# Backslash in Song Title splits the title into a seperate folder

**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/backslash-in-song-title-splits-the-title-into-a-seperate-folder/71287
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [May 17, 2026, 5:54am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/backslash-in-song-title-splits-the-title-into-a-seperate-folder/71287 "2026-05-17T05:54:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 2

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### 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 17, 2026, 6:58am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/backslash-in-song-title-splits-the-title-into-a-seperate-folder/71287/2 "2026-05-17T06:58:23Z")

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> [@skipnyip](#):
>
> Expected Outcome:  
> All the songs would be in the same folder, and the \ is either deleted from the file name, or replaced with some other placeholder character.

The converter replaces invalid characters with some other character.  
But the `\` is a valid character for the Windows file system.  
The use of the `\` to create new folders is actually a feature, see here:

> **[Create Folder Structures based on Tags - Rename Files – Mp3tag Documentation](https://docs.mp3tag.de/converters/rename-files/#create-folder-structures-based-on-tags)**
>
> Renaming files, creating folders and complete directory structures from tags can be done by using Convert → Tag - Filename with a format string. The format string is used to describe the structure of the desired filename. | Documentation on Tag to...

So if you have files with the `\` in the tags then either replace it with a similar looking character that does not have the same function for the OS or add $replace() to your format string.

See e.g. here:

> [@How to use two or more backslashes in a field without creating another field?](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-use-two-or-more-backslashes-in-a-field-without-creating-another-field/65672/2):
>
> I do not think that you can really escape them. You would have to look for characters that look similar but are not backslashes. I wonder what the use-case would be.

See also here (and you are free to search for more threads about the `\` in format strings:

> [@\[X\] Renaming from tags with "\\" character creates a new folder!](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/x-renaming-from-tags-with-character-creates-a-new-folder/6166):
>
> As I said in the title: Renaming from tags with "" character creates a new folder! (wtf?) Maybe you won't consider this as a bug, but think of it! Are you sure the user pretends to create a new folder when he is just remaming his files from the title? I think not, and it's not so strange to find song titles with rare characters like that. What it should do is just skip those characters when renaming, or at least give you that option, wich would be still better, but of course the default opt…

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