# How to display total number of artists beginning with a certain letter. **URL:** \ **Category:** Support\ **Created:** [August 2, 2015, 9:22am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-display-total-number-of-artists-beginning-with-a-certain-letter/17114 "2015-08-02T09:22:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Seasider](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Seasider](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Seasider)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 9:22am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-display-total-number-of-artists-beginning-with-a-certain-letter/17114/1 "2015-08-02T09:22:27Z")
Hello. Can anyone tell me if it is possible to request a search that will enable me to get a list of artists beginning with a certain letter of the alphabet, (showing the name once only) and with a total number of entries. At the moment I am filtering with artist IS \*, and get a list, but it shows titles and multiple artist entries, and the totals of those titles rather than the artists. Thanks to anyone who can help - my eyes won't let me count the long lists manually from the screen! Clive. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2015, 10:37am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-display-total-number-of-artists-beginning-with-a-certain-letter/17114/2 "2015-08-02T10:37:21Z")
> [@Seasider](#): > > Hello. Can anyone tell me if it is possible to request a search that will enable me to get a list of artists beginning with a certain letter of the alphabet ... **Filter: ARTIST MATCHES "^a" ... all names with starting lower or upper case A ARTIST MATCHES "(?-i)^a" ... all names with starting lower case A ARTIST MATCHES "(?-i)^A" ... all names with starting upper case A "$left(%ARTIST%,1)" IS "a" ... all names with starting lower or upper case A** DD.20150802.1437.CEST, DD.20150802.1911.CEST **If there is a multi-value ARTIST tag-field, ... e. g. with the content 'NIN\\\\ABC' ... then you can suppress or identify the ARTIST value this way ... "$meta(ARTIST,0)" MATCHES "^a" ... or ... "$meta(ARTIST,1)" MATCHES "^a"** DD.20150804.1826.CEST ---
**Author:** ![Seasider](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Seasider](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Seasider)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 2:28pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-display-total-number-of-artists-beginning-with-a-certain-letter/17114/3 "2015-08-02T14:28:54Z")
Thankyou for your quick reply!! ---
**Author:** ![Seasider](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Seasider](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Seasider)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-display-total-number-of-artists-beginning-with-a-certain-letter/17114/4 "2015-08-04T15:36:27Z")
Thanks again for your efforts which are appreciated. What I am trying to achieve is a list of artists within my music folder, but mentioning them once only - so I end up with an alphabetical inventory of artists whose music is in my collection. I don't know if this is possible? Thanks again. ---
**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:** [August 4, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-display-total-number-of-artists-beginning-with-a-certain-letter/17114/5 "2015-08-04T16:35:09Z")
It will be a little tricky to get that only in MP3tag. A better approach would be to use an export with a statements like this: $filename(csv,utf-16)Artist $loop(%artist%,1)%artist% $loopend() the ,1) grants that every ARTIST is shown only once. You get a text file in the end. ---
**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:** [August 4, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-display-total-number-of-artists-beginning-with-a-certain-letter/17114/6 "2015-08-04T17:11:29Z")
> [@Seasider](#): > > ... What I am trying to achieve is a list of artists within my music folder, but mentioning them once only - so I end up with an alphabetical inventory of artists whose music is in my collection. I don't know if this is possible? Thanks again. Here is an export script, maybe not perfect yet, just for playing with ... **1: $filename($getEnv('USERPROFILE')'\Desktop\Mp3tag.Report.txt',UTF-8)** **2: $loop(%ARTIST%,1)$num(%\_counter%,3)': '$if(%ARTIST%,$meta\_sep(ARTIST,$char(13)$char(10)$repeat($char(32),5)),) 3: $loopend()** DD.20150804.2140.CEST ---
**Author:** ![Seasider](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Seasider](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Seasider)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 8:15am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-display-total-number-of-artists-beginning-with-a-certain-letter/17114/7 "2015-08-05T08:15:23Z")
YES!! With a bit of playing about We got there. Thanks again!! ---
**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, 12:25pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-display-total-number-of-artists-beginning-with-a-certain-letter/17114/8 "2026-02-09T12:25:48Z")
Closed on February 9, 2026, 12:25pm UTC