What Determines tvg-chno Channel Numbering in Free-TV/IPTV M3U8 Output

The tvg-chno attribute is extracted directly from the second pipe-delimited column of the source Markdown files and is omitted when the value is empty or "0".

The Free-TV/IPTV repository generates IPTV playlists from Markdown source files. The tvg-chno attribute that controls channel numbering in the final M3U8 output is determined by a specific parsing logic implemented in make_playlist.py.

How the Channel Number Is Parsed from Markdown

Column Structure in Source Files

Each channel entry in the repository's Markdown files (located in lists/*.md) follows a pipe-delimited format. Inside Channel.__init__ in make_playlist.py, the constructor splits each line on the pipe (|) character:

parts = md_line.split("|")

The mapping is explicit:

• parts[1] → number (line 100)
• parts[2] → name (line 101)
• parts[3] → URL (lines 102-104)
• parts[4] → logo (lines 105-106)

The Channel Constructor Logic

The constructor stores the parsed value in self.number, then applies a conditional check to determine if it should become a channel number tag:

self.chno = self.number if self.number and self.number != "0" else None   # line 107

If the field is empty or equal to the string "0", self.chno is set to None and no tvg-chno attribute is emitted in the final output.

How tvg-chno Is Generated in the M3U8 Output

The Conditional Output Logic

In Channel.to_m3u_line (line 16), the script checks the self.chno attribute before constructing the M3U8 line:

chno = f' tvg-chno="{self.chno}"' if self.chno else ""

This string is then inserted into the #EXTINF line between the logo tag and the group title. The resulting attribute appears only when the source Markdown contains a valid, non-zero number in the second column.

Practical Examples

Example 1: Valid Channel Number

Source entry in lists/playlist_italy.md:

|101|Rai 1|http://example.com/rai1.m3u8|<img src="http://logo.com/rai1.png"/>

Generated M3U8 output:

#EXTINF:-1 tvg-name="Rai 1" tvg-logo="http://logo.com/rai1.png" tvg-chno="101" group-title="Italy",Rai 1
http://example.com/rai1.m3u8

Example 2: Empty Channel Number

Source entry with empty second column:

||Sky Sports|http://example.com/sky.m3u8|<img src="http://logo.com/sky.png"/>

Generated output (note the missing tvg-chno):

#EXTINF:-1 tvg-name="Sky Sports" tvg-logo="http://logo.com/sky.png" group-title="Italy",Sky Sports
http://example.com/sky.m3u8

Example 3: Zero as Channel Number

Source entry with "0" in the number column:

|0|TV5MONDE|http://example.com/tv5.m3u8|<img src="http://logo.com/tv5.png"/>

Generated output (treated as "no number"):

#EXTINF:-1 tvg-name="TV5MONDE" tvg-logo="http://logo.com/tv5.png" group-title="France",TV5MONDE
http://example.com/tv5.m3u8

Summary

• The second pipe-delimited field in the Markdown source files drives the tvg-chno attribute.
• Empty strings or the value "0" result in the omission of the tvg-chno tag entirely.
• The logic resides in make_playlist.py, specifically in the Channel class constructor and to_m3u_line method.
• Editing the channel number in lists/*.md files directly controls the numbering in the generated playlists/*.m3u8 files.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if the channel number column is empty?

If the second column is empty, the self.chno attribute is set to None in the Channel.__init__ method, and the tvg-chno attribute is completely omitted from the M3U8 output line.

Why is "0" treated differently from other numbers?

The string "0" is explicitly filtered out in line 107 of make_playlist.py (self.number != "0"), treating it as equivalent to an empty value. This allows maintainers to use "0" as a placeholder to intentionally suppress channel numbering for specific entries.

Which file contains the logic for generating tvg-chno?

The core logic resides in make_playlist.py in the root of the repository. The Channel class handles parsing in __init__ (lines 100-107) and M3U8 generation in to_m3u_line (line 16).

Can I manually edit channel numbers?

Yes. Since the tvg-chno value is taken directly from the second column of the Markdown files in lists/, you can modify these files to change channel numbering. The next run of the playlist generator will apply these changes to the output files.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}