This script processes files in a specified directory and updates their modification and creation dates based on available EXIF metadata (DateTimeOriginal, CreateDate, ModifyDate). If the original dates are missing or invalid, it attempts to use alternative timestamps. The script also updates corresponding .MP4 files if they exist. I used this sc…

update_exif_dates.sh

#!/bin/bash

# Set the directory to process (update this path to the desired directory)
directory="/path/to/your/photos"

# Toggle to ignore the incorrect modification date check (set to "true" or "false")
ignore_incorrect_mod_date=false

# Echo the directory being processed
echo "Processing directory: $directory"

# Check if the directory exists
if [ ! -d "$directory" ]; then
    echo "Directory does not exist: $directory"
    exit 1
fi

# Define the incorrect modification date pattern to search for
incorrect_mod_date="1970-01-01 01:00:00.000000000 +0100"

# Function to update dates
update_dates() {
    local file="$1"
    echo "Updating file: $file"

    # Check for DateTimeOriginal, CreateDate, and ModifyDate
    datetime_original=$(exiftool -DateTimeOriginal -s3 "$file")
    create_date=$(exiftool -CreateDate -s3 "$file")
    modify_date=$(exiftool -ModifyDate -s3 "$file")

    # Determine which date to use
    if [ -n "$datetime_original" ]; then
        exiftool "-DateTimeOriginal>FileModifyDate" "-DateTimeOriginal>FileCreateDate" "$file"
        mod_date="$datetime_original"
        echo "Set dates from DateTimeOriginal: $mod_date"
    elif [ -n "$create_date" ]; then
        exiftool "-CreateDate>FileModifyDate" "-CreateDate>FileCreateDate" "$file"
        mod_date="$create_date"
        echo "Set dates from CreateDate: $mod_date"
    elif [ -n "$modify_date" ]; then
        exiftool "-ModifyDate>FileModifyDate" "-ModifyDate>FileCreateDate" "$file"
        mod_date="$modify_date"
        echo "Set dates from ModifyDate: $mod_date"
    else
        echo "No suitable date tag found for $file"
        return
    fi

    # Convert the date to the format required by touch (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)
    mod_date_formatted=$(echo "$mod_date" | sed 's/:/-/g' | sed 's/ /-/')

    # Check for corresponding .MP4 file (if applicable)
    mp4_file="${file%.*}.MP4"
    if [ -f "$mp4_file" ]; then
        echo "Updating corresponding MP4 file: $mp4_file"
        touch -d "$mod_date_formatted" "$mp4_file"
        exiftool "-FileModifyDate=$mod_date_formatted" "-FileCreateDate=$mod_date_formatted" "$mp4_file"
        echo "Set MP4 dates to: $mod_date_formatted"
    fi
}

# Find all files in the specified directory and its subdirectories
find "$directory" -type f | while read -r file; do
    if $ignore_incorrect_mod_date || stat "$file" | grep -q "Modify: $incorrect_mod_date"; then
        update_dates "$file"
    fi
done