ODFMETA(1)

✨ ODFMETA(1) ✨

okay bestie, pull up a chair 💖 this is <pink>odfmeta</pink> from the User commands section of the manual — and no, it is not a manual manual, it's a whole vibe. Let's get into it.

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🎀 NAME 🎀

odfmeta — list or change the metadata of an ODF file. that's the whole job. she lists, she changes, she slays 💅

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

odfmeta [-l] [-v] [-V] [-c] [-d] [-x metafield...] [-X metafield...]
        [-a metafield...] [-A metafield...] [-I metafield...] [-o path]
        path

like look at her. so many little flags. a whole alphabet of options. iconic behavior, honestly 👑

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so <cyan>odfmeta</cyan> is a program that will list or change the metadata in an OpenDocument file. that's the tea ☕

and why do you care?? because this is useful for version control systems. yes fr fr — you can change title, keywords, description etc. and not have your diff scream at you every time you open a document.

Path (aka the last argument you hand over) is assumed to be an OpenDocument file of text, spreadsheet or presentation type. so .odt, .ods, .odp — she's flexible, she's versatile, she's not picky 💜

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

okay this is the main character section. one bullet per flag, no skips, no shortcuts, because we do not gatekeep here 🫶

• -l — List (extract) all known metadata fields. just dump the whole vibe check onto your screen.
• -v or -V — Print the version number of the ODF document format. and listen, there's a lil difference between these two besties: if you use -V it will print version: before the number, for compatibility with -X. also super important — the version number can't be modified. it is what it is, she's not changing for anybody 🙅
• -c — Make field values continuous by normalizing white space. lowkey handy when you're postprocessing with standard (line oriented) text utilities. so if you're piping into grep or awk or whatever, this is your girlie ✨
• -d — Update the modification date to the current date and time. timestamp refresh, we love to see it 🕐
• -x metafield — Extract the contents of this metafield from the file. Known field names are:
  • creation-date
  • creator
  • date
  • description
  • editing-cycles
  • editing-duration
  • generator
  • initial-creator
  • keyword
  • language
  • print-date
  • printed-by
  • subject
  • title
  • user-defined

All other names are assumed to be user defined. so you can go off-script, she'll just roll with it 💫

• -X metafield — Same as -x, but also preserves/includes the field name. so you get the label and the tea, not just the tea 🍵
• -a metafield — Append a custom metafield to the metadata; but only if a similar field does not exist yet. respectful. doesn't barge in if someone's already there 🙈
• -A metafield — Append a custom metafield to the metadata in any case. no chill, no checking, she's adding it periodt 💀
• -I metafield — Append a custom metafield to the metadata and remove any existing similar field. out with the old, in with the new — a whole rebrand, main character energy 👑
• -o path — Filename to write modified ODT file to. and if no -o option is provided, the ODT file will be written to stdout. so you can pipe her somewhere or just let her talk directly to your terminal, dealer's choice 🌈

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⭐ EXAMPLES ⭐

here's the good stuff. copy-paste these, they're exact:

odfmeta -l odf-file.odt
odfmeta -I "title:The Little Engine That Could" -A subject:I-think-I-can -o newfile.odt source.odt

first one: just list everything in odf-file.odt. little peek, little gossip 🍓

second one: she's rewriting the title to The Little Engine That Could, adding a subject of I-think-I-can, and writing it all out to newfile.odt, reading from source.odt. that's a whole glow-up in one line 💖

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

• formail(1)
• id3tag(1)

go say hi, they're in the same friend group 🫶

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💀 BUGS 💀

okay this is the part where we get real. warning warning 🚨

All known versions of OpenOffice.org keep only four <meta:user-defined> elements. so if you add more than those... you'll loose them next time you save with OpenOffice.org. gone. poof. absolutely devastating 😭

and KOffice keeps only one <meta:keyword> element. one!! singular!! so budget accordingly, bestie 🙈

ngl this is exactly the kind of thing you find out the hard way, so consider this your warning ✨

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💜 AUTHOR 💜

Søren Roug — Original author. thank you for your service, legend 🙌

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and that's the whole page!! 🌈💖🌸🦋🎀

this came from odfpy, dated 02/11/2025, and it's the ODFMETA(1) page. slay, stay hydrated, and always back up your metadata 🫶✨

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