HikariSubCommand line
Opening files from a terminal or a script, the --version and --export-docs switches, and what happens when HikariSub is already running.
HikariSub's command line is a list of files to open, and two switches.
| Package | Command |
|---|---|
| Windows | HikariSub.exe |
| deb, rpm, tar.gz | hikarisub |
| AppImage | the .AppImage file itself |
hikarisub episode.ass episode.mkvSwitches
| Switch | Does |
|---|---|
--version | Prints the version and the package kind, such as 0.1.0 (deb), and exits. No window opens |
--export-docs <folder> | Writes the commands, settings and guide links as JSON into the folder, and exits |
There is no --help. Anything else on the command line is a file to open, so a mistyped switch is taken for a file name.
--version prints one of these package kinds: nsis-user or nsis-machine for the Windows installer, appimage, deb, rpm, arch (the AUR packages, when they are out), or portable-windows and portable-linux for the zip and tar.gz. On Windows, HikariSub.exe is a windowed program, so redirect the output to see it: HikariSub.exe --version > version.txt.
--export-docs (or --export-docs=<folder>) writes commands.json, settings.json, guide-links.json and meta.json, which this site's Hotkeys and Settings references are made from. It uses a fresh profile of its own in English, so your settings don't change the result, and it needs no display. Each release attaches the same files as hikarisub-docs-<version>.zip.
Some switches starting with --hikari- are for the updater. Don't use them yourself.
Files
What a file opens as depends on its extension:
| Extension | Opens as |
|---|---|
.ass .ssa .srt .sub .txt | Subtitles |
.lrc .ttml | Lyrics, as a new ASS file |
.lua .moon | An Automation script, loaded |
.pass .stats .log, or a name ending _keyframes.txt | Keyframes, when it is the only file |
.hksession .kls | A session, loaded as Load session from file loads it, when it is the only file; refused with other files |
.exe .zip .rar .7z | Nothing: refused |
| anything else | A video, whose audio opens with it |
Relative paths are taken from the current folder.
- One subtitles file opens in the first tab. If a video or audio file goes with it, HikariSub offers to open it.
- One video opens in a tab of its own. With File › Settings › Video › Open video from the context menu in full screen on, it plays full screen at once.
- Several files are sorted by name, then the first subtitles file and the first video share a tab, the second of each share the next, and so on. Files left over get tabs of their own.
Starting with files skips the last session. If there is one to restore, a bar under the tabs offers it.
When HikariSub is already running
Only one HikariSub runs at a time for each user and desktop session. Starting it again hands its files to the running window and exits:
- The files open in new tabs. A tab with work in it is never replaced.
- Files from several starts in quick succession, as when a file manager opens several files, open together.
- They wait while a dialog is open, then open.
Starting it without files brings the running window to the front.
On Windows, a HikariSub run as administrator is separate from one that isn't, and they don't hand files to each other.
Exit codes
| Code | When |
|---|---|
| 0 | A normal quit, --version, a successful --export-docs, or files handed to the running HikariSub |
| 1 | --export-docs couldn't write the files. The reason is printed |
| 2 | --export-docs was given no folder, or the window couldn't be created |