# Help with smart truncating of long filenames **URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/help-with-smart-truncating-of-long-filenames/16455 **Category:** Support **Created:** [December 31, 2014, 1:40pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/help-with-smart-truncating-of-long-filenames/16455 "2014-12-31T13:40:25Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 1
### Author: ![LaurenBacall](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@LaurenBacall](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LaurenBacall) #### Post date: [December 31, 2014, 1:40pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/help-with-smart-truncating-of-long-filenames/16455/1 "2014-12-31T13:40:25Z")
I've noticed with my regular filename Action that occasionally the full Windows path + filename output will be too long and return an error within Mp3Tag. For example here's one such path that would be too long for Windows, that I ended up truncating manually with an ellipsis: _M:\Music\CDs\Soundtracks\Studio Ghibli\Hayao Miyazaki & Joe Hisaishi Soundtrack Box Set\Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Original Soundtrack)\Joe Hisaishi - Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Original Soundtrack) - 36 - Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Film Version).flac_ The common method of truncating is _$left(%\_filename%,n)_ however this doesn't take into account the filepath, only the filename. Windows reduces the maximum allowed length of filenames based on the full path not just the filename, eg: moved to the Desktop the above file doesn't require truncation as the directory path is shorter. Is there a way to truncate filenames to a certain number of characters taking into account the full file path + filename? ohrenkino also [made the point](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/13324/3) that blindly truncating could lead to duplicates in some cases if the tracknumber gets cut, is there a way to include this prevention as well? Any help and pointers would be appreciated. --- _[View the full topic](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/help-with-smart-truncating-of-long-filenames/16455)._