# $meta(x,y): is there a way to tell what #value a tag is?
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/meta-x-y-is-there-a-way-to-tell-what-value-a-tag-is/70268
**Category:** Mac
**Created:** [December 2, 2025, 4:03pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/meta-x-y-is-there-a-way-to-tell-what-value-a-tag-is/70268 "2025-12-02T16:03:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Erichwanh](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Erichwanh)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2025, 4:03pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/meta-x-y-is-there-a-way-to-tell-what-value-a-tag-is/70268/1 "2025-12-02T16:03:23Z")
Mac OS 15.5, Mp3tag 1.9.13
I know tags can’t reference each other, but I’m curious how much I can play with $meta(x,y).
Let’s say I have 3 Performers, and three Instruments:
Performer: Jim\\Mary\\Bob
Instrument: Guitar\\Violin\\Twice-Baked Potato
And %TEMP%, which is just a number.
I can set up my file list to have a column that says:
$meta(PERFORMER,%TEMP%) ($meta(INSTRUMENT,%TEMP%))
And it’ll display like:
Jim (Guitar)
Mary (Violin)
Bob (Twice-Baked Potato)
depending on temp’s value.
Anyway, I know this isn’t a database, but if $meta(performer,1) in this example would bring up “Mary”, is it possible for MP3tag to tell me that “Mary” is value 1 for %PERFORMER%? That way I can “match” it natively for my purposes?
Right now, I know how to recall the first (0) and the last:
$sub($len($meta\_sep(PERFORMER,-)),$len($meta\_sep(PERFORMER,)))
in a group. If there’s no way to know what value a tag is for anything between those two values, I’ll see if I can do some outside the box thinking (unless someone can point me to a resource).
If you got this far, thank you kindly for your time, regardless 8^)
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2025, 5:37pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/meta-x-y-is-there-a-way-to-tell-what-value-a-tag-is/70268/2 "2025-12-02T17:37:48Z")
> [@Erichwanh](#):
>
> $meta(PERFORMER,%TEMP%) ($meta(INSTRUMENT,%TEMP%))
>
> And it’ll display like:
>
> Jim (Guitar)
> Mary (Violin)
> Bob (Twice-Baked Potato)
>
> depending on temp’s value.
If this is supposed to work like a loop then there is no such function in MP3tag.
There is the pseudo-variable %\_counter% that increases its value from file to file but not within a file.
%temp% I think will always have a fixed value in each file
so with e.g. %temp%=2
> [@Erichwanh](#):
>
> $meta(PERFORMER,%TEMP%) ($meta(INSTRUMENT,%TEMP%))
would display only
> [@Erichwanh](#):
>
> Bob (Twice-Baked Potato)
---
### Author:  [@Erichwanh](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Erichwanh)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/meta-x-y-is-there-a-way-to-tell-what-value-a-tag-is/70268/3 "2025-12-02T18:07:10Z")
You’re correct: In my example, %temp% is a fixed number, and it will only display what I define it as. It was for me a more proof-of-concept that a variable could be used within $meta() to isolate a single value. And yes, %\_counter% would work for enumeration between multiple files, but not a singular one.
Hm, now that I’m working backwards a bit, it seems unintuitive how I would expect what I want to work. Because if I say “what’s the number for this tag value”, there could be more than one.
… thinking out loud here, but what if I concatenated with $meta\_sep(PERFORMER,#!#), did a find string in string for the instrument, and counted the amount of separators before it? It would take multiple action groups, but that’s all right.
Thank you kindly once again, I’m always fascinated by this type of stuff.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2026, 7:57am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/meta-x-y-is-there-a-way-to-tell-what-value-a-tag-is/70268/4 "2026-01-08T07:57:50Z")
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