[macOS] [exFAT] How to preserve vf when renaming subtitles?

[FriedYoda]

I currently have the following format that works great for renaming movies and their folders:

Format: Select all

{n} {alias} ({y}) { "{imdb-$imdbid}"}\{n} {alias} ({y}).{vf} { "{edition-$edition}" } { "{imdb-$imdbid}" }{subt}

I usually have 2-4 files per folder: the MP4 and the SRT subtitle file (either in just 1080p or both 1080p and 2160p). SO the structure is as follows:

MOVIE FOLDER NAME
-Movie1080p.mp4
-Movie1080p.eng.sdh.srt
-Movie2160p.mp4
-Movie2160p.eng.sdh.srt

The above format works just fine for the renaming, but when it comes to the subtitles it leaves out the {vf}, essentially forcing me to go back and manually add the standard video format to each subtitle file. Is there a way for FIlebot to automatically include the standard video format when renaming the subtitle?

[rednoah]

What does the Format Editor say when you double-click the Subtitle File / Movie match and then select Edit Format? Does {vf} not work in this context?


The {vf} binding works fine for subtitles (by using the mediainfo table from the corresponding movie file) as far as I can tell:

[FriedYoda]

What does the Format Editor say when you double-click the Subtitle File / Movie match and then select Edit Format? Does {vf} not work in this context?


The {vf} binding works fine for subtitles (by using the mediainfo table from the corresponding movie file) as far as I can tell:

For what it's worth, it used to work just fine. I don't believe I changed the format, and the only major change was an upgrade to Mac OS Sequoia 15.6.

Here's screenshots of the folder in Finder, the FileBot Match, and the subtitle file format editing window:

[rednoah]

I've tried with these file names and everything works correctly for me. You could try to copy & paste file paths as text just to see if there's perhaps some invisible characters in the file names that makes them not match exactly.

The Format Editor will only show the last error. Please use {ny} [{vf}] as format temporarily so we can see the error from the {vf} binding.




Does this issue happen for any video / subtitle pair? Have you tried different files in different locations? If it works for some files but not others then that might give us a clue.


Please paste System Information so that we can confirm which version of FileBot you're using.

[FriedYoda]

It happens to any and all video/sub pairs. I should note that this was working fine before upgrading to Mac OS Sequoia 15.6. I re-named the files completely in the source to avoid any hidden characters. I changed the Format Editor like you suggested and it now shows this error:



Here is my system info:

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FileBot 5.1.7 (r10514)
JNA Native: 7.0.0
MediaInfo: 24.12
Tools: fpcalc/1.5.1 7zz/24.08
Extended Attributes: OK
Unicode Filesystem: OK
Script Bundle: 2025-05-24 (r1007)
Groovy: 4.0.21
JRE: OpenJDK Runtime Environment 21.0.3
JVM: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM
CPU/MEM: 8 Core / 2.1 GB Max Memory / 266 MB Used Memory
OS: Mac OS X (aarch64)
HW: Darwin Stevens-Mini 24.6.0 Darwin Kernel Version 24.6.0: Mon Jul 14 11:30:34 PDT 2025; root:xnu-11417.140.69~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T8103 arm64
STORAGE: apfs [/] @ 208 GB | exfat [/Volumes/My Game of Thrones] @ 40 GB | smbfs [/Volumes/Movies] @ 3.7 TB
DATA: /Users/XXXXXX/.filebot
Package: PKG
License: FileBot License PX714XXXXX (Valid-Until: 2075-04-15)

[rednoah]

That is very mysterious indeed. All good as far as I can see. No idea why we might be getting different behaviours. I have tested on macOS Sequoia 15.6 as well and was not able to reproduce the issue.


A could do lots of trial & error testing to see if we can narrow down on the problem:

My first would be to try {mediaFile} in the Format Editor. If a subtitle file is being formatted, the {mediaFile} binding should give you the file path of the corresponding media file. That part seem to be not working on your machine.

[FriedYoda]

Yes, {mediaFile} for the SRT file that corresponds to the 1080p media file returns

Code: Select all

/Volumes/My Game of Thrones/Smokey and the Bandit (1977)/._sbdt.1977.1080p.mp4

without any errors in the Format Editor. The ._ in the beginning of the file name is odd, at least to me. It adds that to any file I put in.

[FriedYoda]

I should also add that the external drive's name is My Game of Thrones, not My Game of Thrones. Here in the editor it displays My Game of Thrones, but when I publish the post it changes to My Game of Thrones

[FriedYoda]

Oh interesting, I dragged the files out of the external drive and onto a test folder on my Desktop. It works correctly when on the desktop:

[rednoah]

I see. FileBot is accidentally picking up the hidden ._* dot underbar file as "primary media file" and not the actual media file. That would explain things, especially why it always work on APFS file systems but never on exFAT file systems. We can fix that.

EDIT: FileBot r10690 fixes the issue.



macOS may create ._* dot underbar files to store Finder information, Unix permissions and xattr metadata when processing files on an external USB flash drive that is formatted with FAT or exFAT. Please read Re: Dot files and AppleSingle and AppleDouble formats for details.

[rednoah]

I should also add that the external drive's name is My Game of Thrones, not My Game of Thrones. Here in the editor it displays My Game of Thrones, but when I publish the post it changes to My Game of Thrones

Haha. This funny. Sorry for the confusion. You have found one of our anti-spam measures that target key words that are often used in advertisements for certain things. These words are censored and replaced by gibberish, e.g. identity documents, male enhancement drugs, certain product names, etc.

[FriedYoda]

I see. FileBot is accidentally picking up the hidden ._* dot underbar file as "primary media file" and not the actual media file. That would explain things, especially why it always work on APFS file systems but never on exFAT file systems. We can fix that.

EDIT: FileBot r10690 fixes the issue.



macOS may create ._* dot underbar files to store Finder information, Unix permissions and xattr metadata when processing files on an external USB flash drive that is formatted with FAT or exFAT. Please read Re: Dot files and AppleSingle and AppleDouble formats for details.

Thank you! I'm guessing 10690 will be available in the near future from the downloads section?

[rednoah]

You can try the latest beta:
viewtopic.php?t=1609