# How to eliminate double entry in a field?
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-eliminate-double-entry-in-a-field/10027
**Category:** General Discussion
**Created:** [March 3, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-eliminate-double-entry-in-a-field/10027 "2010-03-03T20:02:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@evergreen1](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/evergreen1)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-eliminate-double-entry-in-a-field/10027/1 "2010-03-03T20:02:12Z")
sometimes i get records with double entry in some fields. for example in the artist field it may be like this....jackson//jackson
i select the records and press alt T. and edit the tag items by deleting the extra entries. if i select multiple records nothing is being done. i have to select records one by one and make the editing. so if i have double entry in five records i have to do it five times. is it possible to select more than one records and make the editing by pressing ALT T ?
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-eliminate-double-entry-in-a-field/10027/2 "2010-03-03T20:10:51Z")
You can remove the field and set it to the desired value (e.g., Jackson).
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### Author:  [@evergreen1](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/evergreen1)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2010, 9:11am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-eliminate-double-entry-in-a-field/10027/4 "2010-03-08T09:11:50Z")
> [@Florian](#):
>
> You can remove the field and set it to the desired value (e.g., Jackson).
but the suggestion is applicable if i have a particular album of a particular artist. if i have an album which contains various artists, and i do have the artist name twice as in my first post, how is it possible to delete and enter the new one for all artists? in that case i have to take each record seperately and to edit the field. by presssing ALT+T i can edit the entries of a single record. i f i select multiple records mp3tag doesn't do anything. i want help on this issue. thanks and have a nice day.
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### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2010, 10:19am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-eliminate-double-entry-in-a-field/10027/5 "2010-03-08T10:19:24Z")
> [@evergreen1](#):
>
> ... i do have the artist name twice as in my first post, how is it possible to delete and enter the new one for all artists? ...
Given is a tag field ARTIST with content "Artist##Artist". You want to have the content to be "Artist".
You can apply an action "Format value" using the $regexp() function or an action "Replace using Regular Expression".
_Actiontype 5:_ **Format tag field**
_Field:_ **ARTIST**
_Formatstring:_ **`$regexp(%ARTIST%,'^(.+?)##\1$','$1')`**
From: **Artist##Artist**
To: **Artist**
The exercise how to modify this example to use it with other separator characters is left to you.
DD.20100308.1220.CET
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### Author:  [@evergreen1](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/evergreen1)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2010, 10:42am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-eliminate-double-entry-in-a-field/10027/6 "2010-03-11T10:42:27Z")
> [@DetlevD](#):
>
> Given is a tag field ARTIST with content "Artist##Artist". You want to have the content to be "Artist".
>
> You can apply an action "Format value" using the $regexp() function or an action "Replace using Regular Expression".
>
> _Actiontype 5:_ **Format tag field**
> _Field:_ **ARTIST**
> _Formatstring:_ **$regexp(%ARTIST%,'^(.+?)##\1$','$1')**
>
> From: **Artist##Artist**
> To: **Artist**
>
> The exercise how to modify this example to use it with other separator characters is left to you.
>
> DD.20100308.1220.CET
unfortunately it doesn;t work.
i have artist\\artist.
i applied as per instructions-format value
field aritst
format string as-------\>$regexp(%ARTIST%,'^(.+?)\\ \\1$','$1')
nothing is done!
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### Author:  [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2010, 11:14am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-eliminate-double-entry-in-a-field/10027/7 "2010-03-11T11:14:00Z")
There's an action "Remove duplicate fields"
Or change the string from DetlevD to
`$regexp($meta_sep(ARTIST,##),'^(.+?)##\1$','$1')`
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### Author:  [@evergreen1](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/evergreen1)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-eliminate-double-entry-in-a-field/10027/8 "2010-03-12T03:25:09Z")
dear dano,
sorry to say that the regexp doesn't work. my seperator is slash.(artist\\artist title\\title etc) i replaced it and tried but the result was in the negative. since my seperator is backslash and there is a backslash in regexp itself. so there will be five backslashes and i doubt whether prog will recognise them properly. i tried with a space between two backslashes but find no improvement.
but to my pleasure the first option (remove dup fields)suggested by dano does work.
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### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2010, 10:01am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-eliminate-double-entry-in-a-field/10027/9 "2010-03-12T10:01:33Z")
> [@evergreen1](#):
>
> ... my seperator is forwardslash.(artist\\artist title\\title etc) ...
Try to learn how to differentiate between "forward slash" and "back slash" and how to use those characters as separators in Mp3tag.
German:
[http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...;oldid=69929904](http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Schr%C3%A4gstrich&oldid=69929904)
[http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...;oldid=71439789](http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Umgekehrter_Schr%C3%A4gstrich&oldid=71439789)
English:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...oldid=349319073](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Slash_(punctuation)&oldid=349319073)
[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...oldid=349020884](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Backslash&oldid=349020884)
DD.20100312.1201.CET
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### Author:  [@evergreen1](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/evergreen1)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-eliminate-double-entry-in-a-field/10027/10 "2010-03-12T20:53:16Z")
thanks to point out my mistake. i have backslash as seperator.
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2021, 10:44am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-eliminate-double-entry-in-a-field/10027/11 "2021-01-07T10:44:08Z")
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