Finding all Images with a Description (Attributes)

[kiwilink]

Years ago I gave my images a title and a description (IMATCH attributes, not XMP).  I am now trying to find all images with a title or a description so I can print out a list of those titles and dscriptions and which images have them.

I tried to use the filter (see attached) asking to find where title or desription is not Null but I'm probably not using the correct Regular Expression.  Or, should I be searching this in the search bar of the file window?  If so, how would I go about doing this?

Thank you!

Kiwilink

[Mario]

Try "No value" instead of "is not".
Your null is just a text and IMatch finds all files which don't have the text "null" in the description. This cannot work.

[kiwilink]

After an hour I'm questioning my intelligence.  Attachment 1 shows 3 test images with the only image to have text in the Title (attribute).  I typed Christmas.  Then I turned on the filter and used the default no value and the image disappeared.  Just opposite of what I was trying to do.  To clarify, I want to serach my database and find all of the images that have text in the Title or Description (attributes).

I then tried "is not" no value and that didn't work.

Can you tell me what I am missing?  I know its so simple but I can't figure it out.

Kiwilink

[thrinn]

Try to use a Regular Expression. For example, this filter will only show files that have either "Beschreibung" or "DocID" filled (you have to adapt the attribute names to your configuration, of course). The ".*" represents something like "any number of any character(s)".

[kiwilink]

Thrinn

Thanks!  It kind of worked.    I noticed it found images with text in the Descrition also even though my filter focused on Title only.  It also returned some images that had nothing in the Title or Description which puzzled me.  I'm sure I'm not using the correct Regular Expression so I'm now looking up Pearl syntax that Mario references in the Help manual,

I'm assuming there is no where in IMATCH where I can see the entire list of attributes that I have created (like I can do with Keywords).  Correct?

Thank you!

Kiwilink

[Mario]

What are you actually trying to do?
In the original post, you were trying to find files without values in an Attribute. I explained how to do this with the "no value" filter.

Now you are searching for all files, with or without a value, using the .* regexp, which basically covers everything?!

where I can see the entire list of attributes that I have created (like I can do with Keywords).  Correct? 

Select all files in the database and look at the Attribute filter for the Attribute you are interested in?
Or, data-driven category based on an Attribute variable, which also shows all distinct values used for that Attribute.
IMatch can do what you want.

[kiwilink]

I apologize if I was not clear.  Years ago when I started with IMATCH and years following I was incorrectly using Keywords to describe an image.  I would bring images into IMATCH, open the Attribute Panel and use the two fields (Title and Description) to enter a few words about an image so I could find it later.  Now, after 10 years I don't remember what I wrote in these two fields.  I decided I would search my entire database and if it has text of any kind ineither of these two fields I would look at the resultant set to see what I wrote.

My best guess is 5,000 images out of 130K have something in either the Title or Description.  I have attached a screen capture of the Regular Expression I came up with based on reading your links to Pearl and Regular Expressions.  I know it's not the correct expression because the result that came up in my file window had images that did not have any text in either the Title or Description field.  I know that because I opened the Attribute Panel and when I clicked on wach image in the result set I could see what was in the fields.

If I could do it all over again I would have used Keywords (since I know ehere I can go inIMATCH to see all of them).  Not so easy with wanting to see all Titles and Descriptions.

I hope I have explained this right.  Don't want to take you away from 2025 IMATCH.  Reg Expressions are hard for me.

[Tveloso]

Could it be that for those images the filter is finding, that you indicate contain no data in neither of the two Attributes in question, actually do contain something there?...(but it's just whitespace)?  The Attributes panel in your ScreenShot seems to contain an "empty" row, but maybe that still satisfies the regular expression you're using.

Perhaps if you change your regular expression to this:

    [0-9a-z]+

...that will eliminate those files having an "empty row" from the result.

[sinus]

Maybe the tip from Tony helps. Hopefully.

Well, for me 5000 images is not a lot.
I guess, out of the blues, I would simply search for words, what I could have used and then look at them, these would give me more remembering, what I have wrote.

And if I do not more any words, I woiuld search for often used letters like "e" or "n" or whatever.
This would brings up for sure quite a lot of images and you could thrill down your images to these with text in these two fields. 

Just my 2-cents.

[Mario]

To see all values you have entered for a specific Attribute, use a data-driven category. For example, I have an "Info" Attribute Set with a "Title" Attribute. To see all values I have entered over the years, and for which files, I use this data-driven category:



This produces a category like this:



One child category for each unique Title Attribute, and all files without data in Title are collected in the "Other" category.

Using the same method, you can create a category for "Description", too.

Note: The category uses "Automatic Update" off, so it does not put a burden on IMatch all the time.
When you want it to update, select it and press <Shift>+<F5>.

[kiwilink]

Fantastic!  I learned a lot.  Thank you Mario,  And, also, Thank you Sinus, Tveloso, and Thrinn.

This worked perfectly.  I attached a screen capture.  

Kiwilink