# Tag -\> Filename
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tag-filename/8820
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [August 20, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tag-filename/8820 "2009-08-20T17:17:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tagling](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Tagling)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tag-filename/8820/1 "2009-08-20T17:17:40Z")
Hi,
I have read the FAQ, but haven't found the answer, so I try to ask it.
I've been using Mp3Tag for a long time. It's a beautiful program. One thing keeps me crazy. If I have several versions of a song with different duration (a remix for example), I cannot automatically generate filename from tag, because the file already exists. For the same reason I cannot shorten names to 64 characters.
I have to read the error messages (I rename dozens of files sometimes) and rename files by hand, changing their name according to tag and adding (2), (3) etc to the filename. It's ok to rename 2-3 files, but I have a lot of files.
Is there a way, maybe through Regular Expressions, to check if the file already exists and append a (2), (3), (4) to the end? File manager Total Commander has a function to auto rename copied files. I haven't found anything similar in Mp3Tag options. Maybe I overlooked such a function?
Thanks in advance for help.
---
### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2009, 4:36am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tag-filename/8820/2 "2009-08-21T04:36:05Z")
> [@Tagling](#):
>
> ... rename files by hand, changing their name according to tag and adding (2), (3) etc to the filename. ... Is there a way ... to check if the file already exists and append a (2), (3), (4) to the end? ...
You can use the Mp3tag system variable %\_COUNTER%.
When tag formatting a user tag field with %\_COUNTER% the content of the tag field is set to "1" when first called, second call gives "2" and so on. With some scripting logic around you might create an auto numbering method. Try it out and come back to show us your result!
DD.20090821.0835.CEST
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### Author:  [@ProfessorKaos64](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ProfessorKaos64)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2010, 10:57am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tag-filename/8820/3 "2010-10-08T10:57:27Z")
> [@Tagling](#):
>
> Hi,
>
> I have read the FAQ, but haven't found the answer, so I try to ask it.
>
> I've been using Mp3Tag for a long time. It's a beautiful program. One thing keeps me crazy. If I have several versions of a song with different duration (a remix for example), I cannot automatically generate filename from tag, because the file already exists. For the same reason I cannot shorten names to 64 characters.
>
> I have to read the error messages (I rename dozens of files sometimes) and rename files by hand, changing their name according to tag and adding (2), (3) etc to the filename. It's ok to rename 2-3 files, but I have a lot of files.
>
> Is there a way, maybe through Regular Expressions, to check if the file already exists and append a (2), (3), (4) to the end? File manager Total Commander has a function to auto rename copied files. I haven't found anything similar in Mp3Tag options. Maybe I overlooked such a function?
>
> Thanks in advance for help.
I registered JUST to post my answer to this. I had several files that after I auto tagged, it said "file already exists" and gave it a "00 - .mp3" tag. Wow annoying. The root of all of this is a bad ID3 tag, as noted in one of the fields in Mp3tag. Simply filter you music (in my case by 00 - .mp3) and REMOVE alllllll tag information from those files. And what I did was use winamp or whatever program you want to re-tag the files. After this attempt the rename. After that you should have good files. Worked for me.
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:21pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tag-filename/8820/4 "2026-02-09T12:21:44Z")