# Append and/or Replace Album info (show date) into Title **URL:** \ **Category:** Support\ **Created:** [June 21, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/append-and-or-replace-album-info-show-date-into-title/14825 "2013-06-21T16:30:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheDailyVinyl](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/thedailyvinyl/32/382_2.png) [@TheDailyVinyl](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/TheDailyVinyl)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/append-and-or-replace-album-info-show-date-into-title/14825/1 "2013-06-21T16:30:27Z")
I know one of you geniuses can make a perfect action(s) for this. I want to add the date of a live performance to the **Track Title**. The date is always in the **Album** field in this format "live: 1980-06-20 city, country" Example -- From: The Train Kept A Rollin' To: The Train Kept A Rollin' (1980-06-20) One slight wrinkle. Some Titles already have "live " and the last 2 digits of the year in parenthesis. Example -- The Train Kept A Rollin' (live '80) So, I guess the first part of the action would have to check to see if "(live 'xx)" is already in the Title. Thanks again for my favorite & most used program, next to Excel, haha. tim ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/append-and-or-replace-album-info-show-date-into-title/14825/2 "2013-06-21T18:01:29Z")
> [@TheDailyVinyl](#): > > ... "live: 1980-06-20 city, country" > > Example -- > From: The Train Kept A Rollin' > To: The Train Kept A Rollin' (1980-06-20) > > One slight wrinkle. Some Titles already have "live " and the last 2 digits of the year in parenthesis. > Example -- The Train Kept A Rollin' (live '80) > ... Create an action group with the following steps: Replace with regular expression for TITLE Search string: (live.\*) Replace: (=nothing) Copy the contents of ALBUM to a userdefined field %tempalbum% (-\> format value TEMPALBUM with %album%) Replace with regular expression in TEMPALBUM: Search: ._(\d\d\d\d-\d\d-d\d)._ Replace: $1 This should leave the date in TEMPALBUM Format value TITLE %title% live: %tempalbum% Remove tag field %tempalbum% This is not a sequence of actions that will work on its own. I think you have to apply a filter first. ---
**Author:** ![TheDailyVinyl](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/thedailyvinyl/32/382_2.png) [@TheDailyVinyl](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/TheDailyVinyl)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 11:54am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/append-and-or-replace-album-info-show-date-into-title/14825/3 "2013-06-24T11:54:10Z")
First of all - Thank you for your time! It's close but I need some assistance tweaking!! (again, thanks!) Yes, I will be filtering as I go, so as to only apply these actions to a specific Album(s). So, I created two action groups. The first one was almost spot-on; but it left a blank space at the end of the Title. Here is what I have, please let me know how to tweak: Again, my user need: to remove the " (live '85)" from the Title: "Inside Out (live '85)" Action: Replace with regular expression Field: TITLE Original: (live\*) Replace with: Which, again, does everything but remove the space that lies between the two (and now at the end of the Title.) I tried putting a blank space before and after the slash but that either gave me an error or did nothing. How do I also include the space before the parenthesis? * * * The 2nd one seems to just copy the entire Album title (with an extra "live:"). Situation: Currently the Title = Inside Out Need the Title to contain the date from the Album. Currently the Album = live: 1985-04-13 Melbourne, Australia Desired result: Title = Inside Out (1985-04-13) I created action group with the following steps: 1. Format Value Field = TEMPALBUM Format string = %album% 2. Replace with regular expression Field = TEMPALBUM Regular expression = ._(\d\d\d\d-\d\d-d\d)._ Replace matches with=$1 3. Format value Field = TITLE Format string = %title% live: %tempalbum% 4. Remove fields Fields to remove = %tempalbum% Result was: Title = Inside Out live: live: 1985-04-13 Melbourne, Australia What do I need to tweak to achieve: Title = Inside Out (1985-04-13) Thanks again. This such a fun program! ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 12:41pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/append-and-or-replace-album-info-show-date-into-title/14825/4 "2013-06-24T12:41:27Z")
The first problem: Two ways to solve this: either add a leading blank before the opening bracket: Action: Replace with regular expression Field: TITLE Original: \_(live\*) Replace with: (where the underscore represents the extra blank) Or you add an action of the type "Format value" for TITLE with $trim(%title%) as format string. This removes any trailing or leading blanks. Now for the second case: If you have written that down accurately then we have a simple syntax error. You use : ._(\d\d\d\d-\d\d-d\d)._ But it should be: ._(\d\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\d)._ The but last "d" does not have a backslash so it behaves like a normal d and does not take the function of "any digit". As this search string finds no match, there is nothing replaced and you end up with the whole album added to the title. (Because in general it should have worked ... ;-)) ---
**Author:** ![TheDailyVinyl](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/thedailyvinyl/32/382_2.png) [@TheDailyVinyl](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/TheDailyVinyl)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/append-and-or-replace-album-info-show-date-into-title/14825/5 "2013-06-24T18:18:04Z")
Brilliant! That fixed it. > [@ohrenkino](#): > > ...we have a simple syntax error. > You use : ._(\d\d\d\d-\d\d-d\d)._ > But it should be: ._(\d\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\d)._ (fyi -- I just copy & pasted from your original reply) I also had to change Format string = %title% **live:** %tempalbum% to Format string = %title% **(**%tempalbum%**)** to achieve the desire result, but all is well. **BTW, I just made another PayPal donation to MP3Tag for this outstanding program! Thanks all!!!** ---
**Author:** ![mojolin](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@mojolin](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/mojolin)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 1:55pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/append-and-or-replace-album-info-show-date-into-title/14825/6 "2020-05-23T13:55:24Z")
I have a similar issue. I am trying to remove the show location from the title. So I created an Action Group to Replace with a regular expression. Field: Title Regular expression: (live.\*) Replace matches with: blank This almost accomplishes my goal except it leaves a left parenthesis after the title. I tried this after I did 'Replace matches with' I tried =nothing and (=nothing) but this left the equals nothing string in the title. How can I fix? ---
**Author:** ![mojolin](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@mojolin](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/mojolin)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/append-and-or-replace-album-info-show-date-into-title/14825/7 "2020-05-23T14:12:34Z")
I can clean up the first Action if I create a second Action Group. This time, I create an Action group to 'Replace' (not Replace with a regular expression) as below: Field: Title Replace: ( Replace with: This will accomplish my goal, but I suspect there is a way to clean up the first Action group so I don't need the second. ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/append-and-or-replace-album-info-show-date-into-title/14825/8 "2020-05-23T14:22:29Z")
> [@mojolin](#): > > except it leaves a left parenthesis after the title You have to escape the brackets: Regular expression: `\(live.*\)` ---
**Author:** ![mojolin](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@mojolin](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/mojolin)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 2:49pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/append-and-or-replace-album-info-show-date-into-title/14825/9 "2020-05-23T14:49:20Z")
That works. However, that only works if the trailing bracket is present. For certain songs, the length of the title is abbreviated due to the length. So for example, lets suppose the Title is Dreams (live in NYC 1999). If the Title is long, it might end like 'long songname (live in NY.mp3' so that the trailing parenthesis gets cut off. I tried: Regular expression: (live.\*\ But I get error because the rule needs the trailing parenthsis. Do I use the simple Replace action instead? ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 3:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/append-and-or-replace-album-info-show-date-into-title/14825/10 "2020-05-23T15:10:04Z")
> [@mojolin](#): > > Regular expression: (live.\*\ > > But I get error because the rule needs the trailing parenthsis. Do I use the simple Replace action instead? It is still a pattern. A regular replace only works for string constants and not for string patterns. So, still use "Replace with regular expression" Search string: `\(live.*` ---
**Author:** ![mojolin](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@mojolin](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/mojolin)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/append-and-or-replace-album-info-show-date-into-title/14825/11 "2020-05-23T20:50:59Z")
That fixed it! Thanks again! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://community.mp3tag.de/uploads/default/original/2X/c/ce7035d426cb755a7916793326d23b465222a407.png) [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 12:24pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/append-and-or-replace-album-info-show-date-into-title/14825/12 "2026-02-09T12:24:32Z")