~~Title: Metadata ~~
<pageheader/>

The **Metadata** object provides metadata information about a file or folder (metadata are things like the track number of a music file, the dimensions of an image, the author of a document, etc). You can obtain a **Metadata** object from the **[[item|Item]].metadata** property if you have an **Item** object, and if not you can obtain it using the path of the item using the **[[fsutil|FSUtil]].GetMetadata** method.

The **Metadata** object provides different sub-objects as properties that group the available metadata into a number of categories, broadly corresponding to the categories listed on the [[..:..:metadata_keywords:keywords_for_columns|Keywords for Columns]] page. You can determine the primary, or main type of metadata available using the //default value// of the **Metadata** object.


<commandtable columns="3" id="cmdtable_1">
$$ Property Name
$$ Return Type
$$ Description
$$ (#)//<default value>//
$$ //string//
$$ Returns a string indicating the primary type of metadata available in this object. The string will be one of the following: //none//, //video//, //audio//, //image//, //font//, //exe//, //doc//, //other//. \\
Note that sometimes more than one type of metadata will be available. For example, author is a document field (and so found under the **doc** property), but pictures can have authors as well. In this instance, the **Metadata** object would provide both **ImageMeta** and **DocMeta** objects.

If the returned string is //none// it means that no metadata is available for the file, and you should not attempt to access any of the other properties.
$$ audio
$$ //object//:**[[audiometa|AudioMeta]]** 
$$ Returns an **[[audiometa|AudioMeta]]** object providing access to audio metadata. The properties of this object are generally returned as their appropriate underlying type (e.g. a numeric field like "track number" will be returned as an //int//).
$$ audio_text
$$ //object//:**[[audiometa|AudioMeta]]** 
$$ Returns an **[[audiometa|AudioMeta]]** object that provides access to the unmodified text form of the audio metadata. This provides access to the same text as displayed in a Lister. For example, a numeric field like "track number" would be returned as a //string// rather than an //int//.
$$ doc
$$ //object://**[[docmeta|DocMeta]]** 
$$ Returns a **[[docmeta|DocMeta]]** object providing access to document metadata.
$$ doc_text
$$ //object://**[[docmeta|DocMeta]]** 
$$ Returns a **[[docmeta|DocMeta]]** object that provides access to the unmodified text form of the document metadata.
$$ exe
$$ //object://**[[exemeta|ExeMeta]]** 
$$ Returns an **[[exemeta|ExeMeta]]** object providing access to executable (program) metadata.
$$ exe_text
$$ //object://**[[exemeta|ExeMeta]]** 
$$ Returns an **[[exemeta|ExeMeta]]** object that provides access to the unmodified text form of the program metadata.
$$ font
$$ //object://**[[fontmeta|FontMeta]]** 
$$ Returns a **[[fontmeta|FontMeta]]** object providing access to font file metadata.
$$ image
$$ //object://**[[imagemeta|ImageMeta]]** 
$$ Returns an **[[imagemeta|ImageMeta]]** object providing access to picture metadata.
$$ image_text
$$ //object://**[[imagemeta|ImageMeta]]**
$$ Returns an **[[imagemeta|ImageMeta]]** object that provides access to the unmodified text form of the picture metadata.
$$ other
$$ //object://**[[othermeta|OtherMeta]]** 
$$ Returns an **[[othermeta|OtherMeta]]** object that provides access to miscellaneous metadata.
$$ tags
$$ //collection:string//
$$ Returns a collection of //strings// corresponding to the tags that are assigned to this item.
$$ video
$$ //object://**[[videometa|VideoMeta]]** 
$$ Returns a **[[videometa|VideoMeta ]]**object providing access to video metadata.
$$ video_text
$$ //object://**[[videometa|VideoMeta]]**
$$ Returns a **[[videometa|VideoMeta ]]**object that provides access to the unmodified text form of the video metadata.
</commandtable>