# Please help with a regex filter
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/please-help-with-a-regex-filter/59439
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [December 18, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/please-help-with-a-regex-filter/59439 "2022-12-18T22:50:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Fratter](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Fratter)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/please-help-with-a-regex-filter/59439/1 "2022-12-18T22:50:37Z")
I've got some lyrics files formatted like this.
```
[00:12.161]Hey, that shark has pretty teeth, dear
[00:18.822]And he shows 'em, pearly white
[00:24.680]Just a jack knife has MacHeath, dear
[00:31.349]And he keeps it way out of sight
[00:37.453]When that shark bites with his teeth, dear
[00:43.837]Scarlet billows they begin to spread
[00:49.966]Fancy white gloves has MacHeath, dear
[00:56.359]So there's never, never a trace of red
```
I want to turn e.g.
`[00:12.161]`
into
`[00:12.16]`
Is there a way to have a filter show only the tracks that have these lyrics with the seconds to 3 decimal places instead of 2?
So I'm trying to look for any track that has `.xxx]` in &unsyncedlyrics% (xxx stands for any three numbers).
I've already worked out how to remove that 10th chartacter with Actions\>Action (Quick)\>Replace with regular expression\>
Regular expression: ^(.{9}).
Replace matches with: $1
which is great. But I can't work out how to find all the tracks that need fixing.
I feel it's probably possible, having seen [this page](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/filter-expressions/10080/3), especially this example:
> **Filenames that start with two digits not followed by another digit:**
> `%_filename% MATCHES ^\d\d\D`
But I can't work out how to find tracks that have `.xxx]` in &unsyncedlyrics%
Very grateful if you can help. Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/please-help-with-a-regex-filter/59439/2 "2022-12-18T22:59:06Z")
> [@Fratter](#):
>
> %\_filename% MATCHES ^\d\d\D
Maybe a filter with something like
`%UNSYNCEDLYRICS% MATCHES \.\d\d\d\]`
Which means match entries with a dot 3 digits and a closing square bracket.
---
### Author:  [@Fratter](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Fratter)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2022, 5:13am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/please-help-with-a-regex-filter/59439/3 "2022-12-19T05:13:11Z")
Very kind of you, thanks.
I had asked a similar question elsewhere and got the reply below too. Both your and their suggestions work, but I'll just leave this here in case it's useful to someone later ...
> "Any digit" is **`\d`** or [0-9].
> A literal dot is **`\.,`**
> so **`\.\d{3}]`** will search for these time stamps.
> You can also be more specific and only search at the beginning of the line: **`^.{6}\.\d{3}]`**
>
> Or do search and replacement in one step ...
> Regular expression:
> **`^(.{6}\.\d{2})\d]`**
> Replace matches with:
> **`\1]`**
>
> [regex101: build, test, and debug regex](https://regex101.com/r/Yrt5x5/1)
PS. Any idea [how to remove lines lines with Chinese characters from the lyrics field?](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regex-how-can-i-remove-lines-with-chinese-characters-from-the-lyrics-field/59441)
---
### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:30pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/please-help-with-a-regex-filter/59439/4 "2026-02-09T12:30:00Z")