# Remove apostrophes around words **URL:** \ **Category:** Support\ **Created:** [October 21, 2020, 5:50am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-apostrophes-around-words/50536 "2020-10-21T05:50:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![123qweasd](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/1/a9adbd/32.png) [@123qweasd](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/123qweasd)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 5:50am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-apostrophes-around-words/50536/1 "2020-10-21T05:50:06Z")
I have a few songs with words between apostrophes essentially looking for a regular expression (or other solution) to delete apostrophes when they surround a word; Ex: 'phases' should be phases How can I accomplish this without deleting legitimate apostrophes (won't, can't, etc.) ? Couldn't find something similar on the forum Thanks for your assistance ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 7:37am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-apostrophes-around-words/50536/2 "2020-10-21T07:37:56Z")
I would create an action group with 2 actions of the type "Replace" one that searches for blank-apostrophe and replaces that with a blank, second one that searches for apostrophe-blank and replaces that with a blank. I would assume that legitimate apostrophes are surrounded by real letters and have no leading or trailing space characters. ---
**Author:** ![ryerman](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ryerman/32/5285_2.png) [@ryerman](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ryerman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 1:54pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-apostrophes-around-words/50536/3 "2020-10-21T13:54:08Z")
> [@ohrenkino](#): > > I would assume that legitimate apostrophes are surrounded by real letters and have no leading or trailing space characters One exception, in English, is plural possessive nouns that end in 's'. For example: Witches' hats are usually pointed. ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 2:04pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-apostrophes-around-words/50536/4 "2020-10-21T14:04:12Z")
So perhaps this works better: `$regexp(%text%,''(\w+)'',$1)` ---
**Author:** ![123qweasd](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/1/a9adbd/32.png) [@123qweasd](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/123qweasd)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 6:46pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-apostrophes-around-words/50536/5 "2020-10-21T18:46:33Z")
Thanks for your feedback, I ended up using the following so it could also manage sentences; I've tried to account for the plural possesive exception, which works for most use cases, but you'll see an exception below: '(\w[^']\*)' replace match with $1 'Bloc Party' - Hunting for Witches' hats 'Today'.mp3 will become Bloc Party - Hunting for Witches' hats Today.mp3 and 'Bloc Party' - Huntin' for Witches' hats 'Today'.mp3 will become Bloc Party - Huntin' for Witches' hats Today.mp3 however 'Bloc Party' - Don't go Looking for Witches' hats 'Today'.mp3 will become Bloc Party - Dont Go Looking for Witches Hats Today.mp3 So I would essentially need to add something to the Regex which confirms that the first apostrophe must be the first character of a word. I've tried this \b'(\w[^']\*)' but I think the first character can't be both \b AND apostrophe at the same time.... But my knowledge of regex is limited so someone could probably jump in to finalize this. Cheers, ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2020, 2:34pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-apostrophes-around-words/50536/6 "2020-10-22T14:34:34Z")
The more I look at it, the more the whole thing seems to aim at filenames. The best way to deal with filenames is to create them from the tags (again). This would eliminate at least the part with 'Bloc Party'. ---
**Author:** ![123qweasd](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/1/a9adbd/32.png) [@123qweasd](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/123qweasd)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-apostrophes-around-words/50536/7 "2020-10-22T17:13:32Z")
No worries, I only keep artist & title tags and they are derived from filename once cleaned up. Chances are very remote that I'll ever come up with an exception so the regex above should be fine for 99.999% of occurrences... I'll manage the rest😁. Thx for your help! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://community.mp3tag.de/uploads/default/original/2X/c/ce7035d426cb755a7916793326d23b465222a407.png) [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 12:28pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-apostrophes-around-words/50536/8 "2026-02-09T12:28:53Z")