# Deleting Redundant/Old Data Out Of File Names **URL:** \ **Category:** Support\ **Created:** [August 31, 2023, 12:01pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/deleting-redundant-old-data-out-of-file-names/61996 "2023-08-31T12:01:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dec](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/dec/32/13699_2.png) [@dec](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dec)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2023, 12:01pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/deleting-redundant-old-data-out-of-file-names/61996/1 "2023-08-31T12:01:32Z")
inadvertently i added the latest Bit Rate etc data to some File Names before i worked out how to delete the old previous data a lot of options won't work here: the length from the start is of course highly variable: and also the length from teh END (due the differing data); the actual data to be deleted is not consistently the same eg the bit rate & sample rate vary so the best i could think of are variations on this involving ? (or \*) wild cards; but i can't work out just where (what MP3Tag function) i can use wild cards so i want to delete this example string out of File name ... [norm91] [????min] (there may be an issue with the ]'s, in which case i would do a global replace and change them all back to normal brackets) beyond my expertise. by the way, i can't see how to use %dummy% in this case as there are several different fields that might be embedded in the files names - in some but not oithers eg 'live', location, concert name, etc. so just how do we do this? ---
**Author:** ![LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/c6cbf5/32.png) [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2023, 12:19pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/deleting-redundant-old-data-out-of-file-names/61996/2 "2023-08-31T12:19:08Z")
> [@dec](#): > > but i can't work out just where (what MP3Tag function) i can use wild cards Do you remember this thread? > [@How to edit a text string with wild card chars?](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-edit-a-text-string-with-wild-card-chars/61397): > > so say i have a Duration/Length text string like this ... (0345min) as you can see, it is missing its separator (i accidently deleted it when i did a global replace of '\_') now if i could use normal wild cards that would be quite simple replace ??min) \> -??min) but it seems that i can't use wild cards, and i find no mention of 'wild cards' so .. if i CAN use wild cards (w/o Regex), what is the correct syntax? if i CAN'T use wild cards, what can i do? i assume only a Regex express… and for > [@dec](#): > > the length from the start is of course highly variable: and also the length from teh END (due the differing data) Do you remember this at least two threads: > [@How to Cutright from a char str: can't get it work](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-cutright-from-a-char-str-cant-get-it-work/61389): > > Picard just automatically just trashed all my File Names and added rubbish at the end of each file name without so much as a say-so. it did other damage as well, but i am/have fixed most of that. i have worked out that the last valid string at the end of every file name is "(NORM)" see attached example so i want to truncate the file name from that to the rhs end of file name but do you think i can work out a way that actually works! i played with $left and $cut right and $strstr, but i coul… and > [@Odd STRCHR Error](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/odd-strchr-error/61310): > > i found a whole lot of files w/o Artist, for some reason, although it is in Filename, and fortutiously has a '-' separator but i cannot get $strchr (with Cutright) to play nicely to extract the Artist precisely from Filename it seems quite weird. if i use Cutleft it extracts the rest of the Filename string exactly if i use Strrchr, it makes no difference ie it cuts to exactly the same place (meaning that there is only one in the string) but Cutright cuts to a completely different position t… **So what exactly have you already tried and where don't you get the expected result?** For the speciality with the [square brackets](https://docs.mp3tag.de/format/#characters-with-special-functionality) the documentation says: ![image](https://community.mp3tag.de/uploads/default/original/2X/e/e9dda68f8aea10f79c2f7628e612c2ac5c0fd96f.png) ---
**Author:** ![dec](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/dec/32/13699_2.png) [@dec](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dec)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2023, 12:49pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/deleting-redundant-old-data-out-of-file-names/61996/3 "2023-08-31T12:49:40Z")
thanks. as far as i can tell NONE of that will work with this data; but thanks for the reminder about single quotes and special chars. and no, i don't know about you, but i have a lot going on over past months, and any time before, so NO, i do NOT remember all of these Threads - AND i find it impossible to find when i search (as indicated) any way. what is the saying about sorting the chaff from something? ---
**Author:** ![LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/c6cbf5/32.png) [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2023, 1:08pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/deleting-redundant-old-data-out-of-file-names/61996/4 "2023-08-31T13:08:32Z")
> [@LyricsLover](#): > > So what exactly have you already tried and where don't you get the expected result? **How exactly does your source filenames looks like?** (Please don't create some manually modified "[norm91] [????min]" examples, show us your real existing filenames in a screenshot.) **What exactly have you already tried to delete old data from your filenames?** (Please show us your failing Actions, your Convert Format Strings and so on. What exactly do they fail at?) > [@dec](#): > > so just how do we do this? I don't know how you do this (therefore I ask you), but I would quite simply rewrite the filename with the data from the tags. ---
**Author:** ![dec](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/dec/32/13699_2.png) [@dec](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dec)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 3:28am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/deleting-redundant-old-data-out-of-file-names/61996/5 "2023-09-01T03:28:27Z")
as i thought i said, i CANNOT rebuild the File Name from existing Tags because the Title Tag is virtually identical to the File Name tag, ie, although i can get Artist and Duration etc as separate Tags, i can not get a 'minimalist' Title Tag, but just saying that gives me an idea - which i have to think about/check. can I rebuild the TITLE Tag - basically by truncating, and then use that minimal Title tag to then rebuild the File Name? (not sure if that actually works given the fact that Title/s have almost the same data as File Names,; but i will have a look and see.) the key issue/problem in all of this is that both the individual File Names and the Title Tags vary so much from both ends because of individual track-specific embedded data, including eg Venue, etc. ---
**Author:** ![dec](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/dec/32/13699_2.png) [@dec](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dec)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 3:29am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/deleting-redundant-old-data-out-of-file-names/61996/6 "2023-09-01T03:29:59Z")
... and as you know, i cannot upload screenshots as much as i would love to always ---
**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, 12:30pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/deleting-redundant-old-data-out-of-file-names/61996/7 "2026-02-09T12:30:08Z")