Quick script to go through JPEGS and copy files created after a certain date to a new subdirectory

copypics.py

#!/usr/bin/python
import subprocess
import sys
import os
from datetime import datetime
from time import sleep
from shutil import copy2, rmtree
import re
import json

# Note:  for this to run, exiftool must be installed.  If not, go to http://owl.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/ to grab it

JPGPAT = re.compile('\.jpg$', re.IGNORECASE)
newdir = 'NewPics'
countinrow, countskip = 0, 0


def getdatefromuser():
    """Get the cutoff date from user (stdin), return a date object for use in the main execution block"""
    date_str = raw_input("\nEnter the date cutoff in mm/dd/yyyy format: ")
    date_sub = date_str.replace('-', '/')
    return datetime.strptime(date_sub, '%m/%d/%Y')


def rmdir(d):
    """Remove old directory if it exists, then create or recreate it.  Sleep so user can see progress"""
    print "Trying to remove old", d, "directory"

    try:
        rmtree(d)
    except OSError:
        print "No directory", d, ".  Skipping removal."
        pass
    finally:
        sleep(2)

    os.mkdir(d)
    print 'Created new directory', d
    sleep(2)


def findcreatedate(f):
    """Finds when the JPEG file f was created"""
    try:
        exifdata = subprocess.check_output(['exiftool', '-j', '-TAG', '-CreateDate', f])
    except OSError as e:
        print "exiftool may not be installed.  Please go check."
        print "Here is the error thrown: {}".format(e)
        raise

    data = json.loads(exifdata)
    if isinstance(data, list) and len(data) == 1:
        edata = data[0]
        return datetime.strptime(edata[u'CreateDate'], '%Y:%m:%d %H:%M:%S')
    else:
        print "exiftool returned malformed data.  Please investigate"
        print data
        sys.exit(1)


def fileparse(f):
    """Parses the files list.  Uses findcreatedate to determine whether or not to copy file
    """
    global countinrow, countskip, userdate, newdir
    if JPGPAT.search(f):         # We have a jpg or JPG file
        if findcreatedate(f) > userdate:	# Test file's creation date against date passed into function
            if countskip != 0:				# If this is the first time (locally) we've found a file that needs to be copied, reset j
                print "\n",
                countskip = 0
            dest = os.path.join(newdir, f)
            copy2(f, dest)
            print "\r{} being copied".format(f),
            countinrow += 1					# increment our count of files that have been copied in a row
        else:
            countskip += 1					# otherwise, increment our count of files skipped
            print "\r{} files parsed after last success".format(countskip),
    return


def main():
    global countinrow, userdate

    try:
        print "Locating exiftool:\n"
        subprocess.check_call(['which', 'exiftool'])
    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
        print "Error:  for this to run, exiftool must be installed.  If not, go to http://owl.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/ to grab it"
        print e
        sys.exit(1)

    userdate = getdatefromuser()			# get cutoff date from user, split it to pass in later to fileparse
    rmdir(newdir)					# set up our copy directory

    files = (f for f in os.listdir(os.getcwd()))

    for f in files:
        fileparse(f)	# work through the list of files, copying or skipping as needed

    print "\n{} files copied".format(countinrow)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()