# How to 'Formet Value' to multiple fields?
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-formet-value-to-multiple-fields/9378
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [November 20, 2009, 5:48am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-formet-value-to-multiple-fields/9378 "2009-11-20T05:48:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@TakuSkan](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/TakuSkan)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2009, 5:48am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-formet-value-to-multiple-fields/9378/1 "2009-11-20T05:48:55Z")
I've been trying to figure out this feature that was added in v2.44:
[http://mp3tag.de/en/changelog.html](http://mp3tag.de/en/changelog.html)
> [@](#):
>
> [2009-05-12] NEW: multiple-valued fields can now also be created via 'Format value' actions (values separated by \\).
I want to copy the contents of the 'BAND' tag to two new tags, 'ALBUMARTIST' AND 'ALBUM ARTIST' in order to deal with the way FooBar2000 handles the tags for compilations.
However I can't get this to work. I'm setting the action like this:
Field: ALBUM ARTIST\\ALBUMARTIST
Formatstring: %BAND%
That doesn't work. Nor does 'ALBUM ARTIST \\ ALBUMARTIST' or '\\ALBUM ARTIST \\ ALBUMARTIST' or any other combinations I can come up with.
Can someone tell me to get this working?
Many thanks...
TS
---
### Author:  [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2009, 6:40am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-formet-value-to-multiple-fields/9378/2 "2009-11-20T06:40:00Z")
Multiple-valued fields means multiple fields with the same name
e.g.
Field: BAND
Format string: band1\\band2
creates two BAND tags.
You obviously want something else. The easiest way would be to make two actions:
Field: ALBUM ARTIST
Format string: %BAND%
Field: ALBUMARTIST
Format string: %BAND%
---
### Author:  [@TakuSkan](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/TakuSkan)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2009, 7:18am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-formet-value-to-multiple-fields/9378/3 "2009-11-20T07:18:51Z")
Okay... Thanks Dano, I was hoping to save some time, but that'll have to do.
Meanwhile I opened a couple files I was testing in a hex editor and noticed that MP3Tag _did_ write the tags. They were written to a TXXX tag as: 'ARTISTABLUM\\ARTIST ALBUM'
They just hadn't show up in their respective fields on the tag panel.
TS
EDIT: I forgot I could set more than one action to run at the same time. That'll save me the time I was hoping for.
---
### Author:  [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2009, 7:57am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-formet-value-to-multiple-fields/9378/4 "2009-11-20T07:57:46Z")
> [@TakuSkan](#):
>
> EDIT: I forgot I could set more than one action to run at the same time. That'll save me the time I was hoping for.
You can have several actions in one action group.
Still, if you want only one action, this can also work:
_Action type:_ **Guess values**
_Source format:_ **%band%~%band%**
_Guessing pattern:_ **%ARTISTABLUM%~%ARTIST ABLUM%**
or
_Action type:_ **Guess values**
_Source format:_ **$repeat(%band%~,2)**
_Guessing pattern:_ **%ARTISTABLUM%~%ARTIST ABLUM%~**
Works if ~ is not in your BAND tag.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:21pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-formet-value-to-multiple-fields/9378/5 "2026-02-09T12:21:58Z")