MKV XML chapter file creator

[perdigueiro]

Hi, everybody
I've been using this forum for a long time but only now decided to join in... So this is my first post.

I'm a linux user and while searching for a xml chapter file maker for matroska video format, discovered that most available and viable options are Windows related so I've been playing with bash and develop my first bash script, not counting the 'Hello World' one.

For those how don't know the ropes already copy paste the code bellow in a new file on you favorite text editor and save it, mark the file as executable and you're ready to go. The script has a built-in help, so use it if needed.

Here goes,

#!/bin/bash

##
## XML chapter file creator for matroska video format
##
## Version History
##    0.5   * basic file structure creation
##
##    1.0   * added more command line options and help
##          * usage of random numbers for UIDs
##          * usage of mediainfo for video length
##
##    1.1   * added floating number calculation for chapter size accuracy
##            unfortunately this delays the program
##          * add support for filenames with spaces
##

version="XML chapter file creator for matroska video format
mkchapters version 1.1 created by perdigueiro
"
usage="
Usage: $0 [OPTIONS] SRCFILE [DSTFILE]

Examples
   1st: $0 SRCFILE
   2nd: $0 SRCFILE DSTFILE
   3rd: $0 [-c | --chapters=NUMBER] [-t | --length=TIME] DSTFILE

In the 1st form, create xml file with same name as source file with 15 chapters.
In the 2nd, same as in the first form but use the specified destination file
In the 3rd, create destination file with the specified time length

Options:
    SRCFILE         source file
    DSTFILE         destination file, if not used assume source file with XML
                    extension
    
    -h, --help              display this help and exit.
    -v, --version           display version info and exit.
    -c, --chapters=NUMBER   number of chapters to create default is 18
    -t, --length=TIME       Video length in format HH:MM:SS or number of seconds,
                            is ignored, if given a source file
    --prefix=WORD           Chapter name prefix, default is 'Chapter'
    --lang=WORD             Chapter language, default is 'eng'
"
ch=18
prx="Chapter "
lang="eng"

while test $# -ne 0; do
    case $1 in
        --help|-h)
            echo "$version$usage";
            exit 0;;
        --version|-v)
            echo "$version";
            exit 0;;
        --chapters=*)
            ch=${1#*=};
            shift;;
        --length=*)
            ch=${1#*=};
            shift;;
        --prefix=*)
            prx=${1#*=};
            shift;;
        --lang=*)
            lang=${1#*=};
            shift;;
        -c)
            ch=$2;
            shift 2;;
        -t)
            length=$2;
            shift 2;;
        -*)
            echo "$0: invalid option: $1" >&2;
            exit 2;;
        *)
            break;;
    esac
done

if [[ $# -ne 0 && -z $in ]]; then 
    in=$1
    shift
    while [[ $# -ne 0 && `expr match ${in:${#in}-1} '\'` -ne 0 ]]; do
        in="$in $1"
        shift
    done
fi

if test $# -ne 0; then
    out=$1
    shift
    while [[ $# -ne 0 && `expr match ${out:${#out}-1} '\'` -ne 0 ]]; do
        out="$out $1"
        shift
    done
elif [[ -n $length ]]; then
    out=$in
    unset -v in
else
    out="${in%.*}.xml"
fi

if test $# -ne 0; then
    echo -e "$0: Too much arguments.\n" >&2
    exit 2
fi

if [[ -n $in ]]; then
    echo -e "\nUsing $in as input file"
    info=$(mediainfo $in | grep -m 1 "Duration")
    time=$((`expr match "$info" '.*\([0-9]\+\)h'`*60*60 + `expr match "$info" '.*\([0-9][0-9]\)mn'`*60))
elif [[ `expr match "$length" '[0-1][0-9]:[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9]$'` -eq 0 && `expr match "$length" '[1-9][0-9]\+$'` -eq 0 ]]; then
    echo -e "$0: Invalid time format, must use HH:MM:SS or number of seconds.\n" >&2
    exit 1
else
    if [[ `expr match "$length" '[1-9][0-9]\+$'` -ne 0 ]]; then
        time=$((length*1))
    else
        time=$((${length:0:2}*3600 + ${length:3:2}*60 + ${length:6:2}))
    fi
fi

if [[ -n $out ]]; then echo -e "\nUsing $out as destination file"; fi
echo -e "Total movie length is $time seconds\n"
echo -e "\nCreating $ch chapters with $(($time/$ch)) seconds each."

if [[ -f $out ]]; then
    read -p "File exists, do you want to overwrite? [Y/n] " -n1 -s answer
    if [[ $answer -ne "n" || $answer -ne "N" ]]; then
        echo "N"
        echo -e "$0: Aborted by user.\n" >&2
        exit 0
    else
        echo -n "Y"
    fi
fi
echo

# Create list of Unique ID's
UIDs=($(od -N$(($ch*4+4)) -An -t u4 /dev/random))

#Create Chapter Atoms
function getAtom(){
    local st=$(printf "%02d:%02d:%06.3f" ${starttime[0]} ${starttime[3]} ${starttime[4]})
    local en=$(printf "%02d:%02d:%06.3f" ${endtime[0]} ${endtime[1]} ${endtime[2]})
    printf "%03d> %s  %s\n" $1 $st $en
    atom="\n\t\t<ChapterAtom>"
    atom="$atom\n\t\t\t<ChapterDisplay>"
    atom="$atom\n\t\t\t\t`printf "<ChapterString>%s %02d</ChapterString>" $prx $1`"
    atom="$atom\n\t\t\t\t<ChapterLanguage>$lang</ChapterLanguage>"
    atom="$atom\n\t\t\t</ChapterDisplay>"
    atom="$atom\n\t\t\t<ChapterUID>${UIDs[$1]}</ChapterUID>"
    atom="$atom\n\t\t\t<ChapterTimeStart>$st</ChapterTimeStart>"
    atom="$atom\n\t\t\t<ChapterTimeEnd>$en</ChapterTimeEnd>"
    atom="$atom\n\t\t\t<ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>"
    atom="$atom\n\t\t\t<ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>"
    atom="$atom\n\t\t</ChapterAtom>"    
    return 0
}

#Create XML structure
function getXML(){
    
    local xmlh="<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n\n"
    xmlh="$xmlh<!-- <!DOCTYPE Tags SYSTEM \"matroskatags.dtd\"> -->\n\n"
    xmlh="$xmlh<Chapters>\n\t<EditionEntry>\n\t\t<EditionFlagHidden>0</EditionFlagHidden>\n"
    xmlh="$xmlh\t\t<EditionFlagDefault>0</EditionFlagDefault>\n"
    xmlh="$xmlh\t\t<EditionUID>${UIDs[0]}</EditionUID>"
    
    local xmlb="\n\t</EditionEntry>\n</Chapters>\n"
    starttime=(0 0 0 0 0)                   #Start time
    for (( i=1; i<=$ch; i++ )); do
        endtime=($(bc -q << CALC
            if($ch==$i) {
                tm=$time
            } else {
                scale=3
                st=$time/$ch
                tm=st*$i
            }

            scale=0
            h=tm/3600
            m=tm%3600/60
            s=tm%60
            m1=(tm+0.1)%3600/60
            s1=(tm+0.1)%60    
            print h," ",m," ",s," ",m1," ",s1;
            quit
CALC
))                                           # Calculate endtime
        getAtom $i
        starttime=(${endtime[@]})            #Set start time
        atoms=$atoms$atom                    #Add Chapter Atom
    done
    xml="$xmlh $atoms $xmlb"
    return
}

getXML
echo -e $xml > "$out"

echo -e "\nDone"
exit 0

Hope you'll use it and tell me what you thing of it.

[drajc07]

Hi perdigueiro,

I followed your directions above and when I tried to run your script I got the following error messages:

./MKVXMLchapterCreator: 91: [[: not found
./MKVXMLchapterCreator: 105: [[: not found
./MKVXMLchapterCreator: 125: [[: not found
./MKVXMLchapterCreator: 125: [[: not found
./MKVXMLchapterCreator: 125: [[: not found
./MKVXMLchapterCreator: 125: Bad substitution

I was wondering if you could help me troubleshoot this error (only if you have some free time) since I am not much of a programmer but am willing to learn. I am planning to start learning Linux shell scripting this week.

BR,

drajc07

[perdigueiro]

Hello drajc07,


I'm afraid your system is using sh by default and my script is bash as declared in the shebang.

Probably the location of your bash interpreter is other than /bin/bash, find it and change the shebang accordingly.

[Selur]

just for the record: Hybrid can create mkv/mp4/m2ts chapters for quite some time,... (and it works on Windows/Mac/Linux) it allows you to create chapters every X min, import chapters from a source, edit existing chapters and export the chapters as mkv chapter file in the case that you don't want to use Hybrid for encoding,..