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@ thePR0M3TH3AN ✝️ 🥩 🍊
2025-06-13 20:27:58Prerequisites
```bash
Make sure your package list is fresh
sudo apt update
(Optional but recommended) ffmpeg lets yt-dlp negotiate the best formats
sudo apt install ffmpeg jq ```
1 Install yt-dlp system-wide
bash sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp \ -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp && sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlpA single binary is dropped into
/usr/local/bin/; version upgrades are as simple as running the same command again in the future.
2 Download the auto-generated captions as SRT
Pick any video ID—here we’ll use knAGgxzYqw8 (Chase Hughes on What is Money?).
```bash VIDEO="knAGgxzYqw8" # change this to your target ID
yt-dlp --skip-download \ --write-auto-sub \ --sub-lang en \ --sub-format srt \ -o "${VIDEO}.%(ext)s" \ "https://youtu.be/${VIDEO}"
Result: knAGgxzYqw8.en.srt
```
Flags explained
| Flag | Purpose | | ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------- | |
--skip-download| ignore the actual video, we only want captions | |--write-auto-sub| fall back to YouTube’s auto-generated subtitles | |--sub-lang en| grab English only (adjust if you need another language) | |--sub-format srt| SRT is the simplest to strip; VTT also works | |-o| sets a predictable filename:<id>.en.srt|
3 Strip index numbers and timecodes
```bash grep -vE '^[0-9]+$|^[0-9]{2}:' "${VIDEO}.en.srt" \ | sed '/^[[:space:]]*$/d' \
"${VIDEO}.txt" ```
Breakdown
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grep -vE '^[0-9]+$|^[0-9]{2}:' -
Removes the line counters (
3911) and any line that begins with a timestamp (02:33:40,800 --> …). -
sed '/^[[:space:]]*$/d' -
Deletes leftover blank lines.
- Output is redirected to
<ID>.txt—in our example: knAGgxzYqw8.txt.
4 (Option-al) Extra polish
Remove bracketed stage cues such as
[Music]or[Applause]and collapse back-to-back duplicates:```bash grep -v '^[.*]$' "${VIDEO}.txt" \ | awk 'prev != $0 {print} {prev=$0}' \
"${VIDEO}_clean.txt" mv "${VIDEO}_clean.txt" "${VIDEO}.txt" ```
5 Enjoy your transcript
bash less "${VIDEO}.txt" # page through grep -i "keyword" "${VIDEO}.txt" # quick searchYou now have a plain-text file ready for note-taking, quoting, or feeding into your favorite AI summarizer—no browser or third-party web services required.
TL;DR (copy-paste cheat sheet)
```bash sudo apt update && sudo apt install ffmpeg jq -y sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp \ -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp && sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
VIDEO="knAGgxzYqw8" # video ID yt-dlp --skip-download --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en \ --sub-format srt -o "${VIDEO}.%(ext)s" \ "https://youtu.be/${VIDEO}"
grep -vE '^[0-9]+$|^[0-9]{2}:' "${VIDEO}.en.srt" \ | sed '/^[[:space:]]$/d' \ | grep -v '^[.]$' \ | awk 'prev != $0 {print} {prev=$0}' \
"${VIDEO}.txt"
less "${VIDEO}.txt" ```
Happy transcribing!
Adam Malin
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