Set a folder of images to have sequential dates in metadata based on filenames

image-date-filename.sh

# I had a directory of images that were alphabetized by file name, and I wanted
# to import them into a popular photo-printing service. I wanted to order them
# by filename, but this particular service only offered sorting by the date the
# photos were taken (forward or back).
#
# So I went about finding out how to create sequential creation dates for these
# photos' metadata based on their alphabetized file names. The actual date set
# didn't matter to me, because all I wanted them to be was in order.
#
# Note this is NOT a script to run, rather it's a series of commands and
# pointers to help in a similar situation.

## HOW TO ##

# Set all files to sequential (alphabetical) modified date
touch -a -m -- *
# Now space them apart by 5 milliseconds to ensure crappy photo software picks 
# up on the differences
for i in *; do touch -r "$i" -d '-1 hour' "$i"; sleep 0.005; done
# Install exiftool if you don't have it already
sudo apt install exiftool
# Use exiftool to set "all dates" (which is only standard image
# creation/modification/access) to an arbitrary date, (P)reserving file
# modification date
exiftool -overwrite_original -P -alldates="2000:01:01 00:00:00" .
# Now update those dates sequentially separated one hour apart (it will kick
# over to the next day/month/year as necessary), going alphabetically by filename
exiftool -fileorder FileName -overwrite_original -P '-alldates+<${filesequence}0:0:0' .
# Update nonstandard "Date/Time Digitized" field to match creation date
exiftool -r -overwrite_original -P "-XMP-exif:DateTimeDigitized<CreateDate" .
# Update nonstandard and stupidly vague "Metadata Date" field to match creation
# date
exiftool -r -overwrite_original -P "-XMP-xmp:MetadataDate<CreateDate" .

## TOOLS ##

# check file dates
stat <FILE>
# check EXIF dates
exiftool <FILE> | grep "Date"
# check EXIF dates and get relevant field parameters
exiftool -a -G0:1 -time:all <FILE>
# clean up exiftool "_original" files if you've generated them
exiftool -delete_original <DIR>
# show EXIF problems for an individual file or all files in a directory
exiftool -validate -error -warning -a -r <FILE/DIR>

## REFERENCES ##

# https://askubuntu.com/questions/62492/how-can-i-change-the-date-modified-created-of-a-file
# https://www.thegeekstuff.com/2012/11/linux-touch-command/
# https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/180315/bash-script-ask-for-user-input-to-change-a-directory-sub-directorys-and-file
# https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/60342/how-can-i-incrementally-date-photos
# https://exiftool.org/forum/index.php?topic=3429.0

As part of this project, I also used the excellent Geeqie (sudo apt install geeqie) to sort out duplicates and pick the best (based on resolution, dimensions, etc.).

Also, this:

find .  -type f -exec md5sum '{}' ';' | sort | uniq --all-repeated=separate -w 15 > dupes.txt

is a nice one-liner to see if you have any identical images in a directory.

This has been updated as an executable script and moved here:

https://github.com/rootwork/bash-scripts/blob/main/images/imagedate.sh