Organizing an Image Library

A useful approach to organizing image libraries is to arrange files by their capture date. This lets you navigate through folders by events or timelines, making it easier to find specific memories like birthdays, weddings, or vacations.

Assuming your photos are currently organized like this:

text

.
├── birthday-2024
│   ├── _DSC0430.ARW
│   ├── _DSC0430.JPG
│   ├── _DSC0431.ARW
│   └── _DSC0431.JPG
├── _DSC0560.ARW
├── _DSC0560.JPG
├── _DSC0561.ARW
├── _DSC0561.JPG
├── family trip - berlin
│   ├── _DSC1767.ARW
│   ├── _DSC1767.JPG
│   ├── _DSC1769.ARW
│   ├── _DSC1769.JPG
│   ├── _DSC1770.ARW
│   └── _DSC1770.JPG
├── family trip - london
│   ├── _DSC0090.ARW
│   ├── _DSC0090.JPG
│   ├── _DSC0091.ARW
│   └── _DSC0091.JPG
└── my-wedding
    ├── DSC05194.ARW
    ├── DSC05194.JPG
    ├── DSC05195.ARW
    └── DSC05195.JPG

You may decide to organize them in a date-based folder structure like Year/Month/Day/filename. For example:

text

2024
├── 05-May
│   └── 2024-05-30
│       ├── 001.ARW
│       ├── 001.JPG
│       └── 002.JPG
└── 06-Jun
    ├── 2024-06-27
    │   ├── 001.JPG
    │   └── 001.ARW

NOTE

This example is somewhat contrived to show as many options as possible, giving you an idea of how they can fit in your file renaming strategy.

To achieve this with F2, you can use use Exif data in combination with custom folder structures and file naming conventions.

The following command extracts the creation date from metadata and organizes files into a nested date-based folder structure:

bash

f2 -r '{x.cdt.YYYY}/{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.MMM}/{x.cdt.YYYY}-{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.DD}/{f}{ext}' -R

This produces a structure like:

text

——————————————————*————————*
|             ORIGINAL              |                         RENAMED                          | STATUS |
*———————————————————————————————————*——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————*————————*
| _DSC0560.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0560.ARW                      | ok     |
| _DSC0560.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0560.JPG                      | ok     |
| _DSC0561.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0561.ARW                      | ok     |
| _DSC0561.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0561.JPG                      | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.ARW        | birthday-2024/2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0430.ARW        | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.JPG        | birthday-2024/2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0430.JPG        | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.ARW        | birthday-2024/2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0431.ARW        | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.JPG        | birthday-2024/2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0431.JPG        | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.ARW | family trip - berlin/2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/_DSC1767.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.JPG | family trip - berlin/2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/_DSC1767.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.ARW | family trip - berlin/2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/_DSC1769.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.JPG | family trip - berlin/2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/_DSC1769.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.ARW | family trip - berlin/2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/_DSC1770.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.JPG | family trip - berlin/2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/_DSC1770.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.ARW | family trip - london/2024/05-May/2024-05-30/_DSC0090.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.JPG | family trip - london/2024/05-May/2024-05-30/_DSC0090.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.ARW | family trip - london/2024/05-May/2024-05-30/_DSC0091.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.JPG | family trip - london/2024/05-May/2024-05-30/_DSC0091.JPG | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.ARW           | my-wedding/2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/DSC05194.ARW           | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.JPG           | my-wedding/2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/DSC05194.JPG           | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.ARW           | my-wedding/2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/DSC05195.ARW           | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.JPG           | my-wedding/2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/DSC05195.JPG           | ok     |
*———————————————————————————————————*——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————*————————*

To avoid nesting the new structure inside existing folders, specify a root directory with the --target-dir flag:

bash

f2 -r '{x.cdt.YYYY}/{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.MMM}/{x.cdt.YYYY}-{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.DD}/{f}{ext}' -R --target-dir .

This produces:

text

*———————————————————————————————————*—————————————————————————————————————*————————*
|             ORIGINAL              |               RENAMED               | STATUS |
*———————————————————————————————————*—————————————————————————————————————*————————*
| _DSC0560.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0560.ARW | ok     |
| _DSC0560.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0560.JPG | ok     |
| _DSC0561.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0561.ARW | ok     |
| _DSC0561.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0561.JPG | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0430.ARW | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0430.JPG | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0431.ARW | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/_DSC0431.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/_DSC1767.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/_DSC1767.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/_DSC1769.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/_DSC1769.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/_DSC1770.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/_DSC1770.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/_DSC0090.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/_DSC0090.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/_DSC0091.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/_DSC0091.JPG | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/DSC05194.ARW | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/DSC05194.JPG | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/DSC05195.ARW | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/DSC05195.JPG | ok     |
*———————————————————————————————————*—————————————————————————————————————*————————*

To provide a unique, consistent naming scheme, use an auto-incremented index for each file in each date-based folder:

bash

f2 -r '{x.cdt.YYYY}/{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.MMM}/{x.cdt.YYYY}-{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.DD}/{%03d}{ext}' -R --target-dir .

This produces files with an auto-incrementing number:

text

*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*————————*
|             ORIGINAL              |            RENAMED             | STATUS |
*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*————————*
| _DSC0560.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001.ARW | ok     |
| _DSC0560.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002.JPG | ok     |
| _DSC0561.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/003.ARW | ok     |
| _DSC0561.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/004.JPG | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/005.ARW | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/006.JPG | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/007.ARW | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/008.JPG | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/009.ARW | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/010.JPG | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/011.ARW | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/012.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/013.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/014.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/015.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/016.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/017.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/018.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/019.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/020.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/021.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/022.JPG | ok     |
*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*————————*

However, this is probably not what you want as the ARW/JPG file pairings have been lost in the renaming process due to the auto-incrementing index variable.

To fix this, use the --pair option and remove the {ext} variable since pairing always retains the file extension.

bash

f2 -r '{x.cdt.YYYY}/{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.MMM}/{x.cdt.YYYY}-{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.DD}/{%03d}' -R --target-dir . --pair

This yields:

text

*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*————————*
|             ORIGINAL              |            RENAMED             | STATUS |
*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*————————*
| _DSC0560.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001.ARW | ok     |
| _DSC0560.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001.JPG | ok     |
| _DSC0561.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002.ARW | ok     |
| _DSC0561.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002.JPG | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/003.ARW | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/003.JPG | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/004.ARW | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/004.JPG | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/005.ARW | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/005.JPG | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/006.ARW | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/006.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/007.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/007.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/008.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/008.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/009.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/009.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/010.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/010.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/011.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/011.JPG | ok     |
*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*————————*

Now the file pairings are correctly detected and maintained throughout the operation. However, there's still one issue: the numbering continues across directories instead of resetting. To achieve more intuitive numbering, we need the count to reset in each new directory.

Luckily, F2 provides an easy way to do this with --reset-index-per-dir:

bash

f2 -r '{x.cdt.YYYY}/{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.MMM}/{x.cdt.YYYY}-{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.DD}/{%03d}' -R --target-dir . --pair --reset-index-per-dir

This produces:

text

*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*——————————————————————*
|             ORIGINAL              |            RENAMED             |        STATUS        |
*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*——————————————————————*
| _DSC0560.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001.ARW | ok                   |
| _DSC0560.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001.JPG | ok                   |
| _DSC0561.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002.ARW | ok                   |
| _DSC0561.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002.JPG | ok                   |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/001.ARW | ok                   |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/001.JPG | ok                   |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/002.ARW | ok                   |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/002.JPG | ok                   |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001.ARW | overwriting new path |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001.JPG | overwriting new path |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002.ARW | overwriting new path |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002.JPG | overwriting new path |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/001.ARW | ok                   |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/001.JPG | ok                   |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/002.ARW | ok                   |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/002.JPG | ok                   |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/003.ARW | ok                   |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/003.JPG | ok                   |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/001.ARW | ok                   |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/001.JPG | ok                   |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/002.ARW | ok                   |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/002.JPG | ok                   |
*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*——————————————————————*
conflict: resolve manually or use -F/--fix-conflict

The indexes now reset in each directory, but this creates a conflict when multiple files are renamed to the same name. You can resolve these conflicts automatically using the -F flag:

bash

f2 -r '{x.cdt.YYYY}/{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.MMM}/{x.cdt.YYYY}-{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.DD}/{%03d}' -R --target-dir . --pair --reset-index-per-dir -F

Output:

text

*———————————————————————————————————*———————————————————————————————————*————————*
|             ORIGINAL              |              RENAMED              | STATUS |
*———————————————————————————————————*———————————————————————————————————*————————*
| _DSC0560.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001.ARW    | ok     |
| _DSC0560.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001.JPG    | ok     |
| _DSC0561.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002.ARW    | ok     |
| _DSC0561.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002.JPG    | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/001.ARW    | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/001.JPG    | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/002.ARW    | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/002.JPG    | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001(1).ARW | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001(1).JPG | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002(1).ARW | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002(1).JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/001.ARW    | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/001.JPG    | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/002.ARW    | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/002.JPG    | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/003.ARW    | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/003.JPG    | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/001.ARW    | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/001.JPG    | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/002.ARW    | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/002.JPG    | ok     |
*———————————————————————————————————*———————————————————————————————————*————————*

By default, a number is appended to each affected file to resolve conflicts, but this disrupts the intended naming convention. A better solution is to increment the index to the next available number. You can accomplish this by using a custom --fix-conflicts-pattern like this:

bash

f2 -r '{x.cdt.YYYY}/{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.MMM}/{x.cdt.YYYY}-{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.DD}/{%03d}' -R --target-dir . --pair --reset-index-per-dir -F --fix-conflicts-pattern '%03d'

Output:

text

*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*————————*
|             ORIGINAL              |            RENAMED             | STATUS |
*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*————————*
| my-wedding/DSC05195.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/001.JPG | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/001.ARW | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/002.JPG | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/002.ARW | ok     |
| _DSC0561.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001.JPG | ok     |
| _DSC0561.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001.ARW | ok     |
| _DSC0560.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002.JPG | ok     |
| _DSC0560.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002.ARW | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/003.JPG | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/003.ARW | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/004.JPG | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/004.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/001.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/001.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/002.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/002.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/003.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/003.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/001.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/001.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/002.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/002.ARW | ok     |
*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*————————*

The conflicts are resolved correctly, and each file now shows a status of ok. Next, let's ensure the image files are sorted by their DateTimeOriginal attribute:

bash

f2 -r '{x.cdt.YYYY}/{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.MMM}/{x.cdt.YYYY}-{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.DD}/{%03d}' -R --target-dir . --pair --reset-index-per-dir -F --fix-conflicts-pattern '%03d' --sort 'time_var' --sort-var '{x.cdt}'

The images are now sorted in ascending order according to their time of creation:

text

*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*————————*
|             ORIGINAL              |            RENAMED             | STATUS |
*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*————————*
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/001.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/001.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/002.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/002.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/001.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/001.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/002.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/002.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/003.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/003.ARW | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001.JPG | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001.ARW | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002.JPG | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002.ARW | ok     |
| _DSC0560.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/003.JPG | ok     |
| _DSC0560.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/003.ARW | ok     |
| _DSC0561.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/004.JPG | ok     |
| _DSC0561.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/004.ARW | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/001.JPG | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/001.ARW | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/002.JPG | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/002.ARW | ok     |
*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*————————

Notice that the JPG files currently appear before the ARW files in each pair. If you prefer the ARW files to appear first, you can adjust the order using the --pair-order option:

bash

f2 -r '{x.cdt.YYYY}/{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.MMM}/{x.cdt.YYYY}-{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.DD}/{%03d}' -R --target-dir . --pair --reset-index-per-dir -F --fix-conflicts-pattern '%03d' --sort 'time_var' --sort-var '{x.cdt}' --pair-order 'arw,jpg'

Output:

text

*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*————————*
|             ORIGINAL              |            RENAMED             | STATUS |
*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*————————*
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/001.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0090.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/001.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.ARW | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/002.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - london/_DSC0091.JPG | 2024/05-May/2024-05-30/002.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/001.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1767.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/001.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/002.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1769.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/002.JPG | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.ARW | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/003.ARW | ok     |
| family trip - berlin/_DSC1770.JPG | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-27/003.JPG | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001.ARW | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0430.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/001.JPG | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.ARW        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002.ARW | ok     |
| birthday-2024/_DSC0431.JPG        | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/002.JPG | ok     |
| _DSC0560.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/003.ARW | ok     |
| _DSC0560.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/003.JPG | ok     |
| _DSC0561.ARW                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/004.ARW | ok     |
| _DSC0561.JPG                      | 2024/06-Jun/2024-06-28/004.JPG | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/001.ARW | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05194.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/001.JPG | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.ARW           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/002.ARW | ok     |
| my-wedding/DSC05195.JPG           | 2024/07-Jul/2024-07-02/002.JPG | ok     |
*———————————————————————————————————*————————————————————————————————*————————*

To finalize the renaming process, add -x to execute and --clean to remove any empty directories:

bash

f2 -r '{x.cdt.YYYY}/{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.MMM}/{x.cdt.YYYY}-{x.cdt.MM}-{x.cdt.DD}/{%03d}' -R --target-dir . --pair --reset-index-per-dir -F --fix-conflicts-pattern '%03d' --sort 'time_var' --sort-var '{x.cdt}' --pair-order 'arw,jpg' -x --clean

The final organized structure will look like this:

text

└── 2024
    ├── 05-May
    │   └── 2024-05-30
    │       ├── 001.ARW
    │       ├── 001.JPG
    │       ├── 002.ARW
    │       └── 002.JPG
    ├── 06-Jun
    │   ├── 2024-06-27
    │   │   ├── 001.ARW
    │   │   ├── 001.JPG
    │   │   ├── 002.ARW
    │   │   ├── 002.JPG
    │   │   ├── 003.ARW
    │   │   └── 003.JPG
    │   └── 2024-06-28
    │       ├── 001.ARW
    │       ├── 001.JPG
    │       ├── 002.ARW
    │       ├── 002.JPG
    │       ├── 003.ARW
    │       ├── 003.JPG
    │       ├── 004.ARW
    │       └── 004.JPG
    └── 07-Jul
        └── 2024-07-02
            ├── 001.ARW
            ├── 001.JPG
            ├── 002.ARW
            └── 002.JPG

Organizing an Image Library ​

Organizing an Image Library