N_m3u8dl-re Live Stream Question

[doctorm]

I've been playing around for the first time using this with a live stream instead of yt-dlp.

I found some odd things, but I now have it mostly where I want it. It live merges the segments to a .ts file and then converts it to .mp4 when the record time limit is reach and I now have it deleting the segments when done.
...except it isn't deleting the empty temporary fold that it downloads the segments to.

Is this an issue with N_m3u8dl-re or something I'm missing?

N_m3u8DL-RE.exe -M format=mp4 -sv best --check-segments-count false --live-real-time-merge --live-keep-segments false --live-record-limit "01:01:01" "(url)"

[sesamap159]

To delete temporary folders, here is a Python version:

import subprocess
import shutil
import os
import time
from datetime import datetime

def parse_duration(user_input):
    user_input = user_input.strip()

    # Case 1: Only minutes (e.g. "90")
    if user_input.isdigit():
        total_minutes = int(user_input)
        hours = total_minutes // 60
        minutes = total_minutes % 60
        return f"{hours:02d}:{minutes:02d}:00"

    # Case 2: Hours:Minutes (e.g. "1:30")
    if ":" in user_input:
        parts = user_input.split(":")
        if len(parts) == 2 and all(p.isdigit() for p in parts):
            hours = int(parts[0])
            minutes = int(parts[1])
            return f"{hours:02d}:{minutes:02d}:00"

    return None


def record_stream(url, duration):
    tmp_dir = f"temp_segments_{datetime.now().strftime('%Y%m%d_%H%M%S')}"

    cmd = [
        "N_m3u8DL-RE.exe",
        "-M", "format=mp4",
        "-sv", "best",
        "--check-segments-count", "false",
        "--live-real-time-merge",
        "--live-keep-segments", "false",
        "--live-record-limit", duration,
        "--tmp-dir", tmp_dir,
        url
    ]

    try:
        print(f"Recording for {duration}...")
        subprocess.run(cmd, check=True)
        print("Recording finished.")
    except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
        print("Error during recording.")
    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        print("\nUser interrupted the recording.")
    finally:
        time.sleep(2)
        if os.path.isdir(tmp_dir):
            try:
                shutil.rmtree(tmp_dir)
                print(f"Temporary folder removed: {tmp_dir}")
            except Exception as e:
                print(f"Could not remove {tmp_dir}: {e}")


# === Usage ===
URL = input("PLEASE ENTER THE VIDEO URL: ")
duration_input = input("ENTER DURATION (minutes OR H:MM): ")

duration_str = parse_duration(duration_input)

if duration_str:
    record_stream(URL, duration_str)
else:
    print("Invalid format. Use either:")
    print("  90      (minutes)")
    print("  1:30    (hours:minutes)")

[doctorm]

Yeah, I don't know python.
I can write a command line script, but for non-live downloads, n_m3u8dl-re DOES delete the folders. So it's a bug?

[sesamap159]

Yeah, I don't know python.
I can't write a command line script, but for non-live downloads, n_m3u8dl-re DOES delete the folders. So it's a bug?

N_m3u8dl-re do not delete the folder that was created temporarily.
If you want to delete the temporary folder created since N_m3u8dl-re, you can do so from a batch version.

@echo off
setlocal

:: ===== CONFIG =====
set URL=(url)
set TMPDIR=temp
set RECORDTIME=01:01:01

:: ===== RECORD =====
N_m3u8DL-RE.exe -M format=mp4 -sv best --live-real-time-merge --live-keep-segments false --live-record-limit "%RECORDTIME%" --tmp-dir "%TMPDIR%" "%URL%"

:: Short pause for safety
timeout /t 2 /nobreak >nul

:: ===== CLEANUP =====
if exist "%TMPDIR%" (
    rmdir "%TMPDIR%" 2>nul
    if exist "%TMPDIR%" (
        echo Folder not empty, forcing deletion...
        rmdir /s /q "%TMPDIR%"
    ) else (
        echo Temporary folder removed.
    )
)

echo Done.
pause

[doctorm]

So it IS a bug and not my fault. That's what I wanted to know. Maybe it'll get fixed in an update.

In my batch script since I have the folder name, I can either

rd %name% /S /Q

or my preference which is

nircmd.exe moverecyclebin "c:\N_m3u8DL-RE\%name%"

so I can recover it if needed.