# Remove artist from %title%
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-artist-from-title/67180
**Category:** Mac
**Created:** [January 17, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-artist-from-title/67180 "2025-01-17T16:25:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pixelchef](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/pixelchef)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-artist-from-title/67180/1 "2025-01-17T16:25:36Z")
2025 newbie here. I'm trying to do the same think but can't seem to get the regex right to strip OUT the artist name from the title where present. about half of my 5122 song library has this issue. How can I query with Formatstring to search through all titles, remove any numbers at the start and remove "- artist name" from title.
**Current song titles:**
Song Title: 01 Dear Angie - Beatles
Artist: Beatles
**Desired Song Titles:**
Song Title: Dear Angie
Artist: Beatles
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### Author:  [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2025, 4:46pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-artist-from-title/67180/2 "2025-01-17T16:46:22Z")
Is the source really the title-tag or is it the filename?
If it is the title:
Define an action.
Field: TITLE
Action type: Import Tag Fields
Format String: %track% %title% - %artist% (if you want to fill the track-tag too)
Format String: %dummy% %title% - %artist% (if you don't want the track-tag filled)
> [@Quick Actions and Action Groups](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/quick-actions-and-action-groups/51882):
>
> Mp3tag for Mac provides a variety of Actions, which can be used on filenames and tags. The actions can be applied individually via Actions → Quick Actions ⌥⌘ 6 or be grouped into named and reusable Action Groups via Actions → Actions ⌘ 6. Action Groups serve as repeatable workflows in Mp3tag for Mac. When using Quick Actions you can select one of the different available action types from the list. This action will be applied to the selected files and the changes are saved immediately. Tip 1…
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### Author:  [@pixelchef](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/pixelchef)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2025, 6:48pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-artist-from-title/67180/3 "2025-01-17T18:48:01Z")
Sorry its in the filename
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### Author:  [@pixelchef](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/pixelchef)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-artist-from-title/67180/4 "2025-01-17T18:52:49Z")
Trying to remove the "- artist" as seen in 1st and 2nd filename as well as the numbered file name counts shown lower in the list.
After cleaning this up, is there some way to get iTunes to pick up these file name changes or re-sync the metadata in the player? Hoping to avoid using dougscripts for setting filename to track title...
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### Author:  [@pixelchef](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/pixelchef)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2025, 7:06pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-artist-from-title/67180/5 "2025-01-17T19:06:18Z")
Ah I see it changing the title as I was hoping for thanks @poster. However it's also pruning the first brackets from song titles.
Original:
Title: (Love You) For Sentimental Reasons - Sam Cooke
Using action above:
Title: Love You) For Sentimental Reasons
Desired:
Title: (Love You) For Sentimental Reasons
Any way to prune the artist like you have in the action above without losing the first "("?
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### Author:  [@pixelchef](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/pixelchef)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2025, 8:46pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-artist-from-title/67180/6 "2025-01-17T20:46:01Z")
Video here: [Untitled - Easily share public links](https://imagekit.io/tools/asset-public-link?detail=%7B%22name%22%3A%22track%20issues.mov%22%2C%22type%22%3A%22video%2Fquicktime%22%2C%22signedurl_expire%22%3A%222028-01-17T20%3A45%3A35.588Z%22%2C%22signedUrl%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fmedia-hosting.imagekit.io%2F%2Fa53f6fdd3a654cd2%2Ftrack%2520issues.mov%3FExpires%3D1831754736%26Key-Pair-Id%3DK2ZIVPTIP2VGHC%26Signature%3DFDa7mrqwbCuuhdyRgNqwQFg7eAbkW11qo2vEyeUZncaqC6GHBl08A0h4Qc3IxdWWITQEqWeVXfpniY-hT~zEqITsuYrPvHy3CCHpT~tjd0Kdg~n5DweloEvM9FMeQD3sWD8JIKfXf8YJsDpGTJARXNqVq9vfDXv0c3ud8Z2lsTfnOF4O~QAwEpnjFqUTAir3oq6CBLPl5O~OsUStl54qFCdA3MPrWi7e92Ij36njqxaE2zmnyhvAjLMExX~QjQHauzD~pdSrgshnQwEuWkQ4c3uYG7F07sAsPYGOM~C1dOml4OuSUW1YhgnM6R5WOk9EJCqGqwDqRNCklQBXWetG6Q__%22%7D)
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### Author:  [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2025, 6:07am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-artist-from-title/67180/7 "2025-01-18T06:07:11Z")
> [@pixelchef](#):
>
> Ah I see it changing the title as I was hoping for thanks @poster. However it's also pruning the first brackets from song titles.
Your example was:
> [@pixelchef](#):
>
> **Current song titles:**
> Song Title: 01 Dear Angie - Beatles
> Artist: Beatles
>
> **Desired Song Titles:**
> Song Title: Dear Angie
> Artist: Beatles
In this example there is a tracknumber (01) followed by a space in the title.
If you have other files without a tracknumber in front you can't use the same format string.
You have to use instead
`%title% - %artist%`
That means
_Import the present content of TITLE up to " - " to the title-tag and put the rest to the artist-tag._
Anyway there is an easier way to do the job:
Because I see in your screenshots that the filename is identical to the title and has all necessary informations you can use _Convert → Filename - Tag_ instead of an action. This gives you a immediate preview of the results so you can learn how to build the format string.
> [@Rename Files and Import Tags from Files](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/rename-files-and-import-tags-from-files/51720):
>
> Mp3tag provides a variety of possibilities to get tag information from parts of the filename or to rename files based on the information stored in the tag of a file. The base concept behind all converters in Mp3tag is the format string, which describes a pattern or template of a filename. A format string consists of any characters and predefined placeholders or scripting functions. Every placeholder begins with the percent sign %, followed by a tag field name and ends with the percent sign. …
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### Author:  [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2025, 6:26am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-artist-from-title/67180/8 "2025-01-18T06:26:24Z")
> [@pixelchef](#):
>
> After cleaning this up, is there some way to get iTunes to pick up these file name changes or re-sync the metadata in the player? Hoping to avoid using dougscripts for setting filename to track title...
If you want o change the filename with the new content of your tags you can use
_Convert → Tag - Filename_.
This also gives you an immediate preview.
Build yourself a new filename with the placeholders of the tags, for example
%artist% - % %title%
It its not advisable to concentrate on filenames and only change them. You should rather see that you put your tag contents in order. "01 Dear Angie - Beatles" is definitely not a proper content of a title. The title in this case is "Dear Angie". Once you have your tags-contents in order it is very easy to build a new filename like shown above.
To update the contents of iTunes see here:
> [@Force iTunes To Update Track Info After Using MP3TAG](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/force-itunes-to-update-track-info-after-using-mp3tag/58778):
>
> For those with IOS devices or are simply using iTunes as your primary music manager, you will find that mp3tag is far more flexible and powerful than the built-in Get Info editor. However any changes made outside of iTunes will not automatically be reflected into any music files that have already been loaded. There are two ways to get these changes to be reflected into iTunes. Open the Get Info panel for each track. This will force iTunes to grab the latest metadata info and overwrite whatev…
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2025, 6:27am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-artist-from-title/67180/9 "2025-02-17T06:27:14Z")
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