# Feature request- convert to alphanumeric only
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/feature-request-convert-to-alphanumeric-only/10154
**Category:** General Discussion
**Created:** [March 21, 2010, 6:55am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/feature-request-convert-to-alphanumeric-only/10154 "2010-03-21T06:55:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@indulis](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/indulis)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2010, 6:55am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/feature-request-convert-to-alphanumeric-only/10154/1 "2010-03-21T06:55:35Z")
I'd like to be able to strip out all ' " \ @ etc etc out of the filenames I am generating. I tried $validate() but it still allows ' and ( through. If I had an $alphanum, $alpha, $num functions then I could force the filename to not have any strange characters in it.
- $alphanum(x,)- converts to characters a-z, A-Z and other international letters (ie accented letters) or digits 0-9
- $alpha(x)- converts to characters a-z, A-Z and other international letters (ie accented letters)
- $num(x)- converts to digits 0-9 only
anum
Thanks!!!
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2010, 8:29am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/feature-request-convert-to-alphanumeric-only/10154/2 "2010-03-21T08:29:31Z")
> [@indulis](#):
>
> not have any strange characters in it.
I think that your preferences are a little special as the terms are already occupied by much older conventions.
If you have a particular disliking of some characters ( bracket is a no-no but hyphen is ok?!) you are free to create some actions which search the filename and replace the characters in question.
---
### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2010, 12:02pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/feature-request-convert-to-alphanumeric-only/10154/3 "2010-03-21T12:02:01Z")
> [@indulis](#):
>
> I'd like to be able to strip out all ' " \ @ etc etc out of the filenames I am generating. I tried $validate() but it still allows ' and ( through. ...
My understanding of $validate() is, that this function suppresses only those characters, which are not allowed to be used within a filename or filepath.
The single apostroph and some sort of brackets are allowed characters to create a filename.
A function $num() is already covered in Mp3tag scripting language and would collide with your wish, because of different functionality.
Have you tried the function $replace()?
Example:
$replace('test'$char(39)'test',$char(39),$char(95))
$replace('test''''test',$char(39),_)
$replace('test''''test','',_)
$replace(test''test,'',\_)
... will give the same result:
test\_test
Example:
$replace('äöüÄÖÜß','ä','a','ö','o','ü','u','Ä','A','Ö','O','Ü','U','ß','ss')
$replace(äöüÄÖÜß,ä,a,ö,o,ü,u,Ä,A,Ö,O,Ü,U,ß,ss)
... will give the same result:
aouAOUss
Have you tried the function $regexp?
Example:
$regexp('test123öäütest','[^a-zA-Z0-9]',)
Result:
test123test
Example:
$regexp('test123öäütest','[^a-zA-Z]',)
Result:
testtest
Example:
$regexp('test123öäütest','[a-zA-Zöäü]',)
Result:
123
How to convert Unicode characters to ASCII/ANSI characters read there ....
[Unicode to ASCII](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/7279/1)
[Regexp error](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/9957/6)
[Change Bartók Béla to Bartok Bela (loose the special chars)](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/9129/1)
DD.20100321.1401.CET