# Action Help Needed
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-help-needed/4128
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [December 1, 2006, 7:47am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-help-needed/4128 "2006-12-01T07:47:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@palladian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/palladian)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2006, 7:47am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-help-needed/4128/1 "2006-12-01T07:47:08Z")
Hi,
First of all, thanks for that great program.
My trouble :
Here's my Title tag\*:
**Symphony 50 in D, KV141a, KV161, KV163 (Overture Il songo di Scipione & Finale): Presto**
I wish
**Symphony 50 in D** could remain as **"Title"**
**KV141a, KV161, KV163** could go to **"Opus"**
**Overture Il songo di Scipione & Finale** could go to **"Subtitle"**
**Presto** could go to **"Tempo"**
These fields already are in column view. I nevertheless want to remove a field "%OPUS%" that I erroneously created ant that appears in the field dropdown list.
Thx (very much) for the help
\*Complete Mozart Edition, 45 vol. (180 CDs), Philips 1990
---
### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-help-needed/4128/2 "2006-12-01T16:53:03Z")
> [@palladian](#):
>
> Here's my Title tag\*:
> **Symphony 50 in D, KV141a, KV161, KV163 (Overture Il songo di Scipione & Finale): Presto**
> I wish
> **Symphony 50 in D** could remain as **"Title"**
> **KV141a, KV161, KV163** could go to **"Opus"**
> **Overture Il songo di Scipione & Finale** could go to **"Subtitle"**
> **Presto** could go to **"Tempo"**
Under the condition that the source string always follows the rule "title, opus (subtitle): tempo" you may create an Actiongroup containing following actions:
Action #1:
_Action type:_ **Format value**
_Field:_ **PALLADIAN\_TITLE**
_Formatstring:_ **%PALLADIAN\_INPUT%**
Action #2:
_Action type:_ **Format value**
_Field:_ **PALLADIAN\_OPUS**
_Formatstring:_ **%PALLADIAN\_INPUT%**
Action #3:
_Action type:_ **Format value**
_Field:_ **PALLADIAN\_SUBTITLE**
_Formatstring:_ **%PALLADIAN\_INPUT%**
Action #4:
_Action type:_ **Format value**
_Field:_ **PALLADIAN\_TEMPO**
_Formatstring:_ **%PALLADIAN\_INPUT%**
Action #5:
_Action type:_ **Replace with regular expression**
_Field:_ **PALLADIAN\_TITLE**
_Regular expression:_ **^(._?), (._?) ((._)): (._)$**
_Replace matches with:_ **$1**
[] case-sensitive comparison
Action #6:
_Action type:_ **Replace with regular expression**
_Field:_ **PALLADIAN\_OPUS**
_Regular expression:_ **^(._?), (._?) ((._)): (._)$**
_Replace matches with:_ **$2**
[] case-sensitive comparison
Action #7:
_Action type:_ **Replace with regular expression**
_Field:_ **PALLADIAN\_SUBTITLE**
_Regular expression:_ **^(._?), (._?) ((._)): (._)$**
_Replace matches with:_ **$3**
[] case-sensitive comparison
Action #8:
_Action type:_ **Replace with regular expression**
_Field:_ **PALLADIAN\_TEMPO**
_Regular expression:_ **^(._?), (._?) ((._)): (._)$**
_Replace matches with:_ **$4**
[] case-sensitive comparison
You have to adapt the fieldnames to your case.
DD.20061201.1853
---
### Author:  [@palladian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/palladian)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-help-needed/4128/3 "2006-12-01T22:08:52Z")
> [@DetlevD](#):
>
> Under the condition that the source string always follows the rule "title, opus (subtitle): tempo" you may create an Actiongroup containing following actions:
I wish they would follow the same rule. Your example made me nevertheless understand how it works and how I can adapt the actions to the variations.
Thank you very much.
---
### Author:  [@Sjefke](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Sjefke)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2006, 9:22am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-help-needed/4128/4 "2006-12-03T09:22:28Z")
Hi Detlev,
Thanks for explanation, but I can't get it to work....
My title tag looks like this: 'Silvia Torres / Take Sarava' - that is: %artist% / %title%.
Obviously, I want to split this: the title part remains, artist is moved to artist field and the '/' is removed.
I created an action that looks like this:
Action #1:
Action type: Format value
Field: SJEFKE\_ARTIST
Formatstring: %TITLE%
Action #2:
Action type: Format value
Field: SJEFKE\_TITLE
Formatstring: %TITLE%
Action #3:
Action type: Replace with regular expression
Field: SJEFKE\_ARTIST
Regular expression: ^(._) / (._)$
Replace matches with: $1
Action #4:
Action type: Replace with regular expression
Field: SJEFKE\_TITLE
Regular expression: ^(._) / (._)$
Replace matches with: $2
What am I doing wrong? Nothing happens.......
Thanks in advance.
---
### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2006, 10:08am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-help-needed/4128/5 "2006-12-03T10:08:31Z")
> [@Sjefke](#):
>
> ... Regular expression: ^(._) / (._)$ ...
Dein RegExp sollte funktionieren, wenn du den Slash mit einem Backslash maskierst.
Your RegExp should work by masking the slash by a backslash.
**^(._) / (._)$**
DD.20061203.1211
---
### Author:  [@Sjefke](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Sjefke)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2006, 11:06am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-help-needed/4128/6 "2006-12-03T11:06:59Z")
Thanks Detlev for quick respons - unfortunately, the backslash doesn't help.
Too bad I can't get it to work: all conversions are provided\included, except the 'tag to tag' one - should be possible to extract tag-parts, are they are in a pattern?
It's a great program anyway, does excellent job!
Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2006, 11:49am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-help-needed/4128/7 "2006-12-03T11:49:42Z")
To split the title into two tags you can use just one action:
Use Guess values action.
_Source format:_ **%title%**
_Guessing pattern:_ **%artist% / %title%**
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### Author:  [@Sjefke](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Sjefke)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2006, 12:40pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-help-needed/4128/8 "2006-12-03T12:40:02Z")
P E R F E C T!!!!!!
Thanks Dano!
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### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-help-needed/4128/9 "2006-12-03T15:57:14Z")
> [@Sjefke](#):
>
> Thanks Detlev for quick respons - unfortunately, the backslash doesn't help.
I've used your example strings and it works with Mp3tag 2.37b. No problem.
You have to make sure, to look and write carefully and not to make writing failures, e.g. do not add space chars, and such other wild things.
If you've read the Mp3tag manual, then you should have known, that using a RegExp is a little bit tricky. It is always valueable to know the syntax and how to escape special chars.
You can learn much about using Mp3tag's RegExp machine by surfing through Mp3tag Forums and find user examples.
Like Dano had worked out afterwards by using the built in smart function 'Guess values' there is sometimes more than one way in Mp3tag to solve a problem, especially for such a simple problem.
DD.20061203.1757
---
### Author:  [@Sjefke](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Sjefke)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-help-needed/4128/10 "2006-12-03T16:29:56Z")
Detlev,
I did read the manual (the online version - not sure if there is another one?) - the help provided for the actions is rather cryptic (no examples....) - I'm a programmer myself, and still I was battling with it; probably after a while of reading forum posts, using the program itself and playing around I would have been able to get it to work.
It was just that I ran into this this morning, and I wanted a quick solution - all the other great options work very intuitively and are easy to apply - this problem was harder to solve. Maybe it is because not many people run into the same issue? After all, I use MP3Tag for several months now (although not daily), and this was first time I needed something like that.
Anyway, it would be nice to have: some tag-to-tag wizard. Maybe for the wish-list?
BTW, this morning I downloaded V 2.37a - not the beta version you are using.
After some tweaking, I now get 50% result: the artist name and '/' are removed from the title tag, so the title remains, but artist name is not moved to the artist tag.
Oh well, can't have it all 🙂
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### Author:  [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-help-needed/4128/11 "2006-12-03T17:24:11Z")
Did you acutally use names like SJEFKE\_ARTIST instead of ARTIST ?
The action I made from your example works great.
[user\_Sjefke.mta](https://community.mp3tag.de/uploads/default/original/2X/1/1735f41677445927e37ed779e0d62e3c8ceae874.mta) (135 Bytes)
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### Author:  [@Sjefke](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Sjefke)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-help-needed/4128/12 "2006-12-03T18:49:35Z")
Hi Dano,
I installed 2.37b - just to be sure (yes, will update my profile).
Your Action does work - put it in my profile folder and applied - works as intended.
I also found the 'error' - have a look at my lines (based on Detlev's solution):
For each title-component, there is a 'Format value' action plus 'Replace with regular expression' action - so, for 2 components in the title tag, there are 4 actions:
> [@](#):
>
> Action #1:
> Action type: Format value
> Field: SJEFKE\_ARTIST
> Formatstring: %TITLE%
>
> Action #2:
> Action type: Format value
> Field: SJEFKE\_TITLE
> Formatstring: %TITLE%
In your action-script there is only one 'Format value' action for both components:
> [@](#):
>
> Action #1:
> Action type: Format value
> Field: ARTIST
> Formatstring: %TITLE%
(and two 'Replace with regular expression' actions).
Also, I noticed, in the previous versions, in action-editor the '$1' and '$2' were not enclosed in double quotes ("). Now, in 2.37b they are - would that make any difference?
Thanks for your help: I'm really impressed, both by the capabilities of MP3tag and (your) support on this forum.
Will make a donation, one of these days.
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:20pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-help-needed/4128/13 "2026-02-09T12:20:01Z")