Praat: Batch processing | SPEAC | Hans Rutger Bosker

This Praat script is an in-house template / starting point for batch processing multiple files. Adapt it to your own needs to apply a particular function to multiple files or multiple time intervals within each file.

In its current form, the script reads each .wav file plus accompanying TextGrid in a given input directory, extracts all non-empty intervals individually, and then loops over those to find the ones labelled “vowel”. It then allows the user to apply a particular function to those intervals (such as Scale intensity: 65), after which it concatenates the individual intervals back together, and saves the output in an output directory.

NOTE: In its current form, the script does not run any function on its input. It really only serves as a starting point, including snippets of code we regularly use and now do not need to look up every time we want to do batch processing in Praat.

You can also download the script as a .praat file.

################################################################################
### Hans Rutger Bosker, Radboud University
### HansRutger.Bosker@ru.nl
### Date: 6 July 2022, run in Praat 6.2.12 on Windows 10
### License: CC BY-NC 4.0
################################################################################


	###>> This script is a starting point for batch processing a set of files.
	###>>	The script basically reads files in an input directory and runs a
	###>>	a to-be-defined function [see 'Perform your function here' below]
	###>>	and writes the output to an output directory . This saves me having
	###>>	to look up how to create a file list, how to loop over files, etc.
	###>>	
	###>> Since this was basically intended for in-house use, I've added in bits
	###>>	and pieces that I find useful to have ready-to-go, such as:
	###>>	'beginPause' for manually specifying variables.

################################################################################
### Variables you will definitely need to customize:
################################################################################

### Where can the files be found?

dir_in$ = "C:\Users\hanbos\mysounds"

### Where should the output files be saved?

dir_out$ = "C:\Users\hanbos\mysounds\output"





################################################################################
### Let's check whether the directories specified above exist...
################################################################################

### Let's check if the input directory exists.
### This script will throw an error if the directory doesn't exist
### (i.e., it won't write to a mysterious temp directory).

### First check whether the input directory ends in a backslash (if so, removed)

if right$(dir_in$,1)="/"
	dir_in$ = left$(dir_in$,length(dir_in$)-1)
elsif right$(dir_in$,1)="\"
	dir_in$ = left$(dir_in$,length(dir_in$)-1)
endif

### Then create a temporary txt file in the folder
### and try to write it to the input folder.

### NOTE: The "nocheck" below asks Praat not to complain if the folder
### does *not* exist. We'll manually check whether the saving of this
### temp txt file has succeeded or not further down below.

temp_filename$ = dir_in$ + "/" + "my_temporary_Praat_file.txt"
nocheck writeFileLine: temp_filename$, "This is just to check if the directory exists"

### Can the file be found?

file_exists_yesno = fileReadable(temp_filename$)

if file_exists_yesno = 1
	# if you *could* read that temp txt file,
	# this confirms that the directory is valid.
	# Then you can delete it.
	deleteFile: temp_filename$
else
	# if that file wasn't readable, that means that the directory wasn't valid. 
	printline The folder 'dir_in$' was not found
	exit Your input directory doesn't exist. Check spelling. The directory must *already* exist.
endif

## Now re-do this for the output directory:

if right$(dir_out$,1)="/"
	dir_out$ = left$(dir_out$,length(dir_out$)-1)
elsif right$(dir_out$,1)="\"
	dir_out$ = left$(dir_out$,length(dir_out$)-1)
endif

### Then create a temporary txt file in the folder
### and try to write it to the input folder.

### NOTE: The "nocheck" below asks Praat not to complain if the folder
### does *not* exist. We'll manually check whether the saving of this
### temp txt file has succeeded or not further down below.

temp_filename$ = dir_out$ + "/" + "my_temporary_Praat_file.txt"
nocheck writeFileLine: temp_filename$, "This is just to check if the directory exists"

### Can the file be found?

file_exists_yesno = fileReadable(temp_filename$)

if file_exists_yesno = 1
	# if you *could* read that temp txt file,
	# this confirms that the directory is valid.
	# Then you can delete it.
	deleteFile: temp_filename$
else
	# if that file wasn't readable, that means that the directory wasn't valid. 
	printline The folder 'dir_out$' was not found
	exit Your output directory doesn't exist. Check spelling. The directory must *already* exist.
endif





###########################################################################
##	FORM TO MANUALLY SPECIFY VARIABLES
###########################################################################
#beginPause: "Enter settings"
#	comment: "Provide instructions here"
#	real: "minPitch", 70
#	real: "maxPitch", 250
#	choice: "method", 1
#	   option: "Flip F0 contour"
#	   option: "Expand/Contract F0 contour"
#	   option: "Flatten F0 contour"
#clicked = endPause ("Cancel", "OK", 2)
###########################################################################
###########################################################################





## Let's create a list of all the files in the input directory.

Create Strings as file list: "list_of_files", "'dir_in$'/*.wav"

nfiles = Get number of strings
if nfiles = 0
	exit The directory 'dir_in$' does not contain any .wav files.
endif

## Now we'll loop through the list...

for i from 1 to 'nfiles'
	select Strings list_of_files
	
	fileplusext$ = Get string... 'i'
	extposition = index(fileplusext$, ".wav")
	name$ = left$(fileplusext$, ('extposition'-1))

	Read from file... 'dir_in$'\'name$'.wav
	Read from file... 'dir_in$'\'name$'.TextGrid
	plus Sound 'name$'
	Extract non-empty intervals... 1 no
	
	nSelected = numberOfSelected()

	## Assign an object number to each object (e.g., 1-5),
	## and save the id numbers of each object to an array.

	for thisObject to nSelected
		objectArray ['thisObject'] = selected('thisObject')
	endfor

	for j to nSelected
		curr_objectId = objectArray ['j']
		select 'curr_objectId'
		curr_objectName$ = selected$("Sound")
		
		if curr_objectName$ = "vowel"

			########################################################################
			# Perform your function here!
			#	Example: Scale intensity... 65
			########################################################################

		endif
	endfor

	for j from 1 to nSelected
		curr_objectId = objectArray ['j']
		if j = 1
			select 'curr_objectId'
		else
			plus 'curr_objectId'
		endif
	endfor
	Concatenate recoverably

	select Sound chain
	Write to WAV file... 'dir_out$'\'name$'_manipulated.wav
	select TextGrid chain
	Write to text file... 'dir_out$'\'name$'_manipulated.TextGrid

	## Cleaning up...
	for j from 1 to nSelected
		curr_objectId = objectArray ['j']
		if j = 1
			select 'curr_objectId'
		else
			plus 'curr_objectId'
		endif
	endfor
	plus Sound chain
	plus TextGrid chain
	plus Sound 'name$'
	plus TextGrid 'name$'
	Remove

endfor

select Strings list_of_files
Remove

################################################################################
# End of script
################################################################################