Help Request [Solved] Looking for help with SRT file names

[AliShibaz]

I'm trying to learn about video files. For now, I want to learn how to construct SRT file names.

But I haven't been able to find any statement of exactly what constitutes a valid .SRT file name. If anyone knows where I can find the exact rules for how to distinguish valid .SRT file names from invalid ones, I would very much appreciate that because I feel like I'm just groping in the dark here.

In order to learn for myself, I conducted a series of experiments where I renamed a valid SRT file name with several variations and recorded which ones would play OK and which would not. I placed the results of those experiments below and organized them into "blocks" where each "block" demonstrates a particular principle.

For example, I called the first block, "BLOCK A" and it contains the results of 6 experiments that demonstrate there are multiple abbreviations for any particular language name.

Specifically, BLOCK A illustrates that there are at least 6 acceptable abbreviations for the Portuguese language. They are: "portugal", "portugese", "portuguese", "port", "por" and "pt".
Strangely enough, "portugese" is a spelling error and so I doubt it is an acceptable abbreviation of the language name. Yet it still works.

Of course, this issue has nothing to do with the Portuguese language. I just chose that language to use as an example because that language had the greatest variety of SRT file names over all other languages I could find.

I have shown each name that I tried for an .SRT file and have followed that name with either "OK" or "NOGO" depending on whether my player successfully played that subtitle file.
Unfortunately, I probably made some errors. It was quite difficult to keep track of all these experiments. So, please feel free to try any of these yourself, and please let me know if
you find any differences from my results.


BLOCK "A" MULTIPLE ABBREVIATIONS FOR LANGUAGE NAME
Bitter Moon 1992.portugal.srt OK
Bitter Moon 1992.portuguese.srt OK
Bitter Moon 1992.portugese.srt OK
Bitter Moon 1992.port.srt OK
Bitter Moon 1992.por.srt OK
Bitter Moon 1992.pt.srt OK


BLOCK "B" LANGUAGE NAME IS CASE INSENSITIVE
Bitter Moon 1992.portugal.srt OK
Bitter Moon 1992.Portugal.srt OK
Bitter Moon 1992.PORTUGAL.srt OK


BLOCK "C" IF "SUB" AND "PORT" BOTH APPEAR, THEN "SUB" MUST PRECEDE "PORT"
Bitter Moon 1992.sub.port.srt OK
Bitter Moon 1992.port.sub.srt NOGOGO


BLOCK "D" MULTIPLE WAYS TO CORRECTLY NAME THE .SRT FILESGO
Bitter Moon 1992.port.srt OK Note there is no need for the phrase "sub"GO
Bitter Moon 1992-port.srt OK A minus may be used in place of the period.GO


BLOCK "E" MULTIPLE WAYS TO INCORRECTLY NAME .SRT FILESGO
Bitter Moon 1992.sub.port.srt OK
Bitter Moon 1992.sub port.srt OKGO If a period precedes "sub", then a space must follow "sub"
Bitter Moon 1992 sub.port.srt NOGO Space not permitted before "sub" if period appears after "sub"
Bitter Moon 1992 sub port.srt NOGO Space not permitted before both "sub" and "port"
Bitter Moon 1992 sub port.srt NOGO If "sub" and "port" both appear, they may not both be preceded by spaces.
Bitter Moon 1992 port.srt NOGO If "port" appears in the name, it may not be preceded by a space.


BLOCK "A" - The language name may be abbreviated in multiple different ways.
BLOCK "B" - The language name is case insensitive.
BLOCK "C" - If the phrases "sub" and "port" both appear in the name, then "sub" must appear first.
BLOCK "D" - Multiple ways to correctly name .SRT files - a minus may be used in place of the period.
BLOCK "E" - Multiple ways to incorrectly name .SRT files.


It appears that the following abbreviations are all equivalent: ".PORTUGAL", ".Portugal", ".portugal", ."port", "pt"
I know this because I renamed a valid SRT file with all those diff names and tried to make my DVD player play those files. I show the results in the above tables.
From this experiment, I have concluded there can be many correct ways to abbreviate the language name.

For example, for "Portuguese", the language may appear as "portugal", "portugese", "portuguese", "port", "por" or "pt".

Also, if the phrase "sub" and the abbreviation for the language are both present, then the phrase "sub" must appear first.

[bob5695]

well, it seems you have found your answers. and bitter moon is a kinky movie.

[sporkium]

is op requesting help or is op posting a tutorial?

creating an srt file: http://www.ehow.com/how_6901846_create-srt-file.html

more resources on srt files

[AliShibaz]

is op requesting help or is op posting a tutorial?

creating an srt file: http://www.ehow.com/how_6901846_create-srt-file.html

more resources on srt files

Thank you very much for that link Stormium.

I posted the way I did in order to give people the most accurate idea of what I knew and what I didn't know.

If you think it should be a tutorial, I would be happy to have it moved into the Tutorial Forum.

But I would think it doesn't really have enough info to constitute a tutorial at this point.

Or were you just joking?

[sporkium]

so... what is the question?

[AliShibaz]

so... what is the question?

Thank you very much for that link to EHow. I had never seen that site before and it is a great resource. I would recommend it to anyone who ever needs to learn anything about PC technology or most anything else.

I did try to use Google many times to find a list of all country abbreviations used in SRT files. I found it by accident a few days ago but didn't save it. Now I can't find it again. I do have a copy of its contents. But I just don't have the URL for the site where I found it. If anyone would like a copy of the list of country abbreviations, please let me know and I will send it to you by PM.

But, you wouldn't happen to know where I could find that original list. Would you?

However, unless or until I can find any "official" list of valid language name abbreviations, I have found the simplest approach to naming subtitle files is as follows:
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If you have a valid video file named: "X.avi" and a valid SRT subtitle file for that video file, then the simplest approach is to name or rename that SRT file as: "X.Lang".srt where "Lang" represents the language in which the SRT file plays.

But, it makes no difference whether "Lang" is a valid language abbreviation or just a random string of characters. It can contain "blahblah" and that will play just as well as "English". How do you like that?

It makes no difference whether "Lang" is a valid language abbreviation or just a random string of characters.

If you have a folder that contains just two files: "X.avi" and "X.Lang.srt", and the SRT file is a valid subtitle file (regardless of the language it contains), then it makes no difference what the contents of "Lang" is. That SRT file will display its subtitles regardless.

But, here is a fun question. Suppose I have a folder that contains exactly the following three files:

X.avi
X.k.srt
X.b.srt

If I play X.avi, which SRT file will be used? The answer is "X.b.srt". I think the reason is that the alphabetically lowest SRT file name is chosen. I learned this by taking both an English and Portuguese SRT file and renaming them as above.

So, as it turns out, there is no big mystery to naming SRT files. You can name them to contain almost anything you like. I think the only thing you cannot do is separate any parts of the name from each other with spaces. You must use the exact same name as in the original video file. But following that, you can use any text you like - just so long as it is all separated by periods.

Now, I may well be mistaken about this. I have been mistaken about many different things in this topic. But it sure seems to be correct according to my experiments. If you find any errors, please let me know? Thank you.

[AliShibaz]

Thread solved now. You may close it if you like Mark.