# How to Normalize the Dates
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-normalize-the-dates/10764
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [September 4, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-normalize-the-dates/10764 "2010-09-04T22:10:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jbandes](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/jbandes)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-normalize-the-dates/10764/1 "2010-09-04T22:10:47Z")
I have about 10,000 files and I want to make the year look like this
(1984)
Currently they look like this
(1984.07)
(1977.12.31)
(1988.05)
How do I make them all just keep the year they currently have and eliminate the rest. I just want them all to look like this
(1988)
Thanks
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2010, 6:17am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-normalize-the-dates/10764/2 "2010-09-05T06:17:30Z")
> [@James B](#):
>
> I have about 10,000 files and I want to make the year look like this
> ...
> (1984.07)
> (1977.12.31)
> (1988.05)
>
> ...
> (1988)
If you are sure that the year-part is always the leftmost bit then you could use an action of the type "Format tag field" for the the field YEAR:
Enter as format string
$left(%year%,4)
this leaves the left-most 4 characters.
Beware of dates that looks like this:
31.12.1977 the result would be 31.1
so perhaps you filter your tracks first to make sure you hit the right ones
%year% MATCHES ^\d\d\d\d.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:22pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-normalize-the-dates/10764/3 "2026-02-09T12:22:32Z")