# Convert Artists name into Initials **URL:** \ **Category:** Support\ **Created:** [December 15, 2014, 7:25am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/convert-artists-name-into-initials/16415 "2014-12-15T07:25:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mecaiste](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@mecaiste](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/mecaiste)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 7:25am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/convert-artists-name-into-initials/16415/1 "2014-12-15T07:25:22Z")
Hello there: I have an audio car system with a display that shows very few characters...thats way I need to convert artists with more than one word into its initials letters. Example: Allan Holdsworth Band Into: AHB Actually I want to cut Artist name to 3 letters. If the Artist Name is just one word I would like to have its first 3 letters: Example: Scorpions Into: SCO Thats easy...but I would like to have a conditional expression to get the first 3 letters if its a one word artist or its initials if it has more... Any help? Thanks a lot ---
**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:** [December 15, 2014, 7:34am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/convert-artists-name-into-initials/16415/2 "2014-12-15T07:34:21Z")
see here: [Shorten Words](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/16313/1) ---
**Author:** ![mecaiste](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@mecaiste](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/mecaiste)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 8:09am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/convert-artists-name-into-initials/16415/3 "2014-12-17T08:09:34Z")
Thanks a lot... ...but actually I don't understand how this works. It's hard for me to understand it I've got to know that if I change this: Action: Replace with regular expression Regexp CODE \W|^\W\*(\b\w+\b)\W\*$|\b(\w{3})\w+\b|\b(\w{1})\w\*?\b with this \W|^\W\*(\b\w+\b)\W\*$|\b(\w{1})\w+\b|\b(\w{1})\w\*?\b and replace with: CODE $1$2$3 I I get what I want...partially: If I have...artist: Allan Holdsworth Band I get................: AHB But if I have the artist: Queen I get.........................: Queen And I want to shorten this to 3 letters maximum. I have problems trying to understand the scriptings functions. I know how to shorten to 3 letters with $left(%artist%,3) but actually all of this was an approach to have all the directories with this path: artist with the initial letters if they have more than one word or shorten to 3 letters if they are one word artist-album/songs For example: Artist: Allan Holdsworth Band, Album: IOU the directory would be: AHB-IOU/songs or Artist: Queen, Album: Innuendo the directory would be: Que-Innuendo/songs But I want to leave the Artist integrity So, I don't know how to use the conditional if and I don't know to use all these actions leaving the artist name as it was, I just want to do this to shorten the directory names. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![mecaiste](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@mecaiste](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/mecaiste)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 8:20am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/convert-artists-name-into-initials/16415/4 "2014-12-17T08:20:55Z")
Excuse me but...Is there a step to step guide to understand the regexp function? I find that most expressions are compound expressions and don't understand them well. ---
**Author:** ![poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/poster/32/4881_2.png) [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 9:19am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/convert-artists-name-into-initials/16415/5 "2014-12-17T09:19:47Z")
There are some tutorials on the web: [http://www.rexegg.com/](http://www.rexegg.com/) [http://www.regular-expressions.info/tutorial.html](http://www.regular-expressions.info/tutorial.html) [http://www.regular-expressions.info/tutorial.html](http://www.regular-expressions.info/tutorial.html) ---
**Author:** ![mecaiste](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@mecaiste](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/mecaiste)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 9:49am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/convert-artists-name-into-initials/16415/6 "2014-12-17T09:49:11Z")
> [@poster](#): > > There are some tutorials on the web: > [http://www.rexegg.com/](http://www.rexegg.com/) > [http://www.regular-expressions.info/tutorial.html](http://www.regular-expressions.info/tutorial.html) > [http://www.regular-expressions.info/tutorial.html](http://www.regular-expressions.info/tutorial.html) Thanks ---
**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:** [December 17, 2014, 11:51am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/convert-artists-name-into-initials/16415/7 "2014-12-17T11:51:18Z")
> [@mecaiste](#): > > ...artist...the directory would be... What does the directory have to do with the artist name? Is this about treating the filename or the tags? Does the car radio show tags or only the filename? What kind of filesystem does the car radio support? ---
**Author:** ![mecaiste](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@mecaiste](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/mecaiste)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 12:01pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/convert-artists-name-into-initials/16415/8 "2014-12-17T12:01:05Z")
> [@mecaiste](#): > > Thanks Ok... I understand now all this code... \W|^\W\*(\b\w+\b)\W\*$|\b(\w{3})\w+\b|\b(\w{1})\w\*?\b but...what is the meaning of?: replace with: CODE $1$2$3 ---
**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, 12:25pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/convert-artists-name-into-initials/16415/9 "2026-02-09T12:25:24Z")
Closed on February 9, 2026, 12:25pm UTC