Lightroom/Classic/Q/Can I use a filepath regex filter in LrC 15.3 to reject duplicate iPhone imports (keep edited IMG_E files)?
In Lightroom/Classic, can I use a filepath regex filter in LrC 15.3 to reject duplicate iPhone imports (keep edited IMG_E… files)?
My Notes
- Observed pairs when importing from iPhone: originals look like
…-IMG_####.HEIC / …-IMG_####.MOV, while on-phone crops/edits look like …-IMG_E####.HEIC / …-IMG_E####.MOV (Apple Photos commonly keeps an original plus a rendered “edited” asset). - My Answer
- search for
filename does not contain with IMG_E, then reject all.
Answer
- AI/Response
- Short answer: No — Lightroom/Classic does not expose a Library Filter (or Smart Collection rule) that matches regular expressions against full file paths. Text filtering is substring / rule-based (for example contains, starts with, is, does not contain depending on the field), not regex.
- What you can do instead (usually “easy enough”): build a Smart Collection (or use the Library Filter bar → Text) on Filename (and optionally combine with Source / folder if you only want imports from a specific mount) using rules that approximate your intent:
- To isolate likely “originals” (not the
IMG_E… edit) for bulk reject/delete: match filenames that contain IMG_ and do not contain IMG_E (important: IMG_E1234… still contains the substring IMG_ at the start, so “contains IMG_” alone is not enough—adding “doesn’t contain IMG_E” is what separates IMG_1234… from IMG_E1234…; sanity‑check a few rows in Grid view before bulk operations). - To isolate likely on-phone edits: Filename contains
IMG_E (covers IMG_E####.HEIC / .MOV style names).
- Why duplicates happen: when you edit in Apple Photos, iOS often keeps both the original capture and a new file for the edited render; wired import can surface both to Lightroom, which treats them as separate files (community threads discuss this pattern for
IMG_… vs IMG_E… pairs). - Going forward: if the goal is “only what I saw on the phone,” many people either cull during Import (uncheck the
IMG_… rows when the IMG_E… sibling is present) or avoid pre-editing in Photos before a Lightroom-first workflow—neither is regex-based, but both reduce the pile-up. - If you truly need regex on paths: plan on outside‑Lightroom tooling (for example a small script against exported file lists, or a plugin/SDK workflow), not a built-in 15.3 Library filter.
Sources