# regex to take the first, last and middle separated by "-"
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regex-to-take-the-first-last-and-middle-separated-by/12171
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [June 19, 2011, 9:28am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regex-to-take-the-first-last-and-middle-separated-by/12171 "2011-06-19T09:28:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@msdobrescu](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/msdobrescu)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2011, 9:28am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regex-to-take-the-first-last-and-middle-separated-by/12171/1 "2011-06-19T09:28:59Z")
Hello,
I have a huge collection in form:
- -
or
- - -
I would need to transform these in:
\ -
\ - ()
using one regex expression (it is really hard to select the right folders of thoscategories one by one, as they are many).
First, I would have been happy to have - at least - the form:
\ - -
but I couldn't create a regex to take the first expression before the first "-".
It seems that lazy/non-greedy "?" expression doesn't work.
What is the solution, the right expression for these?
Thank you,
Mike
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regex-to-take-the-first-last-and-middle-separated-by/12171/2 "2011-06-19T13:11:32Z")
> [@mihai](#):
>
> - -
> or
> - - -
> ...
>
> \ -
> \ - ()
> ...
>
> \ - -
Hi Mike,
do you really use V2.36? I am not quite sure whether my advice is valid for that version, as the current version is 2.49.
Coming to your questions: If you try to rename files then the converter Tag - Filename or Filename - Filename would be suitable. Or an action. Why a regular expression?
You do not have to apply the conversion one by one if you filter your tracks first.
e.g. if you have
- - -
then the filter would be:
%\_filename% MATCHES ._-._-._-._
With the converter filename - filename and the pattern
%1 - %2 - %3 - %4
and the output pattern
%1\%4 - %3 (%2)
you get it.
But, looking at your output examples, you do not seem to be sure what to do with the "extra" you have to find the right pattern.
BTW: why don't you simply apply the converter Tag - Filename in a brute force action.
If you know what the "extra" is, you could use the square brackets to include optional data:
%artist%\%year% - %album%[()]
Or don't you have the data stored in your tags? The I would seriously think about importing that first.
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### Author:  [@msdobrescu](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/msdobrescu)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 6:46am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regex-to-take-the-first-last-and-middle-separated-by/12171/3 "2011-06-20T06:46:53Z")
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> Hi Mike,
> do you really use V2.36? I am not quite sure whether my advice is valid for that version, as the current version is 2.49.
>
> Coming to your questions: If you try to rename files then the converter Tag - Filename or Filename - Filename would be suitable. Or an action. Why a regular expression?
> You do not have to apply the conversion one by one if you filter your tracks first.
> e.g. if you have
>
> - - -
> then the filter would be:
> %\_filename% MATCHES ._-._-._-._
> With the converter filename - filename and the pattern
> %1 - %2 - %3 - %4
> and the output pattern
> %1\%4 - %3 (%2)
> you get it.
> But, looking at your output examples, you do not seem to be sure what to do with the "extra" you have to find the right pattern.
>
> BTW: why don't you simply apply the converter Tag - Filename in a brute force action.
> If you know what the "extra" is, you could use the square brackets to include optional data:
> %artist%\%year% - %album%[()]
> Or don't you have the data stored in your tags? The I would seriously think about importing that first.
Hi,
Regarding the version, it must have been set at the first registering.
Not all the files have tags, I have 2 cases I need to handle through one expression (see, " - " is some data, almost never the same, so I can't make a clear pattern) because there are about 128 gigs of mp3s with many albums coming in some of the 2 forms explained.
I've already managed to have one expression to catch the two patterns, but mp3tag says it converts 0 of 2344 cases, although it makes the changes properly. This confused me
What I couldn't do is the replacement when "extra" stuff is missing.
I get "()" in the result, but I could do a proper rename by looking for and removing the "()".
I actually move the files on a pattern like -\> \.
Mp3Tag is great, although I would prefer a GPL one like puddletag (which claims to be a clone of Mp3Tag) and I plan to move to linux entirely. I do prefer the approach of EasyTag as GUI also.
Thank you.
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:23pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regex-to-take-the-first-last-and-middle-separated-by/12171/4 "2026-02-09T12:23:10Z")