# Delete a certain amount of characters at the beginning of the title
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-a-certain-amount-of-characters-at-the-beginning-of-the-title/51627
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [January 16, 2021, 9:54pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-a-certain-amount-of-characters-at-the-beginning-of-the-title/51627 "2021-01-16T21:54:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mar-avz](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/mar-avz)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2021, 9:54pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-a-certain-amount-of-characters-at-the-beginning-of-the-title/51627/1 "2021-01-16T21:54:21Z")
Hello
I love mp3tag but I have a little problem. 😅
I need to remove the first characters of the title in thousands of files.
Example:
1 - Track name
2 - Track name
I need to remove up to "# -" so that it remains:
Track name
Track name
Does anyone know if there is a way to delete a certain amount of characters at the beginning of the title?
Thanks for reading my query 😊
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2021, 10:00pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-a-certain-amount-of-characters-at-the-beginning-of-the-title/51627/2 "2021-01-16T22:00:26Z")
see e.g. here:
> [@How to remove track from filename?](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-remove-track-from-filename/8623/5):
>
> This expression removes leading numbers, dots, hyphens and also space characters from the filename. $regexp(%\_FILENAME%,'^[\d.-]+(.\*)',$1) Use it with "[Alt-1] Tag-Filename" or with an action "Format value". DD.20090719.0747.CEST
Instead of \_FILENAME use TITLE and instead of Tag-Filename Convert\>Tag-Tag
---
### Author:  [@jewahe](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/jewahe)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2021, 4:24am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-a-certain-amount-of-characters-at-the-beginning-of-the-title/51627/3 "2021-01-18T04:24:32Z")
I tend to avoid regular expressions, because I find them confusing. And so I'd use a simple format value action with the $cutleft function (i.e., **$cutleft(%title%,3)**). YMMV.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2021, 5:32am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-a-certain-amount-of-characters-at-the-beginning-of-the-title/51627/4 "2021-01-18T05:32:44Z")
> [@jewahe](#):
>
> I tend to avoid regular expressions
As there are so many ways that lead to Rome ...
You could also try an action of the type "Guess value"
Source: %title%
Target: %dummy% - %title%
> [@jewahe](#):
>
> `$cutleft(%title%,3)`
would leave a leading space if the data is "1 -"
So probably
`$cutleft(%title%,4)`
would yield the desired result.
---
### Author:  [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2021, 6:51am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-a-certain-amount-of-characters-at-the-beginning-of-the-title/51627/5 "2021-01-18T06:51:25Z")
> [@jewahe](#):
>
> And so I'd use a simple format value action with the $cutleft function (i.e., **$cutleft(%title%,3)**)
You never have tracknumbers with 2 digits?
---
### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-a-certain-amount-of-characters-at-the-beginning-of-the-title/51627/6 "2026-02-09T12:29:00Z")