# File renaming question
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-renaming-question/10443
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [May 17, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-renaming-question/10443 "2010-05-17T14:24:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@matt\_t](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/matt_t)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-renaming-question/10443/1 "2010-05-17T14:24:39Z")
Here's a tricky one for all you experts! (Of which I am most certainly not one 😉 )
How can I rename a file such as:
02-Accompagnato (Tenor). Comfort ye my people.flac
so it becomes simply
02-Comfort ye my people.flac
i.e. remove all characters up to and including the space after the dot, but leave the first 3 characters (the track number) intact?
And another one: 🙂
How to rename e.g.
15-Thou, Merab, first in birth (Recit. Saul, Merab) - My soul rejects (Air. Merab) - See, with what a scornful air - Ah, lovely youth (Air. Michal).flac
to be
15-Thou, Merab, first in birth - My soul rejects - See, with what a scornful air - Ah, lovely youth.flac
i.e. remove all brackets and their contents, and leave only one space either side of the hyphen?
Possibly I'm asking the impossible, but many thanks in advance anyway!!
---
### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-renaming-question/10443/2 "2010-05-17T14:48:27Z")
> [@Matt](#):
>
> ... How can I rename a file such as:
> 02-Accompagnato (Tenor). Comfort ye my people.flac
> so it becomes simply
> 02-Comfort ye my people.flac
> ...
Set Filter: **%\_FILENAME% MATCHES "^.+-.+.\s+.+$"**
Converter Filename - Filename
Mask old filename: **%1-%2. %3**
Mask new filename: **%1-%3**
> [@Matt](#):
>
> ... How to rename e.g.
> 15-Thou, Merab, first in birth (Recit. Saul, Merab) - My soul rejects (Air. Merab) - See, with what a scornful air - Ah, lovely youth (Air. Michal).flac
> to be
> 15-Thou, Merab, first in birth - My soul rejects - See, with what a scornful air - Ah, lovely youth.flac
> i.e. remove all brackets and their contents, and leave only one space either side of the hyphen?
Set Filter: **%\_FILENAME% MATCHES "^.+-.+\s+(.+)\s+-\s+.+\s+(.+)\s+-\s+.+\s+-\s+.+\s+(.+)$"**
Converter Filename - Filename
Mask old filename: **%1-%2 (%3) - %4 (%5) - %6 - %7 (%8)**
Mask new filename: **%1-%2 - %4 - %6 - %7**
DD.20100517.1858.CEST
---
### Author:  [@matt\_t](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/matt_t)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-renaming-question/10443/3 "2010-05-17T15:28:25Z")
> [@DetlevD](#):
>
> Set Filter: **%\_FILENAME% MATCHES "^.+-.+.\s+.+$"**
> Converter Filename - Filename
> Mask old filename: **%1-%2. %3**
> Mask new filename: **%1-%3**
>
> Set Filter: **%\_FILENAME% MATCHES "^.+-.+\s+(.+)\s+-\s+.+\s+(.+)\s+-\s+.+\s+-\s+.+\s+(.+)$"**
> Converter Filename - Filename
> Mask old filename: **%1-%2 (%3) - %4 (%5) - %6 - %7 (%8)**
> Mask new filename: **%1-%2 - %4 - %6 - %7**
>
> DD.20100517.1858.CEST
Thanks very much, that works a treat!
Sorry, but just one more question regarding my second query: is there an expression which will work however many sets of brackets there are, wherever they occur in the filename? e.g. one that will work for, e.g.:
13-Birth and fortune I despise (Air. David).flac
as well as
15-Thou, Merab, first in birth (Recit. Saul, Merab) - My soul rejects (Air. Merab) - See, with what a scornful air - Ah, lovely youth (Air. Michal).flac
---
### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-renaming-question/10443/4 "2010-05-17T16:06:37Z")
> [@Matt](#):
>
> ... is there an expression which will work however many sets of brackets there are, wherever they occur in the filename? e.g. one that will work for, e.g.:
> 13-Birth and fortune I despise (Air. David).flac
> as well as
> 15-Thou, Merab, first in birth (Recit. Saul, Merab) - My soul rejects (Air. Merab) - See, with what a scornful air - Ah, lovely youth (Air. Michal).flac
This might be possible ...
Set Filter: **%\_FILENAME% MATCHES "\s(.+?)(\s|$)"**
Action "Format Value"
Field: **\_FILENAME**
Formatstring: **$trim($regexp(%\_FILENAME%' ','(\s(.+?)\s)',' '))**
DD.20100517.2006.CEST
---
### Author:  [@matt\_t](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/matt_t)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-renaming-question/10443/5 "2010-05-17T16:13:04Z")
> [@DetlevD](#):
>
> This might be possible ...
> Set Filter: **%\_FILENAME% MATCHES "\s(.+?)(\s|$)"**
> Action "Format Value"
> Field: **\_FILENAME**
> Formatstring: **$trim($regexp(%\_FILENAME%' ','(\s(.+?)\s)',' '))**
>
> DD.20100517.2006.CEST
Detlev, you are a genius! Thank you!
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:22pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-renaming-question/10443/6 "2026-02-09T12:22:23Z")