Some files get a "NA" string for the %(upload_date)s variable sometimes. This results in the -w or --no-overwrites flag not working.

[GijsTimmers]

[user@Xubuntu ~]$ youtube-dl --version
2014.05.05

I'm using youtube-dl as a client to get the latest episodes from YouTube channels. I'm using the -w flag so that files don't have to be redownloaded every time. I'm using the -o flag with "%(upload_date)s_%(title)s.%(ext)s" as its argument. Sometimes, youtube-dl is unable to get the date from a video. The upload_date string will be replaced by 'NA' and because NA_Hottest_New_Jam.mp4 differs from 20140218_Hottest_New_Jam.mp4, the file will be re-downloaded and I'll get a duplicate file in my video download directory. This is not what I want.

Possible bugfix: ignore the upload_date string when comparing filenames if the upload_date string can't be fetched.

[phihag]

Ignoring some part of the templates could become arbitrarily complicated. The --no-overwrites flag works fine, too, although I'd rather see it removed. For example, the way you seem to be calling it is totally unnecessary, as youtube-dl will do the smart thing and already not overwrite any existing files without it. You may be confusing its functionality with --download-archive.

Apart from that, can you post the output you get with the -v --dump-intermediate-pages options that shows the upload_date being detected as NA?

[GijsTimmers]

I understand. I checked the behaviour without the --no-overwrites flag and it looks like it doesn't make a difference indeed.

I didn't know about the command-line option --download-archive; I'll look into that.

Also, the 'NA' thing happens sporadically. I can't really say when. If I see it happening though, I'll post the information you requested right here.

[5moufl]

I'm also getting NA for the original date using
youtube-dl -o "%(uploader)s/%(upload_date)s-%(title)s.%(ext)s" https://www.youtube.com/user/dailygrace --dateafter 20110622 --datebefore 20140205 --playlist-start 70 -i
using 2014.05.13

[phihag]

@5moufl someUserUrl is not a valid URL nor YouTube ID. Can you post an actual URL that exhibits the problem?

[5moufl]

I updated my previous post. I thought It was happening for every youtube user.

[GijsTimmers]

It's happening again, today. It's only happening on YouTube; other websites, like SoundCloud, are not affected.

I posted the output here.

[GijsTimmers]

Thank you!

[phihag]

Fixed in youtube-dl 2014.05.16.1. Type youtube-dl -U to update.

[GijsTimmers]

The provided fix worked for the Ray William Johnsson channel, but not for The Black Philip Show. I posted the output here.

[jaimeMF]

The webpage uses another format for the upload date, it will be correctly extracted in the next version.

[phihag]

@jaimeMF's changes have made it into youtube-dl 2014.05.17. Type youtube-dl -U to update.

[kmel-de]

.16.1 says "youtube-dl is up-to-date (2014.05.16.1)"

After patching to .17 "NA" is now a date. Well done.

[GijsTimmers]

I just updated to 2014.05.19. It works now. Thank you for providing a fix.

[alimirjamali]

I was hitting my head against wall before reading this post. Since I use youtube-dl through TOR network, I though it should have something to do with my internet connection. Now it is fixed. Thank you for the fixes.