---
name: "ecalength"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "ecasound"
version: "2.9.3-19"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ecalength"
---

# ecalength(1)

prints audio file length and other information

## NAME

ecalength - prints audio file length and other information

## SYNOPSIS

**ecalength** \[-ahtsfmbcr\] FILE1 \[FILE2\] \[FILEn\]

## DESCRIPTION

This is ecalength, a few lines of code pompously named so because they   let one retrieve the length of an audio file from the command line   using ecasound’s engine.

Limitations:

-

  \- With files without header information (raw files), ecalength will only work  correctly if the audio file is at a sampling rate of 44100 hz. (Addressed with the -a switch.)

-

  \- It is not foolproof, feeding it with something other than an audio   file WILL result in ugly things being spewed back.   (A bit better)

-

  \- A thousand more that I haven’t thought of.

## OPTIONS

- \-h

  Prints this usage message.  (help)

-

  - \-a\[:\]bits,channels,rate

  Changes the format assumed by default for headerless data. (adjust)

-

  - \-t

  Prints the summed length of all the files processed.  (total) (Ignored if with -s)

-

  - \-s

  Enables script mode: One info type per file per line.   (script) (Defaults to length in secs.)

-

  - \-f

  With -s will return the format string as info, alone it will  add it to the main display.  (format)

-

  - \-b

  If -s and -f are enabled with this the info printed will be  the sample’s bitwidth.  (bits)

-

  - \-c

  If -s and -f are enabled with this the info printed will be  the channel count.  (channel count)

-

  - \-r

  If -s and -f are enabled with this the info printed will be  the sampling rate.  (rate)

-

  - \-m

  Will print human computable time as in main display but in  batch fashion. (minutes) (Only with -s)

## SEE ALSO

[ecasound(1)](/ecasound/1.md), [ecatools(1)](/ecatools/1.md)

## AUTHOR

S.Massy, \<observer \|at\| colba.net \<observer \|at\| colba.net\>\>