# How to "Replace"
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-replace/46770
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [October 17, 2019, 6:10am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-replace/46770 "2019-10-17T06:10:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ChiefBigFeather](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ChiefBigFeather)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2019, 6:10am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-replace/46770/1 "2019-10-17T06:10:11Z")
Dear Community,
I've run into a problem defining a new action. I'd like to replace the DATE field in my vorbis tags with the ORIGINALYEAR field, but I can't get it to work.
What I have tried: Make a new action-\>replace. Then I specified Field-\>DATE Original-\>DATE Replace with-\>ORIGINALYEAR. But nothing happens ☹
I'm not sure I'm doing it right, it seems the tool tries to replace a specific string. But I cannot leave the Original field empty.
Would it be possible to check first, if ORIGINALYEAR is empty and only replace DATE if it is not?
Thanks in advance for any help on that matter!
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2019, 6:44am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-replace/46770/2 "2019-10-17T06:44:52Z")
You can only replace what is already there.
So in fact, I think you want to copy one tag field to another.
There is a post in the FAQs for this task:
> [@Actions and batch-operations](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/actions-and-batch-operations/967/15):
>
> How to copy one field value to another field? Example how to copy the content of the ARTIST field to the ALBUMARTIST field: Create a [new action](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/actions/967/2) in an existing action group or make a new action group. Action type: Format value Field: ALBUMARTIST Format string: %artist% Note: If you want to copy all possible values of a field (in case you have multiple artist fields), the internal scripting function [$meta\_sep](https://docs.mp3tag.de/scripting) can be used in the format string, e.g., $meta\_sep(artist,\\\\)
For the conditional check use as
Format string: `$if2(%originalyear%,%date%)
Afterwards you have to remove the field DATE either in the extended tags dialogue or with an action (as part of an action group).
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### Author:  [@ChiefBigFeather](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ChiefBigFeather)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2019, 6:50am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-replace/46770/3 "2019-10-17T06:50:32Z")
Thank you very much for your help!
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:28pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-replace/46770/4 "2026-02-09T12:28:18Z")