# Replace First Instance of Full Stop With Colon

**URL:** <https://community.mp3tag.de/t/replace-first-instance-of-full-stop-with-colon/18097>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [July 9, 2016, 10:23am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/replace-first-instance-of-full-stop-with-colon/18097 "2016-07-09T10:23:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dasyurus](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/4bbf92/32.png) [@Dasyurus](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Dasyurus)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 10:23am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/replace-first-instance-of-full-stop-with-colon/18097/1 "2016-07-09T10:23:28Z")

</div>

Hi,

I prefer to have only one colon in my classical music file titles, in order to act as a clear delimiter for  
work titles. However, I have discovered I have over 900 files with two colons, because of careless  
tagging.

Therefore, I would like to know if it is possible to find the SECOND instance of a colon  
in a file title and replace it with a full stop/period?

e.g. Symphony in A major, Op. 99: 1: Allegro

```
               needs to change to:

   Symphony in A major, Op. 99: 1. Allegro
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rijkstra](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/rijkstra/32/22_2.png) [@Rijkstra](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Rijkstra)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 2:18pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/replace-first-instance-of-full-stop-with-colon/18097/2 "2016-07-09T14:18:24Z")

</div>

With an action, this works:

_Action type:_ **Replace with regular expression**  
_Field:_ **TITLE**  
_Regular expression:_ **^([^:]_:[^:]_):**  
_Replace matches with:_ **$1.**

[] case-sensitive comparison

Why would you want any colons at all in a field that might be used as a file name?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dasyurus](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/4bbf92/32.png) [@Dasyurus](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Dasyurus)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/replace-first-instance-of-full-stop-with-colon/18097/3 "2016-07-09T22:13:54Z")

</div>

> [@Rijkstra](#):
>
> With an action, this works:
> 
> _Action type:_ **Replace with regular expression**  
> _Field:_ **TITLE**  
> _Regular expression:_ **^([^:]_:[^:]_):**  
> _Replace matches with:_ **$1.**
> 
> [] case-sensitive comparison
> 
> Why would you want any colons at all in a field that might be used as a file name?

I didn't think this would be possible, but you proved me wrong!. Thank you very much.  
As to using separators in the file name, I foolishly allow iTunes to organise my file names,  
but one day I hope to change that.

Regards.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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, 12:26pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/replace-first-instance-of-full-stop-with-colon/18097/4 "2026-02-09T12:26:20Z")

</div>

Closed on February 9, 2026, 12:26pm UTC