filenames - get-iplayer/get_iplayer GitHub Wiki
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iPlayer Recordings on your desktop (Windows/macOS) or current working directory (Linux/BSD)
Use an alternate output directory for all programmes:
get_iplayer --get 123 --output="/home/user/recordings/"
You can also use the GETIPLAYER_OUTPUT environment variable instead of --output.
Use different output directories for radio and TV programmes:
get_iplayer --get 123 --outputradio="/home/user/recordings-radio/"
get_iplayer --get 456 --outputtv="/home/user/recordings-tv/"
To make options permanent, you can save one or more of them to your preferences:
get_iplayer --prefs-add --output="/home/user/recordings/"
get_iplayer --prefs-add --outputradio="/home/user/recordings-radio/"
get_iplayer --prefs-add --outputtv="/home/user/recordings-tv/"
Use a subdirectory for each programme name:
get_iplayer --get 123 --subdir
Create a custom subdirectory format with substitution parameters:
get_iplayer --get 123 --subdir --subdir-format="<nameshort>-<seriesnum>"
Create a custom filename prefix format with substitution parameters:
get_iplayer --get 123 --file-prefix="<name> - <episode> <pid> <version>"
(This is the default file prefix)
Use the download date instead of episode name:
get_iplayer --get 123 --file-prefix="<name> - <dldate> <pid> <version>"
Use an abbreviated format with first broadcast date instead of episode name:
get_iplayer --get 123 --file-prefix="<name> - <firstbcastdate>"
All filenames and subdirectories are converted to ASCII with most punctuation removed. However, you can specify that whitespace be allowed (by default it is converted to '_'):
get_iplayer --get 123 --whitespace
ASCII conversion can be bypassed with the --no-sanitise option, though that is not a good idea on Windows. get_iplayer cannot create Unicode file names on Windows due to limitations of Windows Perl, so non-ASCII characters in a file name may lead to failure.
If a substitution parameter has a separator as a prefix inside the left angle bracket, the prefix will be omitted if the associated parameter value is empty:
Use a filename format that is friendly to Kodi scrapers:
get_iplayer --get 123 --fileprefix="<nameshort><.senum><.episodeshort>"
This would produce a file prefix like "Dancing_on_the_Edge.s01e01.Episode_1" for a TV series episode, but just "The_Painted_Veil" for a film.
Conditional separators can also be used as suffixes:
get_iplayer --get 123 --fileprefix="<senum.><episodeshort.><nameshort>" --whitespace
This would produce a file prefix like "s01e01.Episode_1.Dancing_on_the_Edge" for a TV series episode, but just "The_Painted_Veil" for a film.
Use whitespace in Kodi-friendly filename:
get_iplayer --get 123 --fileprefix="<nameshort><.senum><.episodeshort>" --whitespace
This would produce a file prefix like "Dancing on the Edge.s01e01.Episode 1" for a TV series episode, but just "The Painted Veil" for a film.
NOTE: This separator syntax is only useful with <senum>, <series> and <episodeshort> since all other metadata fields will almost always be populated. The new syntax was implemented primarily to make it easier (along with the --whitespace option, if desired) to create output file names compatible with Kodi scrapers.
Some programmes (EastEnders, for example) have episode names that contain only the date of broadcast in UK short format: dd/mm/yyyy. The date will be interpolated into the name of the output file as yyyy-mm-dd.
In --fileprefix or --subdir-format, you can now use parameters in the form <00episodenum> or <00seriesnum> to produce values padded with zeroes. Padded string width is determined by number of zeroes, so the above would pad "5" to "05". If you are also using a conditional separator, it must come before the padding indicator, e.g., <.00episodenum>.