# Replace "and" for "&" except if the start of a string

**URL:** <https://community.mp3tag.de/t/replace-and-for-except-if-the-start-of-a-string/52321>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [March 11, 2021, 12:55am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/replace-and-for-except-if-the-start-of-a-string/52321 "2021-03-11T00:55:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Turbo](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Turbo](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Turbo)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 12:55am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/replace-and-for-except-if-the-start-of-a-string/52321/1 "2021-03-11T00:55:20Z")

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Sorry, I'm a noob. I can't seem to create the correct action that will allow me to replace "and" or "And" for the ampersand sign "&". I can get it to work fine within a string, but I can't get the replacement to ignore words at the start of a title as in "And I Love Her". This comes out as "& I love Her". Please help. Thanks.

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**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Neutron](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Neutron](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Jimmy_Neutron)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 3:37am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/replace-and-for-except-if-the-start-of-a-string/52321/2 "2021-03-11T03:37:22Z")

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Have you tried replacing (space)and(space) with (space)&(space) ?

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**Author:** ![Turbo](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Turbo](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Turbo)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 5:39pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/replace-and-for-except-if-the-start-of-a-string/52321/3 "2021-03-11T17:39:53Z")

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@Jimmy_Neutron, for the start of the string action, I've tried a separate action steps with these variations:

1. \s+ and (?=\s)
2. \s and (?=\s)
3. \s and
4. ^\s and
5. ^\s+ and
6. and (?=\s)

The other action for within the string works fine using a find/replace "and" for "&", matching whole words only. As you can see, I'm stumbling in the dark with the start of the string requirement. Turbo

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**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, 12:29pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/replace-and-for-except-if-the-start-of-a-string/52321/4 "2026-02-09T12:29:07Z")

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