# Q: "Split field by separator" usage
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/q-split-field-by-separator-usage/16323
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [November 13, 2014, 12:02pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/q-split-field-by-separator-usage/16323 "2014-11-13T12:02:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@phossler](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/phossler)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2014, 12:02pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/q-split-field-by-separator-usage/16323/1 "2014-11-13T12:02:31Z")
> [@](#):
>
> From Help:
>
> Split field by separator
>
> This action type splits the content of a tag field into multiple separate tag fields based on a given separator character.
I had a TITLE field on 500+ MP3's that look like "TITLE - ARTIST" with the ALBUM and ARTIST fields both set to the same value
I tried to use the [Split Field by Separator] action to split the current TITLE field into 2 pieces and put text after the '-' into
the ARTIST field and the part before the '-' into the TITLE field, both followed by a TRIM()
The online help is a little sparse, and I couldn't find any examples online.
I ended up using a complicated formula, but I'd like to understand the Split Field more for the next time
Thanks
Paul
Using 2.65a
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2014, 1:01pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/q-split-field-by-separator-usage/16323/2 "2014-11-13T13:01:17Z")
Actually, I think you should use an action of the type
"Guess value" (import tag-field). THe split field action is more to create multivalue fields.
Enter as source field:
%title%
Enter as mask: %title% - %artist%
There should not be the necessity to trim anything as the "blank-hyphen-blank" separator should take care of the extra blanks.
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### Author:  [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2014, 1:01pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/q-split-field-by-separator-usage/16323/3 "2014-11-13T13:01:31Z")
Deleted.
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### Author:  [@phossler](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/phossler)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2014, 1:44pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/q-split-field-by-separator-usage/16323/4 "2014-11-13T13:44:10Z")
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> Actually, I think you should use an action of the type
> "Guess value" (import tag-field). THe split field action is more to create multivalue fields.
>
> Enter as source field:
> %title%
> Enter as mask: %title% - %artist%
>
> There should not be the necessity to trim anything as the "blank-hyphen-blank" separator should take care of the extra blanks.
Ahhh -- did NOT even think to try that. Thanks
But can you give me a simple example of how to use the Split Field. There help is too brief for me to figure out
Thanks
Paul
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### Author:  [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2014, 1:57pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/q-split-field-by-separator-usage/16323/5 "2014-11-13T13:57:28Z")
> [@Paul\_Hossler](#):
>
> But can you give me a simple example of how to use the Split Field. There help is too brief for me to figure out
Let us say you have a genre-tag with the content:
Pop/Rock/Folk-Rock/Country
You want to make a Multivalue tag-field insted of this:
Field: Genre
Separator: /
If you look for the result of this action you can see
Pop\Rock\Folk-Rock\Country in the tag panel and
4 Tags of genre in the extented tag-panel (ALT-T).
---
### Author:  [@phossler](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/phossler)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/q-split-field-by-separator-usage/16323/6 "2014-11-13T17:46:31Z")
Got it
Thanks
Now I see why it's not even close to what I wanted to do
Paul
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2024, 11:47am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/q-split-field-by-separator-usage/16323/8 "2024-06-13T11:47:36Z")
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