other versions
- wheezy 5.6.0-1
- jessie 7.3.0-1
- testing 9.8.0-dmo1
- unstable 9.8.0-dmo1
- experimental 12.0.0-1
other languages
MKVPROPEDIT(1) | User Commands | MKVPROPEDIT(1) |
NAME¶
mkvpropedit - Modify properties of existing Matroska(TM) files without a complete remuxSYNOPSIS¶
mkvpropedit
[options] {source-filename} {actions}
DESCRIPTION¶
This program analyses an existing Matroska(TM) file and modifies some of its properties. Then it writes those modifications to the existing file. Among the properties that can be changed are the segment information elements (e.g. the title) and the track headers (e.g. the language code, 'default track' flag or the name). Options: -l, --list-property-namesLists all known and editable property names,
their type (string, integer, boolean etc) and a short description. The program
exits afterwards. Therefore the source-filename parameter does not have
to be supplied.
-p, --parse-mode mode
Sets the parse mode. The parameter
'mode' can either be 'fast' (which is also the default) or 'full'. The
'fast' mode does not parse the whole file but uses the meta seek elements for
locating the required elements of a source file. In 99% of all cases this is
enough. But for files that do not contain meta seek elements or which are
damaged the user might have to set the 'full' parse mode. A full scan of a
file can take a couple of minutes while a fast scan only takes seconds.
Actions:
-e, --edit selector
Sets the Matroska(TM) file section (segment
information or a certain track's headers) that all following add, set and
delete actions operate on. This option can be used multiple times in order to
make modifications to more than one element.
By default mkvpropedit(1) will edit the segment information section.
See the section about edit selectors for a full description of the syntax.
-a, --add name=value
Adds a property name with the value
value. The property will be added even if such a property exists
already. Note that most properties are unique and cannot occur more than
once.
-s, --set name=value
Sets all occurrences of the property
name to the value value. If no such property exists then it will
be added.
-d, --delete name
Deletes all occurrences of the property
name. Note that some properties are required and cannot be
deleted.
-t, --tags selector:filename
Add or replace tags in the file with the ones
from filename or remove them if filename is empty. mkvpropedit(1) reads
the same XML tag format that mkvmerge(1) reads as well.
The selector must be one of the words all, global or
track. For all mkvpropedit(1) will replace or remove all
tags in a file. With global only global tags will be replaced or
removed.
With track mkvpropedit(1) will replace tags for a specific track.
Additionally the tags read from filename will be assigned to the same track.
The track is specified in the same way edit selectors are specified (see
below), e.g. --tags track:a1:new-audio-tags.xml.
-c, --chapters filename
Add or replace chapters in the file with the
ones from filename or remove them if filename is empty. mkvpropedit(1)
reads the same XML and simple chapter formats that mkvmerge(1) reads as
well.
Other options:
--command-line-charset character-set
Sets the character set to convert strings
given on the command line from. It defaults to the character set given by
system's current locale.
--output-charset character-set
Sets the character set to which strings are
converted that are to be output. It defaults to the character set given by
system's current locale.
-r, --redirect-output file-name
Writes all messages to the file
file-name instead of to the console. While this can be done easily with
output redirection there are cases in which this option is needed: when the
terminal reinterprets the output before writing it to a file. The character
set set with --output-charset is honored.
--ui-language code
Forces the translations for the language
code to be used (e.g. 'de_DE' for the German translations). It is
preferable to use the environment variables LANG, LC_MESSAGES
and LC_ALL though. Entering 'list' as the code will cause
mkvextract(1) to output a list of available translations.
--debug topic
Turn on debugging for a specific feature. This
option is only useful for developers.
--engage feature
Turn on experimental features. A list of
available features can be requested with mkvpropedit --engage list.
These features are not meant to be used in normal situations.
-v, --verbose
Be verbose and show all the important
Matroska(TM) elements as they're read.
-h, --help
Show usage information and exit.
-V, --version
Show version information and exit.
--check-for-updates
Checks online for new releases by downloading
the URL http://mkvtoolnix-releases.bunkus.org/latest-release.xml. Four lines
will be output in key=value style: the URL from where the information was
retrieved (key version_check_url), the currently running version (key
running_version), the latest release's version (key available_version) and the
download URL (key download_url).
Afterwards the program exists with an exit code of 0 if no newer release is
available, with 1 if a newer release is available and with 2 if an error
occured (e.g. if the update information could not be retrieved).
This option is only available if the program was built with support for
libcurl.
@options-file
Reads additional command line arguments from
the file options-file. Lines whose first non-whitespace character is a
hash mark ('#') are treated as comments and ignored. White spaces at the start
and end of a line will be stripped. Each line must contain exactly one option.
Several chars can be escaped, e.g. if you need to start a non-comment line with
'#'. The rules are described in the section about escaping text.
The command line ' mkvpropedit source.mkv --edit track:a2 --set
name=Comments' could be converted into the following option file:
# Modify source.mkv source.mkv # Edit the second audio track --edit track:a2 # and set the title to 'Comments' --set name=Comments
EDIT SELECTORS¶
The --edit option sets the Matroska(TM) file section (segment information or a certain track's headers) that all following add, set and delete actions operate on. This stays valid until the next --edit option is found. The argument to this option is called the edit selector. By default mkvpropedit(1) will edit the segment information section.Segment information¶
The segment information can be selected with one of these three words: 'info', 'segment_info' or 'segmentinfo'. It contains properties like the segment title or the segment UID.Track headers¶
Track headers can be selected with a slightly more complex selector. All variations start with 'track:'. The track header properties include elements like the language code, 'default track' flag or the track's name. track:nIf the parameter n is a number then the
nth track will be selected. The track order is the same that
mkvmerge(1)'s --identify option outputs.
Numbering starts at 1.
track:tn
If the parameter starts with a single
character t followed by a n then the nth track of a
specific track type will be selected. The track type parameter t must
be one of these four characters: 'a' for an audio track, 'b' for a button
track, 's' for a subtitle track and 'v' for a video track. The track order is
the same that mkvmerge(1)'s --identify option outputs.
Numbering starts at 1.
track:=uid
If the parameter starts with a '=' followed by
a number uid then the track whose track UID element equals this
uid. Track UIDs can be obtained with mkvinfo(1).
track:@number
If the parameter starts with a '@' followed by
a number number then the track whose track number element equals this
number. Track number can be obtained with mkvinfo(1).
Notes¶
Due to the nature of the track edit selectors it is possible that several selectors actually match the same track headers. In such cases all actions for those edit selectors will be combined and executed in the order in which they're given on the command line.EXAMPLES¶
The following example edits a file called 'movie.mkv'. It sets the segment title and modifies the language code of an audio and a subtitle track. Note that this example can be shortened by leaving out the first --edit option because editing the segment information element is the default for all options found before the first --edit option anyway.$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --edit info --set "title=The movie" --edit track:a1 --set language=fre --edit track:a2 --set language=ita
$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --edit track:s1 --set flag-default=0 --edit track:s2 --set flag-default=1
$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --tags track:s2:new-subtitle-tags.xml
$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --tags all:
$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --chapters new-chapters.xml
$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --chapters ''
EXIT CODES¶
•
0 -- This exit codes means that the modification has completed
successfully.
•
1 -- In this case mkvpropedit(1) has output at least one warning,
but the modification did continue. A warning is prefixed with the text
'Warning:'. Depending on the issues involved the resulting files might be ok
or not. The user is urged to check both the warning and the resulting
files.
•
2 -- This exit code is used after an error occurred.
mkvpropedit(1) aborts right after outputting the error message. Error
messages range from wrong command line arguments over read/write errors to
broken files.
ESCAPING SPECIAL CHARS IN TEXT¶
There are a few places in which special characters in text must or should be escaped. The rules for escaping are simple: each character that needs escaping is replaced with a backslash followed by another character. The rules are: ' ' (a space) becomes '\s', '"' (double quotes) becomes '\2', ':' becomes '\c', '#' becomes '\h' and '\' (a single backslash) itself becomes '\\'.ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES¶
The content is treated as if it had been
passed via the --debug option.
MKVTOOLNIX_ENGAGE and its short form MTX_ENGAGE
The content is treated as if it had been
passed via the --engage option.
MKVTOOLNIX_OPTIONS and its short form MTX_OPTIONS
The content is split on white space. The
resulting partial strings are treated as if it had been passed as command line
options. If you need to pass special characters (e.g. spaces) then you have to
escape them (see the section about escaping special characters in text).
SEE ALSO¶
WWW¶
The latest version can always be found at the MKVToolNix homepage[1].AUTHOR¶
Moritz Bunkus <moritz@bunkus.org>Developer
NOTES¶
- 1.
- the MKVToolNix homepage
2012-05-27 | MKVToolNix 5.6.0 |