# Inserting leading characters in the Artist field
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/inserting-leading-characters-in-the-artist-field/41437
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [April 15, 2018, 5:40pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/inserting-leading-characters-in-the-artist-field/41437 "2018-04-15T17:40:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MrBill3](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MrBill3)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2018, 5:40pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/inserting-leading-characters-in-the-artist-field/41437/1 "2018-04-15T17:40:20Z")
Is there any way to insert 2 leading special characters in all Artist fields? For instance, inserting a dash and a space would change "Robert Palmer" to "- Robert Palmer", "Frank Sinatra" to "- Frank Sinatra", etc.
Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2018, 5:43pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/inserting-leading-characters-in-the-artist-field/41437/2 "2018-04-15T17:43:14Z")
see the FAQs:
> [@Actions and batch-operations](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/actions-and-batch-operations/967/4):
>
> How to replace the string "xyz" in tag-fields or filenames? Create a [new action](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/actions/967/2) in an existing action group and choose Replace as action type. Field specifies the parts of the tags/filename the replace rule should be applied to. Original is the string that is going to be changed in Field. Replace with is the string that replaces the string in Original. If you leave it empty, the string will be deleted.
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### Author:  [@MrBill3](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MrBill3)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2018, 5:50pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/inserting-leading-characters-in-the-artist-field/41437/3 "2018-04-15T17:50:48Z")
I may be reading this reply wrong, but I can't see how this relates to my original post.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/inserting-leading-characters-in-the-artist-field/41437/4 "2018-04-15T18:00:17Z")
> How to append the string " xyz" to the content of a tag field?
>
> Create a new action in an existing action group and choose Format value as action type.
>
> ```
> Field specifies the tag field the formatting rule should be applied to.
> Format string must have the field placeholder for the field selected above and the string which should be appended.
>
> ```
>
> Example:
> If you want to append the string " xyz" to the current value of the comment field:
>
> Action type: Format value
> Field: COMMENT
> Format string: %comment% xyz
>
> **You can use this also to add "xyz " in front of the tag value, combine fields or to copy one value to another field.**
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### Author:  [@MrBill3](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MrBill3)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2018, 6:39pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/inserting-leading-characters-in-the-artist-field/41437/5 "2018-04-15T18:39:00Z")
That worked, thanks!
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:27pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/inserting-leading-characters-in-the-artist-field/41437/6 "2026-02-09T12:27:22Z")