photoc

photoc command [options] [paths]photoc --helpphotoc --version

photoc is a command-line toolkit for local photographs. It reads metadata, summarizes a folder, finds exact duplicate files, checks JPEG structure, estimates sharpness, builds contact sheets, writes recompressed copies, renames and sorts files, and removes EXIF GPS tags. Results go to standard output. Diagnostics go to standard error.exif prints one JPEG or Sony ARW file: size, dimensions, camera, exposure, capture time, and GPS when those tags exist. stats and timeline summarize a directory. timeline groups photos by calendar date and then by the gap between capture times. query prints paths of JPEGs that match metadata filters. duplicates groups regular files of any type whose SHA-256 digests match. check decodes JPEG scans and reports structural and EXIF problems. focus ranks JPEGs by a Laplacian variance score, lowest first. contact writes JPEG contact sheets. compress writes a new JPEG and preserves EXIF, ICC, and standard XMP payloads it understands. rename and sort print a plan and change files only with --apply. scrub --gps writes a copy with EXIF GPS removed, or replaces the original with --in-place.JPEG (.jpg and .jpeg) is the main format. exif, stats, timeline, rename, and sort also read common TIFF/EXIF metadata from Sony .arw files. They do not develop the RAW image. query, check, compress, contact, focus, and scrub stay JPEG-only.There is no configuration file and no catalog. Option values are separate arguments: --quality 75 is accepted, and --quality=75 is not. Combined short flags are not accepted. A path that starts with a dash needs -- before it.

-h, --help

Global help, or help for a command when one is given. The program exits without running the command.

Print the version. Cannot be combined with a command or --help.

Keep the normal result and add scan counts and paths on standard error. Cannot be combined with --quiet.

Keep the requested result and hide summaries and non-critical warnings. Errors stay on standard error. Cannot be combined with --verbose.

Hide the progress meter on long directory scans.

Print JSON for exif, stats, timeline, duplicates, focus, check, and query. Other commands reject it.

Descend into subdirectories. The default scan is one directory level and does not follow symlinks. Requires a directory for the commands that check.

rename and sort only. Perform the plan after every entry passes the preflight check. Without it, both commands only print the plan.

rename only. Required filename template. Placeholders include {date}, {datetime}, {camera}, {make}, {iso}, {aperture}, {focal}, {sequence}, {original}, and {ext}.

sort only. Required layout. date creates YYYY/MM/DD/ directories. session creates session-001/ and so on.

Session length for timeline and for sort --by session. A nonnegative integer plus m or h, such as 30m or 2h. The default is 60 minutes.

JPEG quality for compress (default 80) or contact (default 85, range 1-100). On compress, it cannot be combined with --target.

compress only. Largest output size to aim for, as a positive byte count with an optional suffix. Searches downward from high quality. Cannot be combined with --quality.

compress only. Lowest quality --target may use. The default is 20. Requires --target.

compress only. Write copies under this directory, keeping paths relative to the input directory. The default is beside each source, with .compressed inserted before the extension.

scrub only. Required. Remove the EXIF GPS directory and its pointer.

scrub only. Replace the original after a verified temporary file is written. There is no backup. The default writes a .scrubbed copy.

contact only. Required path of the contact sheet. Further pages insert -001, -002, and so on before the extension.

check only. Hide OK and WARNING rows. Summary counts still include every file.

focus only. Print rows whose sharpness score is below --threshold. The summary still covers every analyzed JPEG.

focus only. Scores strictly below this nonnegative number are labeled possibly blurry. The default is 100.

query only. Print matching paths separated by NUL, for xargs -0. Cannot be combined with --json.

query filters. All of them are combined. Numeric expressions look like 100, >100, or <=4. Dates are YYYY-MM-DD.

rename and sort refuse the whole apply when any entry is blocked, including missing capture dates, collisions, and destinations that already exist. Apply tries to roll back after a later failure. It is not a crash-safe transaction. compress and the default scrub publish new files as they succeed, so a failure can leave earlier outputs in place. scrub --in-place deletes the need for a copy and keeps no backup. It refuses symlinks, hard links, and files whose owner or contents changed while it ran.EXIF GPS removal does not remove location data stored in XMP, MakerNotes, filenames, or the picture itself. compress keeps EXIF GPS and XMP. Capture times are the recorded EXIF clock, with no timezone conversion and no fallback to the file's modification time.focus is a review hint. Noise, texture, and JPEG artifacts move the score. duplicates ignores files that look alike but are not byte-identical. check is not a visual-quality or authenticity test. Sony ARW support covers a fixed set of classic TIFF/EXIF tags, not every camera generation, and it does not validate RAW pixels.Exit status 0 is success, including an empty match list. 1 is an operational failure, and partial output may already exist. 2 is bad usage. 3 is reserved for a command that is not implemented.macOS and Linux are the supported platforms. Other RAW formats and HEIC are not read.

photoc is written in C. The manual page shipped in the repository is dated September 29, 2026.

exiftool(1), exiv2(1), identify(1), jpegoptim(1)

Documentation · Source code