# Action to replace characters in field
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-to-replace-characters-in-field/59394
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [December 14, 2022, 11:32am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-to-replace-characters-in-field/59394 "2022-12-14T11:32:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bthoem](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/bthoem)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2022, 11:32am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-to-replace-characters-in-field/59394/1 "2022-12-14T11:32:44Z")
Seems like I have used an application that has been rewriting some of my metadata, changing the delimiter from ";" to "`\\`".
I use the semicolon a lot to separate keywords in genre and artist.
"Jazz;Piano" has been modified and changed into "Jazz\Piano"
"Folk;Irish;Vocal;24 bit" changed into "`Folk\\Irish\\Vocal\\24 bit`"
"Choir of Eltham College;Choral Arts Society of Washington;London Symphony Chorus;London Symphony Orchestra" changed into: "Choir of Eltham College\Choral Arts Society of Washington\London Symphony Chorus\London Symphony Orchestra"
I have tried to make a simple Action to replace "\" with ";" in these fields, but I just can't get it to work.
Any tips on how to create such an action will be much appreciated.
Thank you,
Bjørn Tore
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2022, 11:35am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-to-replace-characters-in-field/59394/2 "2022-12-14T11:35:47Z")
See e.g. here:
> [@Replacing "//"](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/replacing/15915):
>
> I realize this is a simple request and I have tried several different approaches. The frustrating thing is this use to work flawlessly until I upgraded to the current version (2.61a), I was several revisions out of date. Replacing "\\" with "; " The example tag data would be "Mary Ann Kennedy\\Pam Rose\\Pat Bunch" The resulting tag data would be "Mary Ann Kennedy; Pam Rose; Pat Bunch" I created an action using replace (regular expression) which shows as: Regular expression "\_ALL:": "\\" -\> …
and perhaps here:
> [@Adding Genres (not replacing)](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/adding-genres-not-replacing/12473):
>
> Hi - I was planning on adding some tags to genre on a number of albums, in order to easily be able to select and choose between my 24 bit and 16 bits albums. Can this be achieved with a script in MP3Tag? Add genre - keeping the existing genres (one, none or several). Thank you, Bjørn TOre
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### Author:  [@bthoem](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/bthoem)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2022, 1:48pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-to-replace-characters-in-field/59394/3 "2022-12-14T13:48:00Z")
Thank you so much! The "merge duplicate fields function" seems to be the solution to my problem.
Bjørn Tore
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### Author:  [@MotleyG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MotleyG)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2022, 2:21pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-to-replace-characters-in-field/59394/4 "2022-12-14T14:21:07Z")
> [@bthoem](#):
>
> Seems like I have used an application that has been rewriting some of my metadata, changing the delimiter from ";" to "`\\`".
Do you have any idea of what software used either of these delimiters and separated these fields in the first place? This isn't something that mp3tag does on its' own. But perhaps some other program did. You may want to look into the options there and make sure that this doesn't happen again in the future.
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### Author:  [@bthoem](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/bthoem)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2022, 5:58pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-to-replace-characters-in-field/59394/5 "2022-12-14T17:58:15Z")
I - I have a suspect, but no proof yet. The only library SW I have used lately is MediaMonkey.
I suspect these features might be the "sinner":
#### Automatic Organization
Automatically reorganize and rename media files in the background based on a set of rules that you define.
#### Automatic Tagging
Auto-tag batches of 100 files without limits on lookup speed. Automatically tag Artwork and Lyrics that are looked up in the background.
Bjørn Tore
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2022, 6:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-to-replace-characters-in-field/59394/6 "2022-12-14T18:10:08Z")
> [@bthoem](#):
>
> MediaMonkey
Here is a thread that deals with MediaMonkey and field separators - perhaps you can suck some honey out of it:
> [@Handling of multivalue fields in MediaMonkey](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/handling-of-multivalue-fields-in-mediamonkey/58216):
>
> As is well known, multi-value fields are handled quite differently in different programs with tag options. MP3Tag shows them in the list view and in the tag panel separated with "\\", in the extended view as 2 separate tag fields. Other programs use different separators. Specifically, I am currently concerned with the interaction of Mediamonkey and Mp3Tag. I mainly use Mediamonkey with the very handy script "Lyricator" to automatically add content to the "UNSYNCEDLYRICS" field. However, ther…
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2023, 6:11pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-to-replace-characters-in-field/59394/7 "2023-01-13T18:11:05Z")
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