# Tag-Filename: Strip leading "The "

**URL:** <https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tag-filename-strip-leading-the/46692>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [October 10, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tag-filename-strip-leading-the/46692 "2019-10-10T18:10:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![MillmoorRon](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/millmoorron/32/6888_2.png) [@MillmoorRon](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MillmoorRon)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tag-filename-strip-leading-the/46692/1 "2019-10-10T18:10:38Z")

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I use the following Tag-Filename for renaming my files:

%artist%%album%$num(%track%,2) - %title%

Is there a way to strip the leading "The " from %artist% if it exists?

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**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 10, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tag-filename-strip-leading-the/46692/2 "2019-10-10T18:19:50Z")

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You can expand the %artist% to  
`$replace(%artist%,The ,)`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MillmoorRon](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/millmoorron/32/6888_2.png) [@MillmoorRon](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MillmoorRon)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tag-filename-strip-leading-the/46692/3 "2019-10-10T18:49:04Z")

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> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> $replace(%artist%,The ,)

Thank you!

I was expecting to need some complicated RegExp that I wouldn't understand.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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 10, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tag-filename-strip-leading-the/46692/4 "2019-10-10T18:53:03Z")

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You can also use  
`$regexp(%artist%,´^The ,)`

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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, 12:28pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tag-filename-strip-leading-the/46692/5 "2026-02-09T12:28:17Z")

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