I have already written posts on splitting and converting from either album-length APE files or album-length FLAC files into track-length FLAC files.
(My post on converting APE files; my post on splitting APE files; my post on splitting FLAC files. You will want to go over these other articles if you have not done any of this before as there are some dependencies which you will not likely have installed.)
That was rather satisfying, but I then found that I would locate entire discographies where every album was a single APE or FLAC. I did not enjoy the prospect of running each command on each pair of files.
That’s why scripting languages exist. It’s a good thing I bought that BASH book.
Anyway, this script is designed to recursively locate APE, FLAC, and CUE files under a user-supplied root directory; then it runs shntool and cuetag on each APE/FLAC and CUE pair. (You can read my previous posts linked above for more details about how these two commands work.)
It even cleans up after itself. Since it deletes not only the temporary files it creates but also all the APE, FLAC, and CUE files it uses, you will want to pay close attention when the script tells you it is about to clean up all those files. If you tell it to proceed (by hitting ENTER) without checking its work all those files will be deleted. As such you should work from copies and you should check that it did what you wanted it to do before hitting ENTER when it asks about cleaning up all files.
Feel free to suggest any improvements. I hope you find that it works well and improves your lives.
One important thing to note is that it is not an intelligent script. It cannot determine for you whether a given APE or FLAC file is actually album length. It assumes that you are offering it a folder (with or without sub-folders) which contains only album-length APE or album-length FLAC files with an accompanying CUE file (one matching pair per containing folder).
Sometimes a cue file will be formatted incorrectly or have some other issue. Sometimes they can be fixed by opening them in a text editor. Probably they can always be fixed in a text editor, but it might be difficult to determine what’s wrong with the CUE file. If a CUE files has issues you will see errors on the command line (if you are staring at your monitor) and the album-length file will not be split/tagged. You’ll have to work on that pair separately, but since you are working from copies it won’t matter if they get deleted.
If you throw something unusual at it, it’s hard to imagine how it might behave. It’s likely not dangerous but you should always work from copies and preserve the originals until you are satisfied.
##
#!/bin/bash
# covert APE/FLAC albums to FLAC tracks recursively
# by JamesIsIn from JamesIsIn.com
# Do something nice today.
## gather information
# obtain directory in which to work
printf "\nHello.\n\n"
read -e -p "Please provide the root folder under which I will work recursively: "
if [ -d "$REPLY" ]; then
printf "\nI have confirmed this is a directory.\n\n"
directory="$REPLY"
else
printf "\nI cannot confirm this is a directory.\n\n"
echo "$REPLY"
exit 1
fi
# number, performer, and track names
printf "There are two formatting options for file naming (assuming the cue contains correct information):\n\n"
printf "01 – Track Name.flac\n"
printf "01 – Performer Name – Track Name.flac.\n\n"
read -p "Do you want to include the performer name in the file names (this is only recommended for multiple-artist albums)? [Y or N]: "
if [ "$REPLY" = "Y" ]; then
printf "\nOk, I'll include performer names: 01 – Performer Name – Track Name.flac\n\n"
trackname="%n – %p – %t"
elif [ "$REPLY" = "y" ]; then
printf "\nOk, I'll include performer names: 01 – Performer Name – Track Name.flac\n\n"
trackname="%n – %p – %t"
else [ "$REPLY" = "[Nn]" ];
printf "\nOk, I won't include performer names: 01 – Track Name.flac\n\n"
trackname="%n – %t"
fi
printf "\n\nLet's get to work.\n\n\n"
## do the work
# parse files into respective arrays recursively
find "$directory" -type f -name \*.[Aa][Pp][Ee] -o -name \*.[Ff][Ll][Aa][Cc] > /tmp/whyme
declare -a albumfind
let i=0
while read albumline; do
albumfind[$i]=$albumline
((i++))
done < /tmp/whyme
find "$directory" -type f -name \*.[Cc][Uu][Ee] > /tmp/whyme2
declare -a cuefind
let i=0
while read cueline; do
cuefind[$i]=$cueline
((i++))
done < /tmp/whyme2
# follow array counts
printf "\n\nCounts are as follows. There are "${#albumfind[@]}" albums and "${#cuefind[@]}" cues. Your albums ought to equal your cues. If these counts are not as expected, please inspect the contents of the folder you provided before proceding or re-run the script and select a different folder.\n\n"
read -p "Press <ENTER> to coninue. "
# split apes and flacs; hide album files
for (( i=0 ; i < ${#albumfind[@]} ; i++ )) ; do
# path is cue iteration less file name
albumfolder="${cuefind[i]%/*.*}"
shnsplit -d "$albumfolder" -o flac -f "${cuefind[i]}" -t "$trackname" "${albumfind[i]}" ;
mv "${albumfind[i]}" "${albumfind[i]}".hideme ;
done
# remove 00 files
find "$directory" -type f -name 00\*.[Aa][Pp][Ee] -o -name 00\*.[Ff][Ll][Aa][Cc] > /tmp/whyme3
declare -a deadfiles
let i=0
while read deadline; do
deadfiles[$i]=$deadline
((i++))
done < /tmp/whyme3
for (( i=0 ; i < ${#deadfiles[@]} ; i++ )) ; do
mv "${deadfiles[i]}" "${deadfiles[i]}".hideme ;
done
# tag files
for (( i=0 ; i < ${#cuefind[@]} ; i++ )) ; do
# path is cue iteration less file name
albumfolder="${cuefind[i]%/*.*}"
cuetag "${cuefind[i]}" "$albumfolder"\/*.flac
mv "${cuefind[i]}" "${cuefind[i]}".hideme ;
done
## clean-up
printf "\n\nI have completed all operations to the best of my ability.\nI will now clean up all files.\n\nPlease ensure you are satisfied with the state of things before you continue."
printf "\n\nPlease note: I am about to delete all the album-length files I believe I have used."
read -p "Press <ENTER> to coninue (Ctrl-c will abort clean-up). "
# remove temp files, hideme files, and unset all variables
find "$directory" -type f -name *.hideme > /tmp/whyme4
declare -a hidemes
let i=0
while read hidelines; do
hidemes[$i]=$hidelines
((i++))
done < /tmp/whyme4
for (( i=0 ; i < ${#hidemes[@]} ; i++ )) ; do
rm "${hidemes[i]}" ;
done
rm /tmp/whyme*
unset
exit
##
Have fun with that.
