# Putting Brackets around the year in the filename
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/putting-brackets-around-the-year-in-the-filename/69332
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [August 7, 2025, 1:45am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/putting-brackets-around-the-year-in-the-filename/69332 "2025-08-07T01:45:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@chayes](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/chayes)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2025, 1:45am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/putting-brackets-around-the-year-in-the-filename/69332/1 "2025-08-07T01:45:18Z")
I’m trying to tidy my filenames to make them more uniform. Most have the year in them , which always starts with ‘19’ and always has four digits. I’d like to identify the year and put brackets around the year where it appears. Where the year already has brackets around it , this could of course be left as is.
For example
Roger Wolfe Kahn Orch - Your A Real Sweetheart 1928
Roger Wolfe Kahn Orch, Miff Mole On Trombone
Roseland Dance Orchestra - I've Got A Song For Sale 1923
Roseland Dance Orchestra - Sitting In A Corner 1924
Rudolph Valentino - El Relicario 1923 Brunswick
Rudolph Valentino - Kashmiri Song 1923 Brunswick
Ruth Etting - Ain't Misbehavin'
Ruth Etting - At Sundown (1927)
Ruth Etting - Because My Baby Don't Mean Maybe (1928)
Ruth Etting - Exactly Like You (1930)
Ruth Etting - Goodnight My Love
Ruth Etting - I'm Nobody's Baby
Ruth Etting - It All Depends On You 1929
Ruth Etting - Lonesome And Sorry 1926 (Columbia 644)
Would become
Roger Wolfe Kahn Orch - Your A Real Sweetheart (1928)
Roger Wolfe Kahn Orch, Miff Mole On Trombone
Roseland Dance Orchestra - I've Got A Song For Sale (1923)
Roseland Dance Orchestra - Sitting In A Corner (1924)
Rudolph Valentino - El Relicario (1923) Brunswick
Rudolph Valentino - Kashmiri Song (1923) Brunswick
Ruth Etting - Ain't Misbehavin'
Ruth Etting - At Sundown (1927)
Ruth Etting - Because My Baby Don't Mean Maybe (1928)
Ruth Etting - Exactly Like You (1930)
Ruth Etting - Goodnight My Love
Ruth Etting - I'm Nobody's Baby
Ruth Etting - It All Depends On You (1929)
Ruth Etting - Lonesome And Sorry (1926) (Columbia 644)
Can someone advise how to achieve this , if possible?
Grateful for any help. 🙂
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### Author:  [@anon32189785](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/anon32189785)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2025, 4:42am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/putting-brackets-around-the-year-in-the-filename/69332/2 "2025-08-07T04:42:57Z")
find: ” (19\d\d)” ← starts with a space!
replace: “ (\1)” ← starts with a space!
Just my 2 cents…
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2025, 6:08am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/putting-brackets-around-the-year-in-the-filename/69332/3 "2025-08-07T06:08:10Z")
You could use Convert Tag -\> Tag to see a preview:
Field:
\_FILENAME
Format string:
`$regexp(%_FILENAME%, (19\d\d), ($1))`
The substitution `\1` from @anon32189785 means the same as `$1` in this regular expression `$regexp()`.
The first capturing group is usually referred to as `$1`.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2025, 7:23am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/putting-brackets-around-the-year-in-the-filename/69332/4 "2025-08-07T07:23:54Z")
@anon32189785 : your suggestion looks like a plain “Replace”, yet the expression is a regular one. So it should be mentioned that the action should be of the type “Replace with regular expression”.
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### Author:  [@chayes](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/chayes)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2025, 2:41pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/putting-brackets-around-the-year-in-the-filename/69332/5 "2025-08-07T14:41:00Z")
Thanks guys - that’s working perfectly! Much appreciated. 🙂 🙂
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### Author:  [@anon32189785](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/anon32189785)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2025, 4:28am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/putting-brackets-around-the-year-in-the-filename/69332/6 "2025-08-08T04:28:57Z")
O well, I am not that firm with the Mp3tag syntax, that’s where I rely on you 🙂 Thanks for helping out…
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2025, 4:29am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/putting-brackets-around-the-year-in-the-filename/69332/7 "2025-09-07T04:29:38Z")
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