1-$((filename_width-3)))
        printf "%-${filename_width}s" "${truncated}..."
    else
        printf "%-${filename_width}s" "$name"
    fi
}

get_creation_date() {
    file="$1"
    ffprobe_output=$(ffprobe -v quiet -print_format json -show_format -show_streams "$file" 2>/dev/null)

    # Check for QuickTime creation date
    quicktime_date=$(echo "$ffprobe_output" | sed -n 's/.*"com.apple.quicktime.creationdate": "\([^"]*\)".*/\1/p')
    if [ -n "$quicktime_date" ]; then
        echo "quicktime|$quicktime_date"
        return
    fi

    # Check for container metadata
    container_date=$(echo "$ffprobe_output" | sed -n 's/.*"creation_time": "\([^"]*\)".*/\1/p' | head -n 1)
    if [ -n "$container_date" ]; then
        echo "container|$container_date"
        return
    fi

    # Check for stream metadata
    stream_date=$(echo "$ffprobe_output" | sed -n 's/.*"tags": {[^}]*"creation_time": "\([^"]*\)".*/\1/p' | head -n 1)
    if [ -n "$stream_date" ]; then
        echo "stream|$stream_date"
        return
    fi

    echo ""  # return empty string if no date found
}

print_aligned_output() {
    printf "%s|%-25s|%-29s|%s\n" "$1" "$2" "$3" "$4"
}

process_file() {
    file="$1"
    if [ ! -f "$file" ]; then
        echo "error: file does not exist: $file" >&2
        return
    fi

    filename=$(basename "$file")

    # Skip files starting with a dot
    case "$filename" in
        ._*) return ;;
    esac

    truncated_filename=$(truncate_name "$filename")

    current_time=$(date +%s)
    one_minute_ago=$((current_time - 60))

    metadata_result=$(get_creation_date "$file")
    if [ -z "$metadata_result" ]; then
        new_time=$one_minute_ago
        status="no_metadata_set_recent"
    else
        metadata_source=$(echo "$metadata_result" | cut -d'|' -f1)
        metadata_date=$(echo "$metadata_result" | cut -d'|' -f2)

        formatted_date=$(echo "$metadata_date" | sed 's/\([0-9]\{4\}-[0-9]\{2\}-[0-9]\{2\}\)T\([0-9]\{2\}:[0-9]\{2\}:[0-9]\{2\}\).*/\1 \2/')
        if [ -z "$formatted_date" ]; then
            new_time=$one_minute_ago
            status="date_format_failed_set_recent"
        else
            if ! metadata_seconds=$(date -j -f "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S" "$formatted_date" "+%s" 2>/dev/null); then
                new_time=$one_minute_ago
                status="date_parse_failed_set_recent"
            else
                if [ "$metadata_seconds" -gt "$current_time" ]; then
                    new_time=$one_minute_ago
                    status="future_date_set_recent"
                else
                    new_time=$metadata_seconds
                    status="${metadata_source}_metadata"
                fi
            fi
        fi
    fi

    current_birth_time=$(stat -f "%B" "$file")

    if [ "$current_birth_time" -eq "$new_time" ]; then
        print_aligned_output "$truncated_filename" "already_correct" "$(date -r "$new_time")" "$(date -r "$current_birth_time")"
        return
    fi

    if ! touch -h -t "$(date -r "$new_time" "+%Y%m%d%H%M.%S")" "$file"; then
        echo "error: failed to update creation time for $file" >&2
        print_aligned_output "$truncated_filename" "update_failed" "$(date -r "$new_time")" ""
        return
    fi

    if ! touch -h -m -t "$(date -r "$current_time" "+%Y%m%d%H%M.%S")" "$file"; then
        echo "error: failed to update modification time for $file" >&2
        print_aligned_output "$truncated_filename" "mod_time_update_failed" "$(date -r "$new_time")" ""
        return
    fi

    new_birth_time=$(stat -f "%B" "$file")
    print_aligned_output "$truncated_filename" "$status" "$(date -r "$new_time")" "$(date -r "$new_birth_time")"

    # Update the containing directory
    dir=$(dirname "$file")
    update_directory "$dir"
}

update_directory() {
    dir="$1"
    if [ ! -d "$dir" ]; then
        echo "error: directory does not exist: $dir" >&2
        return
    fi

    # Find the oldest file in the directory
    oldest_file=$(find "$dir" -type f -not -name ".*" -exec stat -f "%m %N" {} + | sort -n | head -1 | cut -d' ' -f2-)

    if [ -z "$oldest_file" ]; then
        return
    fi

    oldest_time=$(stat -f "%m" "$oldest_file")

    current_dir_time=$(stat -f "%m" "$dir")

    if [ "$current_dir_time" -ne "$oldest_time" ]; then
        if ! touch -h -t "$(date -r "$oldest_time" "+%Y%m%d%H%M.%S")" "$dir"; then
            echo "error: failed to update directory time for $dir" >&2
        fi
    fi
}

traverse_directory() {
    if [ ! -d "$1" ]; then
        error_exit "not a directory: $1"
    fi

    # Print header
    print_aligned_output "File" "Status" "Set Date" "Actual Creation Time"

    find "$1" -type f \( -name "*.mp4" -o -name "*.avi" -o -name "*.mkv" -o -name "*.mov" \) | while read -r file; do
        process_file "$file" || echo "error: failed to process file: $file" >&2
    done
}

# main script
check_dependencies

if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
    start_dir="."
elif [ $# -eq 1 ]; then
    start_dir="$1"
    if [ ! -d "$start_dir" ]; then
        error_exit "specified path is not a directory: $start_dir"
    fi
else
    error_exit "usage: $0 [directory_path]"
fi

traverse_directory "$start_dir"

echo "processing complete."