Need help with IF function script

Support
#1

I am wanting to help iTunes sort properly.

At the moment (default sorting) iTunes sorts like this:
If Artist name starts with either "A" or "The" (are there more? I only know of these two) iTunes ignores these.
Example

  • "A Perfect Circle" doesn't get sorted to 'A' but instead to 'P'
  • "The Beatles" doesn't get sorted to 'T' but instead to 'B'

Now I like how iTunes sorts the artists that contain "The" but not "A".
I would like "A Perfect Circle" to be sorted to 'A', but "The Beatles" to be sorted to 'B'.

Now this involves using the tag field PERFORMERSORTORDER.
But I also need an IF function to help me out.
It would search the %artist% field for "The" (which will always be Mixed caps ie not: the, tHe, thE, THe, tHE, ThE, THE; and will always be the first three letters if the %artist% string was to contain one; but not neccessarily the only "The" within the string though).
If the function found a "The" then it would use the %artist% string value, minus the "The", as the value in the PERFORMERSORTORDER tag ("The Beatles" becomes "Beatles"). If it didn't find "The" than it would just use the %artist% string value as it is ("A Perfect Circle" stays as "A Perfect Circle").

Make any sence?

Any help would be much appreciated!

#2

Just copy everything to performersortorder and then use this kind of action to the "The "
Actions

#3

A lot simpler than I thought...

Thanks a lot for that!

#4

Hi Dano,

I want to create an action group to format sorting tags after being filled from normal tag. Starting "The ", "A " etc should be moved to the end of the (sort) tag. E.g. The Beatles -> Beatles, The
There are several SORT tags that need this conversion (album, Artist, Title).

  1. Is it possible to add in the same regular expression several patterns?
$regexp(%artistsortorder%,^The (.+),$1',' The)

$regexp(%artistsortorder%,^A (.+),$1',' A)

 etc.
Maybe using pipeline character could be feasible but I haven't realized yet.
  1. Since the same set of process should be used for several tags is there any way to make it dynamic?

Thank you,
Victor