# Title & Artist contain same info, need help tidying this up

**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/title-artist-contain-same-info-need-help-tidying-this-up/13638
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [July 14, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/title-artist-contain-same-info-need-help-tidying-this-up/13638 "2012-07-14T20:20:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![dec77](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/d78d45/32.png) [@dec77](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dec77)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/title-artist-contain-same-info-need-help-tidying-this-up/13638/1 "2012-07-14T20:20:00Z")

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Apologies if this is a regular problem for beginners but I'm having difficulty with this...

my title and artist fields both contain artis and title info eg. Billy Idol - Cradle Of Love (1990)

I've got almost 500 mp3's in this situation and i can't face editing them individually.

How the hell do I fix this with MP3Tag?

Any help would be appreciated

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### Author: ![stevehero](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/stevehero/32/337_2.png) [@stevehero](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/stevehero)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/title-artist-contain-same-info-need-help-tidying-this-up/13638/2 "2012-07-14T21:08:46Z")

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> [@dec77](#):
>
> my title and artist fields both contain artis and title info eg. Billy Idol - Cradle Of Love (1990)

I'm amusing you want the artist and title is there given fields e.g.  
**Artist:** Billy Idol  
**Title:** Cradle Of Love (1990)

First use this filter [F3] to filter out all the titles which only contain one '-' in them so you don't mess up any files with two '-' e.g. 'Billy Idol - Cradle Of Love - (1990)

**"TITLE"**  **MATCHES** **"^[^-]+-[^-]+$"**

Use ![:mt_act:](https://community.mp3tag.de/uploads/default/original/1X/318aa654f7a0c7c178d869991f6e8680b214cfc0.png ":mt\_act:") to set up and action with the '_Guess Values_' action.

Begin Action Group **\_Script Test#TEST**

**Action #1** _Actiontype 7:_ **Import tag fields (guess values)**_Source format \_\_:_ **%title%** _Guessing pattern:_ **%dummy% - %title%**** Action #2 **_Actiontype 7:_** Import tag fields (guess values) **_Source format \_\_:_** %artist% **_Guessing pattern:_** %artist% - %dummy%**

End Action Group **\_Script Test#TEST** (2 Actions)

Please see [FAQ](https://community.mp3tag.de/c/faq-frequently-asked-questions) on how to go about creating actions.

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### Author: ![JJ\_Johnson](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/jj_johnson/32/67_2.png) [@JJ\_Johnson](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/JJ_Johnson)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/title-artist-contain-same-info-need-help-tidying-this-up/13638/3 "2012-07-14T22:20:49Z")

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Do you also want to remove the YEAR? If so:

_Action type:_ **Guess values**  
_Source format:_ **%title%**  
_Guessing pattern:_ **%artist% - %title% (%year%)**

If not, then just:

_Action type:_ **Guess values**  
_Source format:_ **%title%**  
_Guessing pattern:_ **%artist% - %title%**

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### Author: ![dec77](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/d78d45/32.png) [@dec77](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dec77)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/title-artist-contain-same-info-need-help-tidying-this-up/13638/4 "2012-07-14T23:42:11Z")

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Many thanks to both of you. Tags are all sorted now. Quick and easy. 🙂

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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, 12:23pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/title-artist-contain-same-info-need-help-tidying-this-up/13638/5 "2026-02-09T12:23:56Z")

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