# Can I use wild cards or change the start of a TRACK NAME?
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/can-i-use-wild-cards-or-change-the-start-of-a-track-name/12809
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [December 13, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/can-i-use-wild-cards-or-change-the-start-of-a-track-name/12809 "2011-12-13T04:43:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jyujinkai](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Jyujinkai)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/can-i-use-wild-cards-or-change-the-start-of-a-track-name/12809/1 "2011-12-13T04:43:40Z")
Hi there....
**THE SHORT**
How can I delete the 1st 10 chars from every track name?
**The Long**
I listen to audio books and radio plays when I go jogging. These can often have 100s of mp3s in them. My phone displays only the track names, so I add the track numbers to the track names....
**Example:** 195/254 - Arthur's Cottage - Ep20 - Quandary Phase
Now, when I did all the tagging for my Hitchikers Guide files, I forgot to have ep 25 in the directory. I hadn't moved it across from my riping dir.
Is there a way I can delete the 1st 10 chars from the front of every file name in the list...
**Example:** 195/254 - Arthur's Cottage - Ep20 - Quandary Phase
**Becomes:** Arthur's Cottage - Ep20 - Quandary Phase
Then I can just use the auto numbering wizard to calculate all the track numbers again, and then use the ACTION I used previously to add the track number to the name field...
> [@Adding track numbers into name field](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/adding-track-numbers-into-name-field/6220/1):
>
> Just create a new action:
>
> _Action type:_ **Format value**
> _Field:_ **TITLE**
> _Formatstring:_ **%track% - %title%**
So, yea.. I just need to del the first 10 chars from every track name.
Thanks in advance
--Jynks
---
### Author:  [@Jyujinkai](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Jyujinkai)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/can-i-use-wild-cards-or-change-the-start-of-a-track-name/12809/2 "2011-12-13T04:52:51Z")
I'm so sorry, I didn't see the FAQ as it was a nested forum, and I only searched in the main support forum... sorry
> [@](#):
>
> Removing of a certain number of leading chars
>
> Question:
> I have some leading chars in the filename/tag. How can I remove them?
>
> Answer:
> Create a new action in an existing action group and choose Replace with regular expression as action type.
> In Field, choose where you want to remove the chars.
> In Regular expression enter ^.{3} if you want to remove 3 chars.
> Replace matches with stays empty.
> So you can enter the number of chars to be removed between the two curly brackets.
>
> To remove the last 3 characters use .{3}$ (Do not use this on \_FILENAME)
[Actions](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/967/8)
\<--- EDIT
All fixed, thanks for a great program.. sorry I polluted your forum when the answer was there right in the FAQ ☹
---
### Author:  [@stevehero](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/stevehero)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/can-i-use-wild-cards-or-change-the-start-of-a-track-name/12809/3 "2011-12-13T13:01:21Z")
You can expand further on the reg exp here. To delete your specific text string at the very beginning of the string e.g. '195/254 - '
_Action type:_ **Replace with regular expression**
_Field:_ **TITLE**
_Regular expression:_ **^\d{3}/\d{3}\s-\s+**
_Replace matches with:_
[] case-sensitive comparison
**^** anchors search to beginning of line
**\d** matches a single digit **{3}** exactly 3 times
**/** matches '/' exactly
**\d** matches a single digit **{3}** exactly 3 times
**\s** match single whitespace character
**-** matches '-' exactly
**\s** one whitespace character **+** an unlimited no. of times
---
### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:23pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/can-i-use-wild-cards-or-change-the-start-of-a-track-name/12809/4 "2026-02-09T12:23:30Z")