# Regular Expressions - Owww!
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regular-expressions-owww/9241
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [November 1, 2009, 8:37am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regular-expressions-owww/9241 "2009-11-01T08:37:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@theonlyrick](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/theonlyrick)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2009, 8:37am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regular-expressions-owww/9241/1 "2009-11-01T08:37:13Z")
Hi - I've need to do a very simple Find & Replace using regex.
I just want to strip the numbers and whitespace out:
01 Hello
02 Why
03 Can't
04 I
05 Work
06 This
07 Out?
What do I need to type into the find box?
Also, please can you account for the hundreds of backslashes, dots, stars and brackets that I'm sure will be needed...
I know it's really not that difficult, so I reckon if I see one simple query explained, I'll be well on my way!
Thanks, Richard
PS: If anyone is having trouble with slightly more advanced regexes, this site looks to be very useful:
[Regex info](http://www.regular-expressions.info/tutorial.html)
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### Author:  [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2009, 9:12am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regular-expressions-owww/9241/2 "2009-11-01T09:12:30Z")
^\d+\s+
^ match at the beginning
\d+ one or more digit
\s+ one or more space/tab
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### Author:  [@theonlyrick](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/theonlyrick)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2009, 11:21pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regular-expressions-owww/9241/3 "2009-11-22T23:21:50Z")
Hi Dano - Sorry for not replying. I thought I had set up an email reminder for this post, and a flaky IDE cable stopped me worrying about my how my MP3s were tagged!
Anyway, I'm gonna give this a go tomorrow, cheers.
R
> [@dano](#):
>
> ^\d+\s+
>
> ^ match at the beginning
> \d+ one or more digit
> \s+ one or more space/tab
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### Author:  [@theonlyrick](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/theonlyrick)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regular-expressions-owww/9241/4 "2009-12-02T20:13:02Z")
That didn't work...
Do I just paste **^\d+\s+** into the 'Original' box, and leave the 'Replace with' box blank?
A normal (non-regex or wildcard) find and replace works, so I know I'm doing it in the right field.
Thanks,
Richard
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### Author:  [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regular-expressions-owww/9241/5 "2009-12-02T20:20:02Z")
It seems you have chosen the wrong action type, it must be **Replace with regular expression**
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### Author:  [@theonlyrick](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/theonlyrick)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regular-expressions-owww/9241/6 "2009-12-02T20:27:39Z")
Doh! 😳
Thank you - that explains a lot! (One thing it explains is why I didn't think I understood regular expressions at all. It didn't matter what I did, even the simplest regex would fail!)
Cheers,
Richard
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### Author:  [@theonlyrick](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/theonlyrick)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regular-expressions-owww/9241/7 "2009-12-02T20:39:37Z")
Cool - that worked 99%.
The full expression didn't work: ^\d+\s+
But this did: \d+\s+
(But I guess I can't use that for a song with digits in the title.)
And then as a test, this worked to remove the first space from a field: ^\s
Any thoughts?
R.
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### Author:  [@theonlyrick](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/theonlyrick)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regular-expressions-owww/9241/8 "2009-12-02T20:46:54Z")
But [your post here](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/967/11) has the answer! 
Over and out....
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:21pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/regular-expressions-owww/9241/9 "2026-02-09T12:21:54Z")