# Regex for "\[Live\]"
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regex-for-live/11815
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [April 5, 2011, 9:09am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regex-for-live/11815 "2011-04-05T09:09:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MatthiasM](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MatthiasM)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2011, 9:09am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regex-for-live/11815/1 "2011-04-05T09:09:09Z")
Hi everybody,
I want to tag live albums in a special manner.
All titles of a live album should get a postfix "[Live]" and also the album tag itself.
But if an album or title already contains a "[Live]" at the end it should keep it as is.
This should also include variations like "[Live At Budokan]"
Any idea how I can do this with an action?
I know that an easy regex-match would be
```
\s*(\[Live.*\])\s*$
```
But how can I negate it (matching only lines which doesn't contain this?
And / Or combine it with a replacement?
Could somebody please push me to the right direction?
As we say in German: "Ich stehe auf dem Schlauch" 😉
best regards in advance,
Matthias
---
### Author:  [@pone](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/pone)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2011, 9:37am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regex-for-live/11815/2 "2011-04-05T09:37:03Z")
> [@MatthiasM](#):
>
> I know that an easy regex-match would be
>
> ```
> \s*(\[Live.*\])\s*$
>
> ```
>
> But how can I negate it (matching only lines which doesn't contain this?
> And / Or combine it with a replacement?
Action: Format Value
Field: TITLE
Formatstring: $if($eql($regexp(%title%,'._\s[Live._]\s\*',XXXXX),XXXXX),%title%,%title% '[Live]')
and the same for album
The regex could be expanded to match also live and LIVE and round parenthesis.
---
### Author:  [@MatthiasM](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MatthiasM)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2011, 11:47am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regex-for-live/11815/3 "2011-04-05T11:47:10Z")
Thanks a lot!
That trick with replacing the string only for comparison points me to the right direction 
This is what I'm using now (for the title):
```
$if($eql($regexp(%title%,'[(\[]Live[^)\]]*[)\]]\s*$',XXXXX,1),%title%),%title% '[Live]',$regexp(%title%,'[(\[]Live([^)\]]*)[)\]]\s*$','[Live$1]',1))
```
It ignores case (fourth parameter to regexp), also finds "(Live)" and either adds a "[Live]" to the end or replaces the existing one to be always surrounded by a "[", "]" pair.
Example:
```
"Hello My Friend" -> "Hello My Friend [Live]"
"Hello My Friend [Live]" -> "Hello My Friend [Live]"
"Hello My Friend (Live, US) " -> "Hello My Friend [Live, US]"
"Hello My Friend (Live, US]" -> "Hello My Friend [Live, US]"
```
The latter is an accident because I'm unable to match only character "pairs" (so that a leading "(" only matches to a closing ")" and not to "]")
But that's O.K.
You made my day!
---
### Author:  [@pone](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/pone)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2011, 1:06pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regex-for-live/11815/4 "2011-04-05T13:06:41Z")
> [@MatthiasM](#):
>
> This is what I'm using now (for the title):
>
> ```
> $if($eql($regexp(%title%,'[(\[]Live[^)\]]*[)\]]\s* ,XXXXX,1),%title%),%title% '[Live]',$regexp(%title%,'[(\[]Live([^)\]]*)[)\]]\s* ,'[Live$1]',1))
>
> ```
good one!
---
### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:23pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regex-for-live/11815/5 "2026-02-09T12:23:01Z")