# Partial string when formatting value

**URL:** <https://community.mp3tag.de/t/partial-string-when-formatting-value/17434>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [December 7, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/partial-string-when-formatting-value/17434 "2015-12-07T16:53:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Zoki](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/z/a6a055/32.png) [@Zoki](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zoki)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/partial-string-when-formatting-value/17434/1 "2015-12-07T16:53:31Z")

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Hey there!

I need a bit of help. I have all my mp3 files set up like this: "ARTIST - SONG". For example, "Metallica - For Whom the Bell Tolls" or "Pendulum - Showdown".

Now I finally have a car radio that supports USB and I want to play these songs on it. The problem is that some of the songs have wrong data in specialized category and some don't even have it. Now I want to know, is it possible to command the program to work with substrings? So I would go under Format Value, Field:ARTIST, Format String: filename until the character "-".

I would love it if its possible. Thank you for your help!

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**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/partial-string-when-formatting-value/17434/2 "2015-12-07T16:59:03Z")

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Try the function Convert\>Filename-Tag  
Format string: %artist% - %title%  
to fill both, ARTIST and TITLE

or:  
Format string: %artist% - %dummy%  
to only fill ARTIST

or:  
Format string: %dummy% - %title%  
to only fill TITLE

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**Author:** ![Zoki](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/z/a6a055/32.png) [@Zoki](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zoki)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/partial-string-when-formatting-value/17434/3 "2015-12-07T17:08:26Z")

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> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> Try the function Convert\>Filename-Tag  
> Format string: %artist% - %title%  
> to fill both, ARTIST and TITLE
> 
> or:  
> Format string: %artist% - %dummy%  
> to only fill ARTIST
> 
> or:  
> Format string: %dummy% - %title%  
> to only fill TITLE

THANK YOU. I just corrected tags of like 800 songs in like 5 seconds. Thanks for the help, you did me a big favor.

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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, 12:25pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/partial-string-when-formatting-value/17434/4 "2026-02-09T12:25:59Z")

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Closed on February 9, 2026, 12:25pm UTC