How with OpenAI Whisper do I transcribe all mp4s in a folder?

Problem:

I'd like to transcribe all mp4 files in a folder on both Mac and Windows using Whisper.

I am familiar with scripting and command-line, and have already set up Whisper to work on my machine.

Windows example solution:

The following is an example solution for Windows. Save this in a .bat file and run it in the folder you'd like to process all mp4 files. Modify the script as you need to.

This example transcribes in English with Whisper set up to use CUDA. It skips over any already transcribed mp4 files. It is not recursive.

e.g. transcribe_all_mp4.bat:

for %%f in (*.mp4) do (
	echo %%~nf
	if not exist "%%~nf.txt" (
		echo will process %%~nf.mp4
		whisper "%%~nf.mp4" --language English --device cuda
	) else (
		echo will NOT process %%~nf.mp4
	)
)

Mac example solution:

The following example is a single Terminal command you can use in MacOS with Whisper already set up.

Note that this example command does not check for existing transcriptions. It does however specify Whisper to use the medium model. It is not recursive. Modify the command as you need to.

In Terminal in the folder where you want to transcribe your .mp4 files:

for f in *.mp4 ; do whisper $f --model medium ; done

Notes:

The above solutions in Windows and Mac were verified to work between February 2023 to June 2023 (for real-life conference and film work). As of this time the good folks over at Whisper haven't yet implemented batch processing of files.

Hope these examples helped you start to get past where you too got stuck :)

References:

• https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/workflow-loop-through-files-in-a-directory
• https://github.com/openai/whisper/discussions/153
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39615/how-to-loop-through-files-matching-wildcard-in-batch-file
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-xp/bb490909(v=technet.10)?redirectedfrom=MSDN
• https://github.com/openai/whisper/blob/main/README.md
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23735282/if-not-exist-command-in-batch-file

bash scripting reminders of basics

Problem:

I want quick reminders for bash shell scripting because I don't write bash scripts often enough to memorize everything.

Notes:

The following reminders assume you're already familiar with the basics of bash shell scripting and simply need a reminder of more commonly used syntax, etc. These reminders are for myself but I hope you also find them useful.

Reminder shortcuts

As the number of reminders grow I hope this index will help you find what you need. (It certainly helps me.)

• References

• Top of script starts with #!/bin/bash
• Simple variables
• Concatenate strings
• String quotes of bash scripting
• Bash check if directory exists
• Bash for-loop
• Bash if-and, bash if-or
• Bash if directory does not exist
• Bash check if file exists
• For items in bash array
• Command line arguments in bash scripting
• How to check if git repo needs update from remote upstream with bash scripting
• How to check if script is on correct git branch for bash script

Reminders:

Top of script starts with #!/bin/bash

#!/bin/bash

See this tldp.org reference page for details.

Simple variables

Examples of simple variables

NAME="Delta"
echo "Hello $NAME!"

Concatenate strings

HELLO="Hello, "
NAME="Lily"

echo $HELLO$NAME
# output: Hello, Lily

HELLO="Hello, "
NAME="Alex"
GREET="${HELLO}${NAME}!"

echo "$GREET"
#output: Hello, Alex!

GREET="Hello, "
GREET+="Ninja"

echo "$GREET"
#output: Hello, Ninja

String quotes of bash scripting

DIRECTION="Right"
echo "Turn $DIRECTION"  # => Turn Right
echo 'Turn $DIRECTION'  # => Turn $DIRECTION

Bash for-loop

VAR=""
for NAME in 'alpha' 'bravo' 'charlie' 'delta'; do
  VAR+="${NAME} "
done

echo $VAR
# output: alpha bravo charlie delta 

Bash if-and, bash if-or

if [ $FILENAME == 'important.txt' ] && [ -f $FILENAME ]; then
  echo "this is an important file"
fi

if [ $NAME == 'Hector' ] || [ $NAME == 'Miguel' ]; then
  echo "this person is on a hero's journey"
fi

Bash check if directory exists

DIR="/usr/mydir/"

if [ -d "$DIR" ]; then
  echo "directory exists"
else
  echo "directory not found"
  exit 1
fi

DIR="/usr/mydir/"

[ "$DIR" == "" ] && { echo "directory string is empty"; exit 1; }
[ -d "${DIR}" ] && echo "directory exists" || echo "directory not found"

Bash if directory does not exist

DIR="/usr/mydir/"

if ! [ -d "$DIR" ]; then
  echo "directory does not exist"
else
  echo "directory exists"
fi

Bash check if file exists

if [ -f "/opt/myfile.txt" ]; then
  echo "file found"
else
  echo "file not found
fi

For items in bash array

DIR3="/opt/mydir3"
DIRTOCHECK=("/opt/mydir1" "/opt/mydir2" $DIR3)

for dir in "${DIRTOCHECK[@]}"
do
  if [ -d "${dir}" ]; then
    echo "found directory ${dir}"
  else
    echo "did not find directory ${dir}"
  fi
done

Command line arguments in bash scripting

# example: yourscript.sh arg1 2nd-arg

echo "All arguments values:" $@
# output: All arguments values: arg1 2nd-arg

echo "First argument:" ${1}
# output: First argument: arg1

echo "Second argument:" ${2}
# output: Second argument: 2nd-arg

echo "Total arguments:" $#
# output: Total arguments: 2

For more detailed information, please refer to this tecadmin.net tutorial

How to check if git repo needs update from remote upstream with bash scripting

This how-to assumes you already have a git repository installed, a remote upstream setup, and have navigated into the local repository via your script.

git fetch
if [ $(git rev-parse HEAD) == $(git rev-parse @{u}) ]; then
  # add logic for when no update is needed, e.g.
  echo 'already up to date.'
else
  # add logic for when update is needed, e.g.
  echo 'updating to latest.'
  git pull
fi

How to check if script is on correct git branch for bash script

The following example assumes master branch is desired and the script has already navigated to the local repository.

if ! [ $(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD) == "master" ]; then
  echo "NOT in master branch."
else
  echo "in master branch."
fi

Why these reminders?

This page is intended to remind myself quickly without requiring too much reading. I hope it's helped you out, too.

References:

• http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/
• https://www.linux.com/training-tutorials/writing-simple-bash-script/
• https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/index.html
• https://linuxconfig.org/bash-scripting-tutorial-for-beginners