# Make directory from the first letter of an artist.

**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/make-directory-from-the-first-letter-of-an-artist/18045
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [June 18, 2016, 9:12am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/make-directory-from-the-first-letter-of-an-artist/18045 "2016-06-18T09:12:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![krissasaur](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/krissasaur/32/5606_2.png) [@krissasaur](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/krissasaur)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2016, 9:12am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/make-directory-from-the-first-letter-of-an-artist/18045/1 "2016-06-18T09:12:24Z")

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I would like to sort my files to folders by the first letter of the artist.

I found this [old thread](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/1179/1), but "$left("%artist%",1)" isn't working for me.

This is what I did based on the other thread:  
Z:\My Music\<!--coloro:#FF0000--\>$left("%artist%",1)\%artist%\%artist% - %year% - %comment% - %album%[- %discnumber%]

Making a new post since that one was 12 years ago.

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### Author: ![LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/c6cbf5/32.png) [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2016, 9:24am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/make-directory-from-the-first-letter-of-an-artist/18045/2 "2016-06-18T09:24:17Z")

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You can try it with

```
$left(%artist%,1)

```

without quotes.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![krissasaur](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/krissasaur/32/5606_2.png) [@krissasaur](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/krissasaur)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/make-directory-from-the-first-letter-of-an-artist/18045/3 "2016-06-18T18:50:41Z")

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That worked. Thanks!

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### Author: ![system](https://community.mp3tag.de/uploads/default/original/2X/c/ce7035d426cb755a7916793326d23b465222a407.png) [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:26pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/make-directory-from-the-first-letter-of-an-artist/18045/4 "2026-02-09T12:26:18Z")

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