# How to flag a tag as being populated
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-flag-a-tag-as-being-populated/6653
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [April 17, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-flag-a-tag-as-being-populated/6653 "2008-04-17T19:11:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@trainwreck](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/trainwreck)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-flag-a-tag-as-being-populated/6653/1 "2008-04-17T19:11:34Z")
I have %lyrics% and album art tagged on my FLAC and MP3 files. For the purpose of an export, I'd like to include a column that simply shows whether the file either has or doesn't have lyrics or album art.
For album art, there is the tag %\_covers% which outputs the number of covers. But for lyrics, I would have to define a new one and set it based on the presence of %lyrics%. What logic do I use for that particular action?
Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-flag-a-tag-as-being-populated/6653/2 "2008-04-18T03:58:37Z")
> [@trainwreck](#):
>
> ... I'd like to include a column that simply shows whether the file either has or doesn't have lyrics ...
In analogy to the info variable %\_covers%, which returns the amount of stored covers, you can count the characters in a lyrics tag field,
e.g. using scripting function '$len(%UNSYNCEDLYRICS%)'.
You may script further checking for cases like 'greater than zero' or 'equal to zero'.
Examples:
1.
$if2($len(%unsyncedlyrics%),)
==\> e. g. true: '991', false: [nothing]
2.
$iflonger(%unsyncedlyrics%,,'Lyrics exist','Lyrics empty')
==\> e. g. true: 'Lyrics exist', false: 'Lyrics empty'
DD.20080418.0928.CEST
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### Author:  [@trainwreck](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/trainwreck)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-flag-a-tag-as-being-populated/6653/3 "2008-04-18T15:49:15Z")
Thanks. That worked.
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### Author:  [@trainwreck](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/trainwreck)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-flag-a-tag-as-being-populated/6653/4 "2008-04-21T12:48:10Z")
Next (related) question... how do I store this text as it's own tag? The reason is that I'm building an export script and need to provide a dedicated tag that says that the tag is populated.
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### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-flag-a-tag-as-being-populated/6653/5 "2008-04-21T13:19:22Z")
> [@trainwreck](#):
>
> ... how do I store this text as it's own tag? ...
What should it be: "this text" and "it's own tag"?
You can use the Mp3tag function literals from above without need to change them in an export script or as a formatstring in an action.
DD.20080421.1719.CEST
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### Author:  [@trainwreck](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/trainwreck)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2008, 1:32pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-flag-a-tag-as-being-populated/6653/6 "2008-04-21T13:32:33Z")
> [@DetlevD](#):
>
> What should it be: "this text" and "it's own tag"?
>
> You can use the Mp3tag function literals from above without need to change them in an export script or as a formatstring in an action.
>
> DD.20080421.1719.CEST
OK. I wasn't aware that it could be used elsewhere. I was able to put that directly in my export script and it's working fine now.
Since that is working I don't **really** need this anymore but I'm curious how it works... how do I store this expression's value ("Lyrics Exist" in this case) as it's own tag? In the column's definition I have:
Value: $iflonger(%lyrics%,,'Lyrics exist','Lyrics empty')
Field: %lyrics\_status%
But when I view the extended tag there is no %lyrics\_status% tag. I could populate it via an Action but it wouldn't be dynamic. Does the [Field] in the column definition not work that way?
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### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-flag-a-tag-as-being-populated/6653/7 "2008-04-21T14:45:15Z")
> [@trainwreck](#):
>
> ... But when I view the extended tag there is no %lyrics\_status% tag. ...
There was a similar problem:
[adding track # to title](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/6667/2)
DD.20080421.1845.CEST
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### Author:  [@trainwreck](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/trainwreck)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-flag-a-tag-as-being-populated/6653/8 "2008-04-21T15:41:16Z")
Got it. Thanks again.
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:20pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-flag-a-tag-as-being-populated/6653/9 "2026-02-09T12:20:54Z")