elpaso / subedit

Command-line subtitle editor written in BASH

subedit

Command-line subtitle editor written in BASH.

The script generally works with srt (SubRip), but a few parameters work with sub (MicroDVD) subtitle files too.

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FEATURES

• Basic clean-up
• Shift time
• Convert fps
• Adjust time
• Synchronize subtitles
• Search text
• Replace text
• Convert between srt and sub formats
• Join srt subtitles
• Split srt subtitles
• Clean subtitles
• Delete text for hearing impaired
• Fix subtitles
• Sort subtitles

Also:

• Supports wildcards
• Supports absolute and relative paths
• Process all subtitle files inside a directory
• Use multiple parameters in the same command and they'll run one after the other
• Works on Linux, Cygwin and Bash shell on Windows 10 as well
• Comprehensive help with over 70 examples

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SCREENSHOTS

Help examples

Wildcard support

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PARAMETERS OVERVIEW

-i    Subtitle file to process.  
-d    Directory containing subtitle files to process.  
-r    Recurse. Optional. Use with -d.  
-b    Backup input file. Optional. Use with any other parameter.  
-s    Shift time.  
-p    Convert fps. NTSC to PAL.  
-n    Convert fps. PAL to NTSC.  
-a    Adjust time.  
-1    Adjust time.  
-2    Adjust time.  
-y    Synchronize with file.  
-D    Synchronize with directory. Use with -d.  
-Y    Synchronize subtitle times one by one. Optional. Use with -y or -D.  
-f    Search, case insensitive.  
-F    Search, case sensitive. 
-e    Replace, case insensitive.  
-E    Replace, case sensitive.  
-t    Convert sub to srt.  
-u    Convert srt to sub.  
-U    Convert srt to sub.  
-j    Join two srt subtitles.  
-J    Join time. Optional. Use with -j.  
-x    Split srt subtitle.  
-X    Split time. Optional. Use with -x.  
-c    Clean trash.  
-k    Delete text for hearing impaired.  
-m    Fix common errors.
-o    Sort subtitles by start time.
-h    Help.  
-H    Help with more information and examples.

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PARAMETERS

-i "Input file"

Subtitle file to process.
Accepts srt or sub files, depending on what other parameter is used.
Supports wildcards and relative or absolute paths.
Open a subtitle file with no other parameters to perform basic clean-up.
Does not work with -D parameter (synchronize with directory) and -r parameter (recurse).

-d "Input directory"

Directory containing subtitle files to process.
Can contain srt, sub or both subtitle types.
Supports wildcards and relative or absolute paths.
Open a directory with no other parameters to perform basic clean-up to all contained subtitle files.
Works with all parameters except with -y (synchronize with file) and -j (join two srt subtitles).
Instead of Synchronize with file you can use Synchronize with directory (-D parameter).

-r [Switch]

Recurse.
Optional switch, to be used with -d.
Searches recursively for subtitle files.

-b [Switch]

Backup input file.
Optional switch that can be used with any other parameter.
Makes a copy of the input file in the same directory with the .bak suffix.
If the backup already exists, it does nothing. If -b is not set and the backup file exists, it is removed.

-s (+/-/a/z)hh:mm:ss,fff

Shift time.
Plus sign (or no sign at all) adds time, where the minus sign subtracts time.
"a" and "z" indicate absolute time value for the beginning and end time of the subtitle file respectively.
In this case the shifting time will be calculated.

-p [Switch]

Convert fps.
Change the fps from NTSC (23.976/29.970) to PAL (25).

-n [Switch]

Convert fps.
Change the fps from PAL (25) to NTSC (23.976/29.970).

-a (+/-)hh:mm:ss,fff (+/-)hh:mm:ss,fff

Adjust time.
Beginning and end time will be set to these values and the rest will be adjusted proportionally.
The time value is absolute if you don't use the +/- and will be shifted if you do use either sign.

-1 (+/-)hh:mm:ss,fff

Adjust time.
Beginning time will be set to this value and the rest will be adjusted proportionally.
The time value is absolute if you don't use the +/- and will be shifted if you do use either sign.

-2 (+/-)hh:mm:ss,fff

Adjust time.
End time will be set to this value and the rest will be adjusted proportionally.
The time value is absolute if you don't use the +/- and will be shifted if you do use either sign.
-1 and -2 parameters can be combined (equivalent of using just the -a parameter).

-y "Input file"

Synchronize with file.
Supports relative or absolute paths.
The subtitle times of the srt given with -i parameter will be adjusted with beginning and end time of this srt.

-D "Input directory"

Synchronize with directory.
To be used only with -d parameter.
This directory contains srt subtitle files with correct times.
Supports relative or absolute paths.
The two directories (given with -d and -D parameters) must contain srt subtitle files with the same names.
Synchronizes each srt subtitle file in the input directory (-d) with the srt subtitle file with the same name
that's in the directory (-D).

-Y [Switch]

Synchronize subtitle times one by one.
Optional switch, to be used with -y or -D.
Replaces times of file to be synchronized with times of synchronization file, respectively.

-f "Find text"

Search, case insensitive.
The double quotes are necessary.
Works with srt and sub.

-F "Find text"

Search, case sensitive.
The double quotes are necessary.
Works with srt and sub.

-e "Text to be replaced" "New text"

Replace, case insensitive.
The double quotes are necessary.
Works with srt and sub.

-E "Text to be replaced" "New text"

Replace, case sensitive.
The double quotes are necessary.
Works with srt and sub.

-t film/ntsc/pal/custom fps

Convert sub to srt.
Pal = 25, film = 23.976, ntsc = 29.970. Custom fps can be integer or float number.
Works only with sub subtitle files.

-u film/ntsc/pal/custom fps

Convert srt to sub.
Pal = 25, film = 23.976, ntsc = 29.970. Custom fps can be integer or float number.
Any srt tags that cannot be converted to sub tags will be passed unchanged to the .sub file.
For example, a tag that includes just one word in a sentence.

-U film/ntsc/pal/custom fps

Convert srt to sub.
Pal = 25, film = 23.976, ntsc = 29.970. Custom fps can be integer or float number.
Same as the -u parameter above, but any srt tags that were not converted to respective sub tags are ignored.
This is the behavior that you'd expect from other subtitle edit programs.

-j "Input file"

Join two srt subtitles.
Supports relative or absolute paths.
This srt will be appended to the srt given with -i parameter.

-J hh:mm:ss,fff

Join time.
Optional parameter, to be used with -j.
Shifts the time after beginning of the second srt in the output file.

-x (+/-)hh:mm:ss,fff or (+/-)SUB_INTEGER or (+/-)INTEGER:INTEGERt or (+/-)INTEGER:INTEGERn

Split srt subtitle.
Can take 4 different syntaxes:

1. (+/-)hh:mm:ss,fff: splitting time.
2. (+/-)SUB_INTEGER: splitting subtitle integer.
3. (+/-)INTEGER:INTEGERt: fraction where we split the subtitle file according to total time.
4. (+/-)INTEGER:INTEGERn: fraction where we split the subtitle file according to number of subtitles.

The minus sign means that counting begins from the end of the subtitle file.
The plus sign means that counting begins from the beginning. (Equivalent of using no sign at all).

-X [Switch]

Split time.
Optional switch, to be used with -x.
Makes the second generated srt begin with time 00:00:00,000.
Can be used with any -x syntax.

-c [Switch]

Clean trash.
Fixes many errors usually found in subtitles:

• Replace multiple whitespaces with one
• clean beginning and trailing spaces
• replace two single quotes with a double quote
• replace 2 or more "." with "..."
• capitalize the first letter after '.', '!' and '?'
• remove subtitles with zero duration
• and many more.

Also removes subtitles that contain the key words or key phrases (case insensitive) in /etc/subeditrc.
/etc/subeditrc is a text file that you can edit and add key words or key phrases.
If ~/.subeditrc exists (you have to create it manually), then it will be used instead of /etc/subeditrc.
Works with srt and sub.

-k '([{?mM'

Delete text for hearing impaired.
The ([{? characters are the symbols that the text for the hearing impaired is enclosed by.
m and M represent the music symbols ¶♪♫.
With "m" only the music symbols are deleted.
With "M" the text that is enclosed by the music symbols is deleted too.
Use only the symbol(s) that are needed for each subtitle file.
The single quotes are necessary.
Works with srt and sub.

-m [Switch]

Fix common errors.
Similar to Clean trash, but fixes different OCR mistakes:

• Zero and capital 'o' ripping mistakes
• replace "I" with "l" in the middle of a lowercase word
• replace a single "l" with "I"
• replace "l'm" with "I'm" etc.

Also fixes errors in subtitle times:

• Invalid times (duration < 0)
• too long durations (max of 7 seconds or 0.15 seconds per character)
• overlapping display times
• too short durations (0.06 seconds per character or less)
• subtitles over two lines
• too long lines.

Works with srt and sub.

-o [Switch]

Sort subtitles by start time.
Works with srt and sub.

-h [Switch]

Display help.

-H [Switch]

Display help with more information and examples.