# Regexp and Action Groups **URL:** \ **Category:** Mac\ **Created:** [March 23, 2021, 1:16am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regexp-and-action-groups/52475 "2021-03-23T01:16:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![markoit](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@markoit](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/markoit)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 1:16am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regexp-and-action-groups/52475/1 "2021-03-23T01:16:23Z")
Hi everyone! I am trying to setup an action group that: - if a tag is under `date`, move it to `year` - replace `year` if is formatted in any other way other than `YYYY` I am very confused on how to leverage the scripting capabilities and would appreciate some help! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/florian/32/5759_2.png) [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 6:19am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regexp-and-action-groups/52475/2 "2021-03-23T06:19:50Z")
You'd use two actions in an action group to realize this: 1. _Format tag field_ for `YEAR` with `$if2(%date%,%year%)` This copies the `DATE` to the `YEAR` field, but only if it's present — otherwise the `YEAR` field is left untouched. 2. _Replace with Regular Expression_ for field `YEAR` with `.*?(\d{4}).*` as regular expression and `$1` as replacement. This takes any 4-digit number from the `YEAR` field and forgets the rest. ![ActionGroup-MoveDATEtoYEAR](https://community.mp3tag.de/uploads/default/original/2X/f/f200947aa69672a662cb90736fa5da00947c1193.png) You can go even further and also remove the `DATE` field with an additional action, but sometimes it's good to keep the extra information. ---
**Author:** ![markoit](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@markoit](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/markoit)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regexp-and-action-groups/52475/3 "2021-03-23T19:20:25Z")
Hey Florian, thanks for the examples. I just tried them and they work very well! However, I'm having troubles in understanding the `YEAR` vs `DATE` fields. My understanding is that Mp3Tag maps `YEAR` to `DATE` under the hood. No matter the input or the edits, everything always ends up in the `DATE` field. Is my assumption correct? BTW, this works well for me! I'm just trying to understand more 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/florian/32/5759_2.png) [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regexp-and-action-groups/52475/4 "2021-03-23T19:25:19Z")
The automatic mapping is only done with VorbisComments which are used with FLAC, Ogg, and Opus. It mainly exists to respect the convention of using `DATE` with those file formats, but provide a common field `YEAR` in Mp3tag that can be used across different file formats. ---
**Author:** ![markoit](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@markoit](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/markoit)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 7:47pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regexp-and-action-groups/52475/5 "2021-03-23T19:47:17Z")
Gotcha! One last detail: I loaded a FLAC, and this doesn't work ![image](https://community.mp3tag.de/uploads/default/original/2X/1/1e6344e88250a029fa22bd4cf1c9cac164d44275.png) But if I split those actions into two separate groups and run them one after the other, they work well! Am I missing anything here, or doing something wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/florian/32/5759_2.png) [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 7:50pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regexp-and-action-groups/52475/6 "2021-03-23T19:50:28Z")
I'm not sure what you mean by "this doesn't work" 🙂 If it's related to the `PUBLISHER` field, I'd have a look at the extended tag dialog via Cmd+T and verify it's there. If it's related to the `YEAR`, I'd need more information. ---
**Author:** ![markoit](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@markoit](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/markoit)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regexp-and-action-groups/52475/7 "2021-03-23T19:56:34Z")
Sorry! 😃 The `Publisher` to `Label` action works well, but the second action related to the regexp on the `Year` is not triggered. The second action works well individually, when placed into a group of its own, but not when paired with the first one. ---
**Author:** ![Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/florian/32/5759_2.png) [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 8:09pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regexp-and-action-groups/52475/8 "2021-03-23T20:09:13Z")
Looking closely, it seems that there is a trailing space at the end of the regular expression. Can you check? ---
**Author:** ![markoit](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@markoit](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/markoit)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 8:16pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regexp-and-action-groups/52475/9 "2021-03-23T20:16:03Z")
HA! That was it. Sorry for the confusion Florian, it definitely was my fault haha! ---
**Author:** ![Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/florian/32/5759_2.png) [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regexp-and-action-groups/52475/10 "2021-03-23T20:17:09Z")
No problem, happy it's working now 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://community.mp3tag.de/uploads/default/original/2X/c/ce7035d426cb755a7916793326d23b465222a407.png) [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 8:18pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regexp-and-action-groups/52475/11 "2021-04-22T20:18:05Z")
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