Hydrogenaudio Forums > This script converts APE files to flac files

I am all FLAC

Feb 15 2008, 09:29

This script converts all ape files in the currect directory to flac files.

NOTICE1: It deletes the ape files afterwards.

NOTICE2: During convertion it need ~2x of diskspace of the APE file sizes.

CODE

#!/bin/sh

for f in *ape; do
mac "$f" "$f.wav" -d
done
rm *ape

rename .ape.wav .wav *.ape.wav

flac --best *wav
rm *wav

perilsensitive

Feb 16 2008, 01:51

You could save disk space by using a pipe instead of writing the wav files to disk:

CODE

#!/bin/sh

for f in *.ape; do
mac "$f" - -d | flac --best -s -o "${f%ape}flac" - && rm -f "$f"
done

You could also do the same thing with shntool:

CODE

shntool conv -o "flac flac --best -o %f -" *.ape
rm -f *.ape

I am all FLAC

Feb 16 2008, 02:23

QUOTE(perilsensitive @ Feb 16 2008, 08:51)

You could save disk space by using a pipe instead of writing the wav files to disk:

CODE

#!/bin/sh

for f in *.ape; do
mac "$f" - -d | flac --best -s -o "${f%ape}flac" - && rm -f "$f"
done

Cool! It saves a lot of time as well

Does "${f%ape}flac" mean "take the variable $f and replace ape with flac"?

QUOTE(perilsensitive @ Feb 16 2008, 08:51)

You could also do the same thing with shntool:

CODE

shntool conv -o "flac flac --best -o %f -" *.ape
rm -f *.ape

Nice!!

Thanks!

perilsensitive

Feb 16 2008, 02:41

QUOTE(I am all FLAC @ Feb 16 2008, 01:23)

Does "${f%ape}flac" mean "take the variable $f and replace ape with flac"?

The expression "${foo%bar}" tells the shell to remove the shortest string matching the pattern "bar" from the end of the string stored in variable 'foo' and return the result (this doesn't change what's stored in 'foo', though). So "${f%ape}flac" removes "ape" from the end of the string stored in 'f' (if present), then sticks the string "flac" on the end of what was returned. This has the net effect of replacing the "ape" extension with a "flac" extension, but there are plenty of cases where you'd want to just remove the matching part of the string without replacing it.

Check your shell's manpage for a better and more complete explanation. If you're using bash, it's in the "Parameter Expansion" section.

I am all FLAC

Feb 16 2008, 02:45

QUOTE(perilsensitive @ Feb 16 2008, 09:41)

QUOTE(I am all FLAC @ Feb 16 2008, 01:23)

Does "${f%ape}flac" mean "take the variable $f and replace ape with flac"?

The expression "${foo%bar}" tells the shell to remove the shortest string matching the pattern "bar" from the end of the string stored in variable 'foo' and return the result (this doesn't change what's stored in 'foo', though). So "${f%ape}flac" removes "ape" from the end of the string stored in 'f' (if present), then sticks the string "flac" on the end of what was returned. This has the net effect of replacing the "ape" extension with a "flac" extension, but there are plenty of cases where you'd want to just remove the matching part of the string without replacing it.

Check your shell's manpage for a better and more complete explanation. If you're using bash, it's in the "Parameter Expansion" section.

This is great stuff! Thanks