# Getting rid of pauses - in brackets

**URL:** <https://community.mp3tag.de/t/getting-rid-of-pauses-in-brackets/17943>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [May 12, 2016, 4:26pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/getting-rid-of-pauses-in-brackets/17943 "2016-05-12T16:26:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/zerow/32/11379_2.png) [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 4:26pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/getting-rid-of-pauses-in-brackets/17943/1 "2016-05-12T16:26:33Z")

</div>

I have this code

```
Format value: $trim($replace(%TITLE%,' ',''))which removes all pause from my TITLE tag

```

How it should be modified so that it would only removes pauses that happen to be inside brackets? When there could be unspecified and unpredictable number of also other signs than pauses?

So in other words, how to turn for example:

```
Title Of A Song [b]
(Sub-Title Of A Song) [m 2]
{2005 Mix} [m4- 5 e]into:
Title Of A Song [b]
(Sub-Title Of A Song) [m2]
{2005 Mix} [m4-5e]
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2016, 3:13am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/getting-rid-of-pauses-in-brackets/17943/2 "2016-05-13T03:13:40Z")

</div>

QUOTE (zerow @ May 12 2016, 20:26) \<{POST\_SNAPBACK}\>

I have this code

```
Format value: $trim($replace(%TITLE%,' ',''))which removes all pause from my TITLE tag

```

How it should be modified so that it would only removes pauses that happen to be inside brackets? When there could be unspecified and unpredictable number of also other signs than pauses?

So in other words, how to turn for example:

```
Title Of A Song [b]
(Sub-Title Of A Song) [m 2]
{2005 Mix} [m4- 5 e]into:
Title Of A Song [b]
(Sub-Title Of A Song) [m2]
{2005 Mix} [m4-5e]<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

```

A simple replace of a double-blank into a single blank should remove the unpredictable number of space characters.

Then, I guess, you would have to create an action for each leading and each trailing type of bracket to replace a bracket-blank or blank-bracket with just the bracket.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/detlevd/32/123_2.png) [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2016, 6:26am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/getting-rid-of-pauses-in-brackets/17943/3 "2016-05-13T06:26:16Z")

</div>

Remove space characters within a square bracket clamp, which is part of the TITLE string ...

**TEMP \<== $regexp(%TITLE%,'^(.\*?)(\[.\*?\])(.\*?)$','$2') TEMP \<== $regexp(%TEMP%,'\s+',) TITLE \<== $regexp(%TITLE%,'^(.\*?)(\[.\*?\])(.\*?)$','$1'%TEMP%'$3') TEMP \<== $char(0)**

DD.20160514.1055.CEST

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/zerow/32/11379_2.png) [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/getting-rid-of-pauses-in-brackets/17943/4 "2016-05-16T18:23:04Z")

</div>

> [@DetlevD](#):
>
> Remove space characters within a square bracket clamp, which is part of the TITLE string ...
> 
> TEMP \<== $regexp(%TITLE%,'^(.\*?)(\[.\*?\])(.\*?)$','$2')
> 
> TEMP \<== $regexp(%TEMP%,'\s+',)  
> TITLE \<== $regexp(%TITLE%,'^(._?)([._?])(.\*?)$','$1'%TEMP%'$3')  
> TEMP \<== $char(0)

Such a set of format values works

But only for the first brackets. If there is for example something like

```
Title Of A Song A [m e] + Title Of A Song B [b m]it will get turned into
Title Of A Song A [me] + Title Of A Song B [b m]instead of
Title Of A Song A [me] + Title Of A Song B [bm]

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/getting-rid-of-pauses-in-brackets/17943/5 "2016-05-16T18:29:00Z")

</div>

> [@zerow](#):
>
> ...But only for the first brackets. ...

I would say: GIGO - Garbage in, garbage out.  
You only mentioned one pair of brackets in your examples.  
Doesn't a second run of the action rectify the problem?

(And: what about a "Thank you, DetlevD, I forgot to mention that there are some files that have more than one pair of brackets. Could you help me with that as well?")

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/zerow/32/11379_2.png) [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 8:35am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/getting-rid-of-pauses-in-brackets/17943/6 "2016-05-17T08:35:58Z")

</div>

> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> [...]  
> Doesn't a second run of the action rectify the problem?

No it does not

That was my first thought; because I periodically run my big cleaning action group because some work can't be [or I prefer it not to be] done with a single click

> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> (And: what about a "Thank you, DetlevD, I forgot to mention that there are some files that have more than one pair of brackets. Could you help me with that as well?")

**Thank you, DetlevD, I forgot to mention that there are some files that have more than one pair of brackets. Could you help me with that as well?**

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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/getting-rid-of-pauses-in-brackets/17943/7 "2026-02-09T12:26:14Z")

</div>

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