### Author:  [@EnriqueP](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/EnriqueP)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/sort-by-alphabetically-grouped-artist-folders/2897/1 "2006-02-14T16:28:41Z")
Hello, everybody.
I use Mp3Tag to maintain my MP3 collection, that has now grown to include files from 1200+ different artists.
They are grouped by directories, in a quite standard way:
**\%artist%\%album%\%title%**.
That means 1200+ different folders in my root 
Would it be possible to sort them in alphabetical groops? - Something more like
\[INITIAL]\%artist%\%album%\%title%.
To give you an example:
**\A\ABBA\Greatest Hits\Chiquitita.mp3** --\> That "A" could also be something like "ABC", for example.
Any hints, anybody? - If not possible, please move to the "suggestions for next versions" area! 🙂
Thanks and greetings from sunny Spain,
-Enrique
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 6:09pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/sort-by-alphabetically-grouped-artist-folders/2897/2 "2006-02-14T18:09:14Z")
Just use $left(%artist%,1)\%artist%\%album%$num(%track%,2) %title%
🙂
Best regards from winterly Dresden,
~ Florian
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### Author:  [@EnriqueP](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/EnriqueP)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/sort-by-alphabetically-grouped-artist-folders/2897/3 "2006-02-14T18:34:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Just use $left(%artist%,1)\%artist%\%album%$num(%track%,2) %title%
Thank you, Florian. Hey, you're great!
I was fiddling about with the "left" function, but didn't quite get it. In one of my attempts (on a test folder) I managed to move all my non-mp3 files in the folder to a new "MP3" folder that was created in the other corner of my hard disk... but my MP3 files remained unaltered. 
I'm not very good at this, unfortunately.
-Enrique
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/sort-by-alphabetically-grouped-artist-folders/2897/4 "2006-02-14T18:36:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I'm not very good at this, unfortunately.
That's why we have this nice forum here 🙂
Best regards,
~ Florian
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:19pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/sort-by-alphabetically-grouped-artist-folders/2897/5 "2026-02-09T12:19:38Z")