Cannot create a file when that file already exists

Support
1

Hello,

When I try to rename files from the tag information using the Tag - Filename function, I get this error

"...Cannot create a file when that file already exists."

I've un/reinstalled the program and even tried running it in compatibility mode going back to XP (I'm using Windows 8.1)

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Barney

2

If you get this error there probably is a file with this filename you want to create already in the target directory.
This includes files that you are creating if you have marked several files.

3

I understand that. So to rule that out, I changed the name of the artist and tried again. Same message. So for example, I was trying to edit metadata for AC/DC. Got that message, then changed the artist metadata to just AC to see what would happen. It wouldn't rename the files with AC as the artist name instead of ACDC.

I see that this was an issue with an earlier version of mp3tag. I'm curious if it has cropped up again.

Thank you for the reply. I REALLY appreciate it.

Barney

4

as the / is an invalid character for filenames (and folders), it would be better to embed the tag-filename mask in a $validate() statement.
Alternatively, you can replace the / with ⁄ (which looks like the / but has the code U+2044 instead of U+002f).
Perhaps the error message is a little misleading as really the file cannot be created at all with that filename, not because there is an existing one.

5

Thanks for the reply. I didn't have the "/" character anywhere in any of the tags. Thanks again for your response.

6

To expand a little on ohrenkino's reply.

Because you were renaming when the error occured, it means that the tag values in the group of files you were renaming resulted in two files having the same file name.

Best way to avoid it is to include the track number in your file naming pattern so that filenames are always going to be unique, always check the track column value is greater than 0.