Basics
How do I use lltag?
lltag myfile1.mp3 myfile2.ogg
It is also possible to tag all files in subdirectories with:
lltag -R mymusic/
All mp3, ogg and flac are processed, depending on their extension.
If the extension is wrong, it is possible to force the file processing type:
lltag --ogg myfile.mp3
How do I see current tags in files?
All the tags currently existing in files may be displayed:
lltag -S *
It is also possible to only display some tags:
lltag --show-tags artist,album,title,number *
How do I set tags by hand?
Any tag may be changed by hand:
lltag --artist "myartist" --album "myalbum" --genre "rock" --comment="very cool" *.mp3
File types that support random tag names (ogg and flac currently) may also get random tags:
lltag --tag foo=nil bar.ogg
It is also possible to clear a tag:
lltag --tag foo= bar.ogg
And all tags may be removed from all files:
lltag --clear *.flac
Disabling, Confirming, Forcing
How do I try lltag without actually tagging?
lltag --dry-run
How do I change what confirmation lltag wants?
It is possible to remove any need for confirmation when no problem occurs:
lltag --yes myfile.flac
It is also possible to force confirmation when
lltag parses the
filename with user-provided formats:
lltag --ask myfile.ogg
Finally, during confirmation, it is possible to use
Always to enable
--yes at runtime.
Parsing
How do I see how lltag parses filename?
lltag uses internal format that are defined in
/etc/lltag/formats/.
You might see them with:
lltag -L
How do I force lltag to use another format?
If internal formats do not fit the way your filename is written, you may pass
additional formats with:
lltag -F "%a-%t" -F "%n)%a-%t" myfile1.mp3 myfile2.flac
It is also possible to try user-provided formats and then try internal formats:
lltag -F "%a-%t" -F "%n)%a-%t" -G myfile1.mp3 myfile2.flac
What is the preferred parser?
If all your filenames have the same format, i.e. they may be matched with the
same parser, you might want to try this one first instead of seeing the other
ones fail or having to skip them.
When confirming parsing, you may choose to accept the current parser and mark
it as
preferred so that
lltag will try it first for the next
files, and not ask you for confirmation as long as it parses filenames fine.
If one filename cannot be matched by the
preferred parser,
lltag
will revert to the common behavior. Any other parser, or the same previous one,
may be marked as
preferred later again.
Getting tags from the online CDDB
What is CDDB and why does lltag need it?
CDDB is a huge online database of CD describing their artist, album, date,
tracks, ... everything that
lltag considers as tags.
By default,
lltag accesses the database on
www.freedb.org
through the HTTP protocol. The server and its port may be changed on the
command-line:
lltag --cddb --cddb-server mycddb.mydomain.org:443 *
In case of a HTTP proxy being required for HTTP request,
lltag
may also be configured to use it:
lltag --cddb --cddb-proxy myhttpproxy.mydomain.org:3128 *
How do get tags from CDDB?
The common way to search a CD on CDDB is to pass keywords, which return a list
of matching CDs. Then, you choose a CD in the list, and a track in the CD tracks.
When entering the
lltag CDDB menu for the first time, you need to
enter keywords to find the CD that match the audio file you are processing.
lltag will return a list of CD. At this point, you may either go back
to search with other keywords, or enter the index of the CD that you want.
Then,
lltag will display of the CD you have chosen and of its tracks.
You may then choose a track and use it to tag/rename your file, or go back to
choose another CD, or go back more to change the keywords.
When coming back to CDDB the next time,
lltag will propose the next
track of the previous CD that you used, so that processing an entire album
is quick and easy.
How do choose a precise CD in CDDB?
All CD that are registered in CDDB are identified by a category and an
hexadecimal identifier. When searching by keywords,
lltag will
return a list of matching CD with their category/identifier in parentheses.
It is also possible to directly enter this category/identifier instead
of keywords to get a precise CD quickly.
Is the interactive interface always required to access CDDB?
The CDDB interface seems to be designed for interactive usage since the user
is supposed to choose a CD in the list of CDs returned by the keywords query,
and then choose a track in the CD.
But, it is also possible to use CDDB automatically if the CD id is known and
the files are ordered by track numbers.
The CD id may be given on the command line:
lltag --cddb-query rock/a0b2c4d7 --yes *
Using --yes enables automatic mode which means
lltag will tag the
first file as the first track of the CD returned by CDDB, the second file as
the second track, ...
If
lltag ever reaches the end of the CD, it will return to interactive
mode so that the user may choose another CD to tag the remaining files.
Managing tags
How do I set a specific value? What are explicit tag values?
Each tag field may receive a specific value even if it is not obtained through
parsing the filename or so:
lltag -a MyArtist -y 1990 myfile.mp3
All regular fields may be defined like the above with
-a,
-t,
-A,
-n,
-g,
-d or
-c.
These (and any random tag) may also be set through
--tag FIELD=value.
These values are called explicit values. They are always added to the ones
obtained through parsing or so, even if it means that the target tag will
have multiple values.
Playing with
--clear or
--append enables configuration
of how they are actually added.
How do I cleanup tags?
If your filenames are dirty, it is possible to ask
lltag to be flexible
with spaces. Any space in the format might be matched with 0 or several spaces
with:
lltag --spaces myfile.mp3
The first letter of each word in each tag might be upcased with:
lltag --maj myfile.mp3
If the filename contains special characters that have to be translated into
spaces for tags:
lltag --sep _|-|: myfile.mp3
Renaming
How do I rename files after tagging?
Files might be renamed using the tags that were gotten from original filename parsing:
lltag myfile.mp3 --rename "%a - %t.mp3"
Tags might be lowcased before renaming, and spaces might be replaced with another character:
lltag myfile.mp3 --rename "%a - %t.mp3" --rename-min --rename-sep _
How do I rename files without tagging?
lltag may also be used as a renaming program without any tagging:
lltag --no-tagging -F "%A/%n. %a - %t" --rename "%a - %A/%n - %t" */*.ogg
Note that
lltag may rename using existing tags even if the old filename
is useless. Matching with
"%i" to ignore the old filename might be useful
in this case.
lltag --no-tagging --rename "%a - %A/%n - %t" */*.ogg
