What does Igir do?

A video of an example use case:

With Igir you can manage a ROM collection of any size:

• 🔍 Scan for DATs, ROMs, and ROM patches—including those in archives (see scanning & archive docs)
• 📂 Organize ROM files by console (see DAT docs)
• 🪄 Name ROM files consistently, including the right extension (see DAT docs)
• ✂️ Filter out duplicate ROMs, or ROMs in languages you don't understand (see filtering docs)
• 🗜️ Extract or archive ROMs in mass (see archive docs)
• 🩹 Patch ROMs automatically in mass (see scanning & patching docs)
• 🎩 Parse ROMs with headers and optionally remove them (see header docs)
• ↔️ Build & re-build (un-merge, split, or merge) MAME ROM sets (see arcade docs)
• 🔮 Report on what ROMs are present or missing for each console and create fixdats for missing ROMs (see reporting & DAT docs)

How do I run Igir?

Either download the latest version for your OS from the releases page, or if you have Node.js installed you can use npx to always run the latest version from the command line:

npx igir@latest [commands..] [options]

Here is the full help message which shows all available options and a number of common use case examples:

$ igir --help

 ______   ______   ______  _______
|      \ /      \ |      \|       \
 \$$$$$$|  $$$$$$\ \$$$$$$| $$$$$$$\
  | $$  | $$|    \  | $$  | $$    $$   ROM collection manager
  | $$  | $$|    \  | $$  | $$    $$   https://igir.io/
  | $$  | $$ \$$$$  | $$  | $$$$$$$\
 _| $$_ | $$__| $$ _| $$_ | $$  | $$   v3.0.1
|   $$ \ \$$    $$|   $$ \| $$  | $$
 \$$$$$$  \$$$$$$  \$$$$$$ \$$   \$$


Usage: igir [commands..] [options]

Commands (can specify multiple):
  igir copy     Copy ROM files from the input to output directory
  igir move     Move ROM files from the input to output directory
  igir link     Create links in the output directory to ROM files in the input directory
  igir extract  Extract ROM files in archives when copying or moving
  igir zip      Create zip archives of ROMs when copying or moving
  igir test     Test ROMs for accuracy after writing them to the output directory
  igir dir2dat  Generate a DAT from all input files
  igir fixdat   Generate a fixdat of any missing games for every DAT processed (requires --dat
                )
  igir clean    Recycle unknown files in the output directory
  igir report   Generate a CSV report on the known & unknown ROM files found in the input dire
                ctories (requires --dat)

ROM input options:
  -i, --input                    Path(s) to ROM files or archives (supports globbing)  [array]
  -I, --input-exclude            Path(s) to ROM files or archives to exclude from processing (
                                 supports globbing)                                    [array]
      --input-checksum-quick     Only read checksums from archive headers, don't decompress to
                                  calculate                                          [boolean]
      --input-checksum-min       The minimum checksum level to calculate and use for matching
                                [choices: "CRC32", "MD5", "SHA1", "SHA256"] [default: "CRC32"]
      --input-checksum-max       The maximum checksum level to calculate and use for matching
                                                   [choices: "CRC32", "MD5", "SHA1", "SHA256"]
      --input-checksum-archives  Calculate checksums of archive files themselves, allowing the
                                 m to match files in DATs
                                        [choices: "never", "auto", "always"] [default: "auto"]

DAT input options:
  -d, --dat                            Path(s) to DAT files or archives (supports globbing)
                                                                                       [array]
      --dat-exclude                    Path(s) to DAT files or archives to exclude from proces
                                       sing (supports globbing)                        [array]
      --dat-name-regex                 Regular expression of DAT names to process     [string]
      --dat-name-regex-exclude         Regular expression of DAT names to exclude from process
                                       ing                                            [string]
      --dat-description-regex          Regular expression of DAT descriptions to process
                                                                                      [string]
      --dat-description-regex-exclude  Regular expression of DAT descriptions to exclude from
                                       processing                                     [string]
      --dat-combine                    Combine every game from every found & filtered DAT into
                                        one DAT                                      [boolean]
      --dat-ignore-parent-clone        Ignore any parent/clone information found in DATs
                                                                                     [boolean]

Patch input options:
  -p, --patch          Path(s) to ROM patch files or archives (supports globbing) (supported:
                       .aps, .bps, .dps, .ebp, .ips, .ips32, .ppf, .rup, .ups, .vcdiff, .xdelt
                       a)                                                              [array]
  -P, --patch-exclude  Path(s) to ROM patch files or archives to exclude from processing (supp
                       orts globbing)                                                  [array]

ROM output path options (processed in order):
  -o, --output               Path to the ROM output directory (supports replaceable symbols, s
                             ee below)                                                [string]
      --dir-mirror           Use the input subdirectory structure for the output directory
                                                                                     [boolean]
  -D, --dir-dat-name         Use the DAT name as the output subdirectory             [boolean]
      --dir-dat-description  Use the DAT description as the output subdirectory      [boolean]
      --dir-letter           Group games in an output subdirectory by the first --dir-letter-c
                             ount letters in their name                              [boolean]
      --dir-letter-count     How many game name letters to use for the subdirectory name
                                                                         [number] [default: 1]
      --dir-letter-limit     Limit the number of games in letter subdirectories, splitting int
                             o multiple subdirectories if necessary                   [number]
      --dir-letter-group     Group letter subdirectories into ranges, combining multiple lette
                             rs together (requires --dir-letter-limit)               [boolean]
      --dir-game-subdir      Append the name of the game as an output subdirectory depending o
                             n its ROMs
                                [choices: "never", "multiple", "always"] [default: "multiple"]

ROM writing options:
      --fix-extension      Read files for known signatures and use the correct extension (also
                            affects dir2dat)
                                        [choices: "never", "auto", "always"] [default: "auto"]
  -O, --overwrite          Overwrite any files in the output directory               [boolean]
      --overwrite-invalid  Overwrite files in the output directory that are the wrong filesize
                           , checksum, or zip contents                               [boolean]

clean command options:
  -C, --clean-exclude  Path(s) to files to exclude from cleaning (supports globbing)   [array]
      --clean-backup   Move cleaned files to a directory for backup                   [string]
      --clean-dry-run  Don't clean any files and instead only print what files would be cleane
                       d                                                             [boolean]

zip command options:
  -Z, --zip-exclude   Glob pattern of ROM filenames to exclude from zipping           [string]
      --zip-dat-name  Group all ROMs from the same DAT into the same zip archive, if not exclu
                      ded from zipping (enforces --dat-threads 1)                    [boolean]

link command options:
      --symlink           Creates symbolic links instead of hard links               [boolean]
      --symlink-relative  Create symlinks as relative to the target path, as opposed to absolu
                          te                                                         [boolean]

ROM header options:
      --header          Glob pattern of input filenames to force header processing for[string]
  -H, --remove-headers  Remove known headers from ROMs, optionally limited to a list of comma-
                        separated file extensions (supported: .a78, .fds, .lnx, .nes, .smc)
                                                                                      [string]

ROM set options (requires DATs):
      --merge-roms             ROM merge/split mode (requires DATs with parent/clone informati
                               on)
         [choices: "fullnonmerged", "nonmerged", "split", "merged"] [default: "fullnonmerged"]
      --exclude-disks          Exclude CHD disks in DATs from processing & writing   [boolean]
      --allow-excess-sets      Allow writing archives that have excess files when not extracti
                               ng or zipping                                         [boolean]
      --allow-incomplete-sets  Allow writing games that don't have all of their ROMs [boolean]

ROM filtering options:
  -x, --filter-regex          Regular expression of game names to filter to           [string]
  -X, --filter-regex-exclude  Regular expression of game names to exclude             [string]
  -L, --filter-language       List of comma-separated languages to filter to (supported: DA, D
                              E, EL, EN, ES, FI, FR, IT, JA, KO, NL, NO, PT, RU, SV, ZH)
                                                                                      [string]
  -R, --filter-region         List of comma-separated regions to filter to (supported: ARG, AS
                              I, AUS, BEL, BRA, CAN, CHN, DAN, EUR, FRA, FYN, GER, GRE, HK, HO
                              L, ITA, JPN, KOR, MEX, NOR, NZ, POR, RUS, SPA, SWE, TAI, UK, UNK
                              , USA, WORLD)                                           [string]
      --no-bios               Filter out BIOS files, opposite of --only-bios         [boolean]
      --no-device             Filter out MAME devies, opposite of --only-device      [boolean]
      --no-unlicensed         Filter out unlicensed ROMs, opposite of --only-unlicensed
                                                                                     [boolean]
      --only-retail           Filter to only retail releases, enabling all the following "no"
                              options                                                [boolean]
      --no-debug              Filter out debug ROMs, opposite of --only-debug        [boolean]
      --no-demo               Filter out demo ROMs, opposite of --only-demo          [boolean]
      --no-beta               Filter out beta ROMs, opposite of --only-beta          [boolean]
      --no-sample             Filter out sample ROMs, opposite of --only-sample      [boolean]
      --no-prototype          Filter out prototype ROMs, opposite of --only-prototype[boolean]
      --no-program            Filter out program application ROMs, opposite of --only-program
                                                                                     [boolean]
      --no-aftermarket        Filter out aftermarket ROMs, opposite of --only-aftermarket
                                                                                     [boolean]
      --no-homebrew           Filter out homebrew ROMs, opposite of --only-homebrew  [boolean]
      --no-unverified         Filter out unverified ROMs, opposite of --only-unverified
                                                                                     [boolean]
      --no-bad                Filter out bad ROM dumps, opposite of --only-bad       [boolean]

One game, one ROM (1G1R) options:
  -s, --single             Output only a single game per parent (1G1R) (required for all optio
                           ns below, requires DATs with parent/clone information)    [boolean]
      --prefer-game-regex  Regular expression of game names to prefer                 [string]
      --prefer-rom-regex   Regular expression of ROM filenames to prefer              [string]
      --prefer-verified    Prefer verified ROM dumps over unverified                 [boolean]
      --prefer-good        Prefer good ROM dumps over bad                            [boolean]
  -l, --prefer-language    List of comma-separated languages in priority order (supported: DA,
                            DE, EL, EN, ES, FI, FR, IT, JA, KO, NL, NO, PT, RU, SV, ZH)
                                                                                      [string]
  -r, --prefer-region      List of comma-separated regions in priority order (supported: ARG,
                           ASI, AUS, BEL, BRA, CAN, CHN, DAN, EUR, FRA, FYN, GER, GRE, HK, HOL
                           , ITA, JPN, KOR, MEX, NOR, NZ, POR, RUS, SPA, SWE, TAI, UK, UNK, US
                           A, WORLD)                                                  [string]
      --prefer-revision    Prefer older or newer revisions, versions, or ring codes
                                                                   [choices: "older", "newer"]
      --prefer-retail      Prefer retail releases (see --only-retail)                [boolean]
      --prefer-parent      Prefer parent ROMs over clones                            [boolean]

report command options:
      --report-output  Report output location (formatted with moment.js)
                                    [string] [default: "./igir_%YYYY-%MM-%DDT%HH:%mm:%ss.csv"]

Help & debug options:
      --dat-threads     Number of DATs to process in parallel            [number] [default: 3]
      --reader-threads  Maximum number of ROMs to read in parallel per disk
                                                                         [number] [default: 8]
      --writer-threads  Maximum number of ROMs to write in parallel      [number] [default: 4]
      --write-retry     Number of additional retries to attempt when writing a file has failed
                         (0 disables retries)                            [number] [default: 2]
      --temp-dir        Path to a directory for temporary files                       [string]
      --disable-cache   Disable loading or saving the cache file                     [boolean]
      --cache-path      Location for the cache file                                   [string]
  -v, --verbose         Enable verbose logging, can specify up to three times (-vvv)   [count]
  -h, --help            Show help                                                    [boolean]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Advanced usage:

  Tokens that are replaced when generating the output (--output) path of a ROM:
    {datName}         The name of the DAT that contains the ROM (e.g. "Nintendo - Game Boy")
    {datDescription}  The description of the DAT that contains the ROM
    {region}          The region of the ROM release (e.g. "USA"), each ROM can have multiple
    {language}        The language of the ROM release (e.g. "En"), each ROM can have multiple
    {type}            The type of the game (e.g. "Retail", "Demo", "Prototype")
    {genre}           The DAT-defined genre of the game

    {inputDirname}    The input file's dirname
    {outputBasename}  Equivalent to "{outputName}.{outputExt}"
    {outputName}      The output file's filename without extension
    {outputExt}       The output file's extension

    {adam}      The ROM's emulator-specific /ROMS/* directory for the 'Adam' image (e.g. "GB")
    {batocera}  The ROM's emulator-specific /roms/* directory for Batocera (e.g. "gb")
    {es}        The ROM's emulator-specific /roms/* directory for the 'EmulationStation' image
     (e.g. "gb")
    {funkeyos}  The ROM's emulator-specific /* directory for FunKey OS (e.g. "Game Boy")
    {jelos}     The ROM's emulator-specific /roms/* directory for JELOS (e.g. "gb")
    {minui}     The ROM's emulator-specific /Roms/* directory for MinUI (e.g. "Game Boy (GB)")
    {mister}    The ROM's core-specific /games/* directory for the MiSTer FPGA (e.g. "Gameboy"
    )
    {miyoocfw}  The ROM's emulator-specific /roms/* directory for MiyooCFW (e.g. "GB")
    {onion}     The ROM's emulator-specific /Roms/* directory for OnionOS/GarlicOS (e.g. "GB")
    {pocket}    The ROM's core-specific /Assets/* directory for the Analogue Pocket (e.g. "gb"
    )
    {retrodeck} The ROM's emulator-specific /roms/* directory for the 'RetroDECK' image (e.g.
    "gb")
    {romm}      The ROM's manager-specific /roms/* directory for 'RomM' (e.g. "gb")
    {twmenu}    The ROM's emulator-specific /roms/* directory for TWiLightMenu++ on the DSi/3D
    S (e.g. "gb")

Example use cases:

  Merge new ROMs into an existing ROM collection and delete any unrecognized files:
    igir copy clean --dat "*.dat" --input New-ROMs/ --input ROMs/ --output ROMs/

  Organize and zip an existing ROM collection:
    igir move zip --dat "*.dat" --input ROMs/ --output ROMs/

  Generate a report on an existing ROM collection, without copying or moving ROMs (read only):
    igir report --dat "*.dat" --input ROMs/

  Produce a 1G1R set per console, preferring English ROMs from USA>WORLD>EUR>JPN:
    igir copy --dat "*.dat" --input "**/*.zip" --output 1G1R/ --dir-dat-name --single --prefer
    -language EN --prefer-region USA,WORLD,EUR,JPN

  Copy all Mario, Metroid, and Zelda games to one directory:
    igir copy --input ROMs/ --output Nintendo/ --filter-regex "/(Mario|Metroid|Zelda)/i"

  Copy all BIOS files into one directory, extracting if necessary:
    igir copy extract --dat "*.dat" --input "**/*.zip" --output BIOS/ --only-bios

  Create patched copies of ROMs in an existing collection, not overwriting existing files:
    igir copy extract --input ROMs/ --patch Patches/ --output ROMs/

  Re-build a MAME ROM set for a specific version of MAME:
    igir copy zip --dat "MAME 0.258.dat" --input MAME/ --output MAME-0.258/ --merge-roms split

  Copy ROMs to an Analogue Pocket and test they were written correctly:
    igir copy extract test --dat "*.dat" --input ROMs/ --output /Assets/{pocket}/common/ --dir
    -letter

Feature requests, bug reports, and contributing

Feedback is a gift! Your feature requests and bug reports help improve the project for everyone. Feel free to submit an issue on GitHub using one of the templates.

Even better, if you feel comfortable writing code, please feel free to submit a pull request against the project! Please see the full contribution guidelines for rules to follow.