# Manipulating contents of the 'Artist' Field
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/manipulating-contents-of-the-artist-field/70031
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [October 23, 2025, 6:54pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/manipulating-contents-of-the-artist-field/70031 "2025-10-23T18:54:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Shytot](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Shytot)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2025, 6:54pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/manipulating-contents-of-the-artist-field/70031/1 "2025-10-23T18:54:16Z")
Hi
My audio files have the ‘ **Artist** ’ field in the format: **`Various Artist\\The Beatles`**. Is there any way of removing the **`Various Artist\\`** part of the string? I have seen in the ‘How To’ section there is a fix for manipulating the contents of a File Name, but not a Field ( I have almost 2,000 files to change so this would really be a big help).
Many Thanks
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2025, 7:00pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/manipulating-contents-of-the-artist-field/70031/2 "2025-10-23T19:00:24Z")
Please show us a [screenshot](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/hints-for-asking-support-requests/56190#use-screenshots-to-exemplify-the-issue-2) from Alt + T (View -\> Extended Tags) from one of your files.
(Just to be sure if your Various Artist\The Beatles is a multi-value field or two artists in one ARTIST field...)
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2025, 7:57pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/manipulating-contents-of-the-artist-field/70031/3 "2025-10-23T19:57:45Z")
If your current ARTIST is a multi-value field, then you could use
Convert Tag -\> Tag
Field:
`ARTIST`
Format string:
`$replace($meta_sep(ARTIST,'\\'),Various Artist,)`
The above format string would combine the content from all ARTIST fields with two backslashes into one single string and then replace the content "Various Artist" with nothing = delete it.
The preview will display immediately if this works as expected for you.
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### Author:  [@Shytot](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Shytot)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2025, 9:18pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/manipulating-contents-of-the-artist-field/70031/4 "2025-10-23T21:18:43Z")
Hi LyricsLover
Thanks for your replies. I have tried the format string you suggested, and it has almost done the job. It returned : `\\The Beatles`. I have tried changing some aspects of your suggestion to get rid of the ‘`\\`’, but none worked.
I have attached a screenprint of my file format. Here in Windows, the field name is ‘Contributing Artist’, but in MP3Tag, it is simply, ‘Artist’, but I think we’re def talking about the same field in both cases (and The Beatles has also morphed into queen!!).
Cheers
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### Author:  [@Shytot](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Shytot)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2025, 9:35pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/manipulating-contents-of-the-artist-field/70031/5 "2025-10-23T21:35:07Z")
> [@LyricsLover](#):
>
> $replace($meta\_sep(ARTIST,'\'),Various Artist,)
Hi again
Here is a screen print from MP3Tag which shows how it appears there. Sorry I got the `\\` facing the wrong way. I tried changing its direction in your string, but that made no difference and still returned `\\The Beatles`, or in this case, `\\queen`
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2025, 5:50am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/manipulating-contents-of-the-artist-field/70031/6 "2025-10-24T05:50:39Z")
> [@LyricsLover](#):
>
> Please show us a [screenshot](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/hints-for-asking-support-requests/56190#use-screenshots-to-exemplify-the-issue-2) from Alt + T (View -\> Extended Tags) from one of your files.
> [@Shytot](#):
>
> Here is a screen print from MP3Tag which shows how it appears there.
Your screenshot shows the File List. We need a screenshot from View -\> Extended Tags.
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2025, 5:51am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/manipulating-contents-of-the-artist-field/70031/7 "2025-11-23T05:51:09Z")
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