🏷️ Dynamic Wildcards

FFmate's dynamic wildcards are designed for smart, customizable file and directory naming. Instead of tedious manual setup for each output, FFmate allows you to use placeholders. These placeholders provide a flexible method to dynamically generate both filenames and directory paths, as FFmate intelligently replaces them with actual data as it processes your tasks. Essentially, placeholders deliver a simple yet efficient way to achieve truly dynamic and automated filename and directory naming within FFmate.

For example, you can include the date, time, input file name, or a unique ID in your output file names. This helps keep your files organized, consistent, and easy to track, without extra effort.

📁 Input & Output File Information

Full File Path:

These wildcards return the complete file path, including the directory, filename, and extension.

Wildcard	Description	Example Output
${INPUT_FILE}	Full path of the input file	/source/input.mp4
${OUTPUT_FILE}	Full path of the output file	/destination/output.mp4

Example:

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/v1/tasks \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "command": "-y -i ${INPUT_FILE} -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 23 ${OUTPUT_FILE}",
       "inputFile": "/volumes/ffmate/source/input.mp4",
       "outputFile": "/volumes/ffmate/destination/output.mp4"
     }'

---

Filename Information:

These wildcards return the filename from the full path, either with or without the extension.

Wildcard	Description	Example Output
${INPUT_FILE_BASE}	Filename with extension (without the path)	input.mp4
${OUTPUT_FILE_BASE}	Filename with extension (without the path)	output.mp4
${INPUT_FILE_BASENAME}	Filename without extension	input
${OUTPUT_FILE_BASENAME}	Filename without extension	output

Example:

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/v1/tasks \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "command": "-y -i ${INPUT_FILE} -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 23 ${OUTPUT_FILE}.mkv",
       "inputFile": "/volumes/ffmate/videos/original_movie.mp4",
       "outputFile": "/volumes/ffmate/converted/${INPUT_FILE_BASENAME}"
     }'

Output Path:

/volumes/ffmate/converted/input.mkv

---

File Extensions and Directory Path:

These wildcards return the file extension and the directory path.

Wildcard	Description	Example Output
${INPUT_FILE_EXTENSION}	File extension of the input file	.mp4
${OUTPUT_FILE_EXTENSION}	File extension of the output file	.mp4
${INPUT_FILE_DIR}	Directory path of the input file	/source
${OUTPUT_FILE_DIR}	Directory path of the output file	/destination

Example:

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/v1/tasks \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "command": "-y -i ${INPUT_FILE} -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 23 ${OUTPUT_FILE}",
       "inputFile": "/volumes/ffmate/source/video.mp4",
       "outputFile": "/volumes/ffmate/destination/${INPUT_FILE_BASENAME}_converted${INPUT_FILE_EXTENSION}"
     }'

Output Path:

/volumes/ffmate/destination/input_converted.mp4

📅 Date & Time Wildcards

These wildcards insert dynamic timestamps into your output paths, making it easy to organize processed files based on date and time.

Wildcard	Description	Example Output
${DATE_YEAR}	Full year (4 digits)	2024
${DATE_SHORTYEAR}	Short year (last 2 digits)	24
${DATE_MONTH}	Month number (01-12)	01
${DATE_DAY}	Day of the month (01-31)	15
${DATE_WEEK}	ISO week number (01-52)	03
${TIME_HOUR}	Hour (24-hour format, 00-23)	14
${TIME_MINUTE}	Minute (00-59)	05
${TIME_SECOND}	Second (00-59)	32

Example:

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/v1/tasks \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "command": "-y -i ${INPUT_FILE} -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 23 ${OUTPUT_FILE}",
       "inputFile": "/volumes/ffmate/source/video.mp4",
       "outputFile": "/volumes/ffmate/destination/${DATE_YEAR}/${DATE_MONTH}/${DATE_DAY}/video_${TIME_HOUR}-${TIME_MINUTE}-${TIME_SECOND}.mp4",
       "priority": 2
     }'

Output Path:

/volumes/ffmate//destination/2024/02/15/video_14-30-45.mp4

⏳ Timestamps

These wildcards generate precise timestamps to create unique file and directory names based on the current time.

Wildcard	Description	Example Output
${TIMESTAMP_SECONDS}	Unix timestamp in seconds	1705318712
${TIMESTAMP_MILLISECONDS}	Unix timestamp with milliseconds precision	1705318712123
${TIMESTAMP_MICROSECONDS}	Unix timestamp with microseconds precision	1705318712123456
${TIMESTAMP_NANOSECONDS}	Unix timestamp with nanoseconds precision	1705318712123456789

Example:

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/v1/tasks \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "command": "-y -i ${INPUT_FILE} -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 23 ${OUTPUT_FILE}",
       "inputFile": "/volumes/ffmate/source/video.mp4",
       "outputFile": "/volumes/ffmate/destination/video_${TIMESTAMP_SECONDS}.mp4"
     }'

Output Path:

/volumes/ffmate/destination/video_1705318712.mp4

🖥️ System Information

These wildcards return system information, specifically the operating system name and CPU architecture.

Wildcard	Description	Example Output
${OS_NAME}	Operating system name	linux
${OS_ARCH}	CPU architecture	amd64

Example:

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/v1/tasks \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "command": "-y -i ${INPUT_FILE} -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 23 ${OUTPUT_FILE}",
       "inputFile": "/volumes/ffmate/source/video.mp4",
       "outputFile": "/volumes/ffmate/processed/${OS_NAME}/${OS_ARCH}/video.mp4"
     }'

Output Path:

/volumes/ffmate/processed/linux/amd64/video.mp4

🔄 Unique Identifier

This wildcard generate random unique identifiers.

Wildcard	Description	Example Output
${UUID}	Randomly generated UUID (v4)	550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000

Example:

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/v1/tasks \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "command": "-y -i ${INPUT_FILE} -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 23 ${OUTPUT_FILE}",
       "inputFile": "/volumes/ffmate/source/video.mp4",
       "outputFile": "/volumes/ffmate/processed/${UUID}_video.mp4"
     }'

Output Path:

/volumes/ffmate/processed/550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000_video.mp4