# Delete X-number of characters
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-x-number-of-characters/70920
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [March 21, 2026, 5:13pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-x-number-of-characters/70920 "2026-03-21T17:13:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@hamz](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/hamz)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2026, 5:13pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-x-number-of-characters/70920/1 "2026-03-21T17:13:43Z")
Hi there,
I have tons of files with numbers at the beginning, for example:
1. The Vaccines - Wetsuit
Sadly, the tags are the same:
Artists: 316.The Vaccines
Song: Wetsuit
Is there any way of automatically deleting in a batch the first 5 characters of the files —just leaving the “The Vaccines”— for then creating the tags —or vice versa?
Thxs!
---
### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2026, 5:43pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-x-number-of-characters/70920/2 "2026-03-21T17:43:22Z")
> [@hamz](#):
>
> Is there any way of automatically deleting in a batch the first 5 characters of the files
Yes. But you need to tell us, what exactly do you want to achieve:
a) renaming only the filenames (and losing some information)
or
b) filling the fields with all parts of the filename and then rename the filenames
Then we need to know if all your tracks has the same naming like
**316** is the `TRACK` number?
**The Vaccines** is the `ARTIST`?
**Wetsuit** ist the `TITLE`?
If you really want to delete x characters, there are several [scripting functions](https://docs.mp3tag.de/scripting/#string-functions) like for example
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### Author:  [@hamz](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/hamz)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2026, 6:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-x-number-of-characters/70920/3 "2026-03-21T18:10:02Z")
Thxs for your reply!
I go for (1), because then I just “import tag from filenames”. Yep, all the tracks have the same structure, in the way you suggest.
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2026, 6:19pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-x-number-of-characters/70920/4 "2026-03-21T18:19:19Z")
To import your filename structure, you can use the
Format string:
`%dummy%. %artist% - %title%`
if you want to ignore the first numbers until the dot.
If you want to import the number in front of the dot as `TRACK` content you could use:
`%track%. %artist% - %title%`
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### Author:  [@hamz](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/hamz)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-x-number-of-characters/70920/5 "2026-03-21T19:16:12Z")
> [@LyricsLover](#):
>
> %dummy%. %artist% - %title%
Wow, it works perfectly.
Thank you!
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/delete-x-number-of-characters/70920/6 "2026-03-28T19:16:48Z")
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