Create filename using $replace

[gsa999]

Hi
I'm trying to generate a filename for playlists for each album. The code below works - ie the replacement of the / and : with a - works as does the double quotes with 2 singles, but the code where I am trying to replace 3 dots at the end of an album string with nothing does not work.
So if the album tag is "For All We Shared..." I want the filename of the playlist to be "For All We Shared.m3u8"

$filename(%_folderpath%$replace(%albumartist% - $cutleft(%album%,6),$eql($right(%album%,3),...),,/,-,:, -,",'').m3u8,utf-8)

Any ideas what this code should be please
Thanks
G

[ohrenkino]

you can test expression in Convert>Tag-Tag.
Have you tested $eql($right(%album%,3),...)?
The result is a boolean value, no string. You would have to supply the string now - probably in a $if() statement.
Anyway: why so complicated? Why don't you replace sinply 3 dots with nothing?
$replace(%albumartist% - $cutleft(%album%,6),...,,/,-,:, -,",'')

[gsa999]

Thanks, I only want to replace the 3 dots with nothing if they appear at the end of the album title, but not anywhere else

[ohrenkino]

Are you also sure about the $cutleft()
E.g. and album like "... and then there were three ..."
would be come
"d then there were three ..."
plus the removal of the trailing dots:
"d then there were three "

To compare strings: $if($eql(string1,string2),true do this,false do this)
$if($eql($right(%album%,3),...),...,)

You had a correct syntax in this thread:

Replace characters in filename playlist creation

Hi I'm trying to write an action that trawls through all my mp3s in all folders and creates a playlist in each folder The code below works fine: $filename(%_folderpath%\$if($eql(%albumartist%,Various Artists),$cutleft(%album%,6),%artist% - $cutleft(%album%,6)).m3u8,utf-8)#EXTM3U #EXTART:$if($eql(%albumartist%,Various Artists),%albumartist%,%artist%) #EXTALB:%album% $loop(%track%)$loop(%_filename_ext%)#EXTINF:%_length_seconds%,%artist% - %title% %_filename_ext% $loopend()$loopend() However - …

[gsa999]

Thanks. This works. The reason I use $cutleft is because all my albums have the year, colon and space appended at the front of them so they show up in correct order on an iPod/iPhone etc. Even though I have an albumsort tag I like to see the year and album was released when playing it. I didn't want this to appear at the front of the playlist name

Thanks again

[gsa999]

Hi, just realised I need to do the same for 2 dots (easy now) but also a single dot - which is proving a problem. I'm guessing this is because a single dot is a reserved character so the following does not work:

$if($eql($right(%album%,1),.),.,)

Have tried the following but this also does not work
$if($eql($right(%album%,1),\.),\.,)

How do I get it to recognise the single dot?

[ohrenkino]

What do you mean by

@gsa999

does not work:

$if($eql($right(%album%,1),.),.,)

$if($eql($right(any string...,1),.),.,)
produces, as it should, a "." as result.
Now you have to replace it.

[gsa999]

Basically its replacing all instances of a single dot in the filename. So "Born in the U.S.A." becomes "Born in the USA.m3u8 rather than "Born in the U.S.A.m3u8
I have rechecked where there are 3 dots in an album title, where the 3 dots do NOT appear at the end and that works fine - i.e. the 3 dots are not replaced when not at the end but are replaced when at the end of the title

Code is now:

$filename(%_folderpath%$replace(%albumartist% - $cutleft(%album%,6),$if($eql($right(%album%,1),.),.,),,$if($eql($right(%album%,3),...),...,),,/,-,:, -,",'').m3u8,utf-8)

Any ideas?
G

[ohrenkino]

@gsa999

So "Born in the U.S.A." becomes "Born in the USA.m3u8 rather than "Born in the U.S.A

Yes, this is logical as the test is "is there a dot at the end of ALBUM?" which it is.
And as now the dot gets restored, the replace instruction is: "replace a(ny) dot with nothing" which leads to the removal of all dots.
So perhaps you replace the dots as final step after you did all the other processing.

[ohrenkino]

@ohrenkino

So perhaps you replace the dots as final step after you did all the other processing

Something like:
$regexp($replace(%albumartist% - $cutleft(%album%,6),$if($eql($right(%album%,3),...),...,),,/,-,:, -,",''),(.*)\.$,$1)

[gsa999]

Thanks for the suggestion. I managed to get this to work yesterday using a different technique - don't know why I didn't think of it before. Code below:

$filename(%_folderpath%$trimright($replace,%albumartist% - $cutleft(%album%,6),/,-,:, -),.).xxx,utf-8)

Thanks for your help
G

[tor11]

This is marginally related, but I noticed that a regex replace in _FILENAME replaces also the dot next to a file extension (.mp3) while simple replace does not.

[ohrenkino]

A look at the documentation would have made this obvious:

Replace with Regular Expression – Mp3tag Documentation

Special Fields

....

• _FILENAME denotes the file name of the file including its extension

...

[tor11]

Ok, I should have though of that the inconsistency is documented.