Directory Renaming Recursively

Support
1

HI!
I have a directory structure of:

[Root]\Artist\Year - Album(tracks...)

Example:

[Root]\Amy Winehouse\2003 - Frank(tracks...)

I want to replace:

2003 - Frank

with:

(2003) Frank

or perhaps

[2003] Frank

Now I found an action that suits me for this purpose:

Replace with regular expression:
Field:
_DIRECTORY
Regular expression:
(\d\d\d\d)\s-\s
Replace matches with:
($1) $2

I tested it and it works. My question is:
Is it possible to apply this action recursively now, for a bigger directory tree?

2

Why not build the wanted directory new instead of changing parts of the existing directory?

Action-Type: Format Value
Field: _directoty
Format string: \%artist%[%year%] %album%

3

I agree with poster that an action of the type "Format value" is better suited for the purpose.
The pseudo-variable _DIRECTORY addresses the folder "above" the filename.
So: yes, any folders you have loaded will be renamed according to the pattern you define in the "format value" action.

4

OK!
Well I will give it a try...
I just wanted to correct my post.
Actually, I am not looking for "recursive", as my directory depth is always the same.
As I described above.
I just want to apply the action, "iteratively", on a long directory list of artists.
Thanks though.
I will post back maybe with my results.
But, can the "Format Value" action, be applied on many artists directories? Lets see...

EDIT: OK first things first.
According to: https://docs.mp3tag.de/scripting

So its: Format string: \%artist%'['%year%']' %album%

Still, I cant make it work this far...
What I get, is empty folders.
Is this what you meant?
You see, I want to have the MP3s inside those folders...
I am doing something wrong...

5

This should work ...

Set Filter:

"%_DIRECTORY%" MATCHES "(\d\d\d\d)\s-\s"

Action: Format value
... or ...
Converter: Tag - Tag
Field: _DIRECTORY
Formatstring: $regexp(%_directory%,'(\d\d\d\d)\s-\s','($1) ')

... or ...

Formatstring: $regexp(%_directory%,'(\d\d\d\d)\s-\s','[$1] ')

Mp3tag performs the filesystem procedure "MOVE folder" with all files in the specified folder.

DD.20140226.2127.CET

I have removed the $2 referrer in the replacement part of the regexp, because it was not declared in the expression and it is actually not needed.

DD.20140227.0912.CET
6

IT WORKED! Absolutely brilliant!
Great work DetlevD.

For anyone interested, I figured out the opposite.
From a directory containing:

[2013] ThisAlbum

to:

2013 - ThisAlbum

Filter:
"%_DIRECTORY%" MATCHES "([[])(\d\d\d\d)([]])"

Format Value:
Field:
_DIRECTORY
Format string:
$regexp(%_directory%,'([[])(\d\d\d\d)([]])','$2 -$4')

PS: Please test this first with some samples...
Also others can verify if this code is OK...

7

Set Filter for four digits and one space character at the first position,
with the number surrounded by ...

... round brackets
"%_DIRECTORY%" MATCHES "^(\d{4})\s"

... square brackets
"%_DIRECTORY%" MATCHES "^[\d{4}]\s"

... curly brackets
"%_DIRECTORY%" MATCHES "^{\d{4}}\s"

... round or square or curly brackets
"%_DIRECTORY%" MATCHES "[1]\s"

Remove brackets ...
Action: Format value
... or ...
Converter "Tag - Tag"
Field: _DIRECTORY

... round brackets
Formatstring: $regexp(%_directory%,'^((\d{4}))\s','$1 ')

... square brackets
Formatstring: $regexp(%_directory%,'^[(\d{4})]\s','$1 ')

... curly brackets
Formatstring: $regexp(%_directory%,'^{(\d{4})}\s','$1 ')

... round or square or curly brackets
Formatstring: $regexp(%_directory%,'[2]\s','$1 ')

DD.20140227.0911.CET

  1. [({]\d{4})} ↩︎

  2. ({)} ↩︎
8

HAHAaaaaaa.
EVEN better.
First, it has the ^ character for matching the start of a line.
This makes it more secure, as I was worried about possible collisions with albums that have a year as part of their titles.
Then, a nice touch with more compact \d{4}.
And also, that we don't need $2, just $1.
Nice...

  1. [({]\d{4})} ↩︎

  2. ({)} ↩︎