# Extract between consistent start-end characters in string?

**URL:** <https://community.mp3tag.de/t/extract-between-consistent-start-end-characters-in-string/17755>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [March 15, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/extract-between-consistent-start-end-characters-in-string/17755 "2016-03-15T20:13:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![auslander](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@auslander](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/auslander)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/extract-between-consistent-start-end-characters-in-string/17755/1 "2016-03-15T20:13:56Z")

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Hi, I'm so sorry if this is somewhere in the FAQ - I looked through but didn't see anything particular to this case.

I was using a player for a while that didn't pick up ALBUM\_ARTIST correctly, so for my compilation albums, I swapped the ALBUM\_ARTIST into the ARTIST field, and appended the ARTIST field into the TITLE field as TITLE (ARTIST).

Now, the player I'm using supports both ARTIST and ALBUM\_ARTIST fields, so I'm trying to go the other way round.

Is there a function available where I can search each string for a beginning "(", extract everything past that, and then stop when it reaches a ")"? All the artist names are of different lengths, but they're all contained within a parentheses.

For example, I'd like to go from this:

Title:  
Such and Such Song (Track Artist Name)

Artist:  
Various Artists

Album Artist:  
Various Artists

to this:

Title:  
Such and Such Song

Artist:  
Track Artist Name

Album Artist:  
Various Artists

Any help is much appreciated!

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**Author:** ![auslander](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@auslander](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/auslander)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/extract-between-consistent-start-end-characters-in-string/17755/2 "2016-03-15T20:34:20Z")

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Dug around and figured it out myself, I just used Guess Values

Source:  
%artist%

Pattern:  
%title% (%artist%)

Bingo! MP3Tag saves me a ton of time once again! 🙂

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**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, 12:26pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/extract-between-consistent-start-end-characters-in-string/17755/3 "2026-02-09T12:26:09Z")

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Closed on February 9, 2026, 12:26pm UTC