# Possible to force track field to be numeric when tagging from text file?
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/possible-to-force-track-field-to-be-numeric-when-tagging-from-text-file/64737
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [May 21, 2024, 7:05am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/possible-to-force-track-field-to-be-numeric-when-tagging-from-text-file/64737 "2024-05-21T07:05:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jplank](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/jplank)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2024, 7:05am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/possible-to-force-track-field-to-be-numeric-when-tagging-from-text-file/64737/1 "2024-05-21T07:05:48Z")
I have a large collection of bootlegs that are mostly untagged. I'm trying to use MP3tag to tag the files as efficiently as possible and wondering if there's a way I could improve upon what I'm currently doing.
Most of the bootlegs I've downloaded are accompanied by a text file describing the contents and listing the tracks. The track listing is often not at the top of the text file. An example is below:
For something like this, I've been manually copying the tracklisting to a new text document and then using Convert \> Text File - Tag and applying a mask of %track% %title%.
If I skip the step where I copy the tracklisting to a separate file, MP3Tag will attempt to use the first rows in the file and I'll end up with something like this (which is obviously not what I want):
**My question is: Is there any way to tell MP3Tag that the track field must be numeric and that therefore it should ignore any rows that don't start with a number when applying the mask?** This would enable me to skip the step where I copy the tracklist to a new file, which is manageable for just a few bootlegs but becomes time-consuming when tagging dozens/hundreds of bootlegs.
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2024, 7:39am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/possible-to-force-track-field-to-be-numeric-when-tagging-from-text-file/64737/2 "2024-05-21T07:39:01Z")
> [@jplank](#):
>
> Is there any way to tell MP3Tag that the track field must be numeric
In short: no.
If you use Convert\>Text file-Tag then the text files has to have the structure of 1 line per record. Each record is terminated by (cr)(lf).
All other data will lead to problems during the import - as you already found out.
Alternatively, you import the whole text file into a user-defined field in each file and then start processing this field with some more actions to extract the relevant information for that file.
---
### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2024, 7:42am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/possible-to-force-track-field-to-be-numeric-when-tagging-from-text-file/64737/3 "2024-05-21T07:42:42Z")
I don't think, that this is possible with Mp3tag only.
One possibility would be to first extract only the tracklist itself automatically.
You could use a PowerShell-Commandline like this:
`foreach ($file in get-Childitem *.txt) {((Get-Content $file.name) | Select-String -Pattern '^\d+.*$' -AllMatches).Matches.Value | Out-File $file-tracks_only.txt}`
This Powershell-Command would loop through all your \*.txt tracklist files in the current directory, extract only the lines starting with a number into a new file with the addition "-tracks\_only.txt". This file would only contain your lines
```auto
1 Intro
...
21 American Girl
```
Maybe then it is easier to use the Convert "Text File -\> Tag"?
Please be aware that this only works if your tracks are the only lines starting with a number.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:30pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/possible-to-force-track-field-to-be-numeric-when-tagging-from-text-file/64737/4 "2026-02-09T12:30:17Z")