[Twitter] Replace filenames on already downloaded images?

[snarles888]

Technically this could apply to any website but I specifically need to do it with twitter
Is there a way to get gallery-dl to rename the default filenames of already downloaded files to "{author[name]}-{tweet_id}_{num}.{extension}" instead? Or write something else to do it using gallery-dl code?

[mikf]

There is no builtin way to rename files, but it is possible to run a custom Python function that does it.

config.json

{
    "filename": "{author[name]}-{tweet_id}_{num}.{extension}",
    "metadata-path": "_path",
    "postprocessors": [
        {
            "name": "python",
            "event": "prepare",
            "function": "/tmp/rename.py:rename"
        }
    ]
}

rename.py

import os

def rename(metadata):
    pathfmt = metadata["_path"]

    old = "{tweet_id}_{num}.{extension}".format_map(metadata)
    new = "{author[name]}-{tweet_id}_{num}.{extension}".format_map(metadata)

    path_old = pathfmt.realdirectory + old
    path_new = pathfmt.realdirectory + new

    if os.path.exists(path_old):
        os.replace(path_old, path_new)

[Hrxn]

But on already downloaded files? Does this really work with "event": "prepare"?

[mikf]

Yes, this works on already downloaded files. At least for me it did when I tested this on a smaller example before posting it here.

"event": "prepare" triggers before any filesystem and archive checks so a file with an old name will get renamed to the new format before being checked and eventually skipped over.

[mikf]

I should mention: All this does is adding {author[name]}- before each filename, so writing a shell script that does this on its own is probably better than having gallery-dl go over all Tweets again, considering the current rate limit and account suspension issues.

[snarles888]

Where are you placing the py file? In a new folder within site-packages\gallery-dl? I get "The syntax of the command is incorrect." which makes me think I didn't put it in the right spot

gallery-dl --cookies cookies.txt --exec "rename {}" https://x.com/myaccount/likes

[a84r7a3rga76fg]

Put the .py file in a folder called tmp. The tmp folder is in the same folder with gallery-dl.exe.

[mikf]

You can put the .py file anywhere you want, but you have to update the path in function accordingly. (python.function)

I had mine at /tmp/rename.py, so that's what I set it to in #5846 (comment)

---

--exec "rename {}"

???

The tmp folder is in the same folder with gallery-dl.exe.

???

[snarles888]

What command are you running it with? Are you just running it with --exec "rename"? Whatever I try ends up having an error and just redownloading the images normally..

[mikf]

Everything you need is in #5846 (comment), nothing else is necessary. Add these config settings to your twitter ones and put the rename function in a .py file somewhere.

[snarles888]

Ah I had to get the path literal working properly in the config, now it works good

I don't know that there's a way to do this without pestering twitter's server a bunch, but if it's worth anything the folder I'm doing this in has over 30k downloads and I haven't been hit yet.