# Trying to remove leading track numbers
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/trying-to-remove-leading-track-numbers/49006
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [May 18, 2020, 10:19am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/trying-to-remove-leading-track-numbers/49006 "2020-05-18T10:19:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@GreatEMU](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/GreatEMU)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2020, 10:19am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/trying-to-remove-leading-track-numbers/49006/1 "2020-05-18T10:19:59Z")
Hello
This post is a litle bit old. But therefor I'm new to this tool.
In the past I used 2 different programms for renaming and tagging. Now i found this programm and it seems, it could solve both task.
There is one little issue I can?t handle.
I want exactly this action described in the post.
But when I start the action, nothing happens.
Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance
Oliver
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2020, 10:30am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/trying-to-remove-leading-track-numbers/49006/2 "2020-05-18T10:30:30Z")
> [@GreatEMU](#):
>
> But therefor I'm new to this tool.
If you are new to this program and you start with an action which then apparently has no effect, it would be nice to hear from you what the input is (literally), what you did (step by step) and what you expected and what the result was.
Or you could have a look at the help, the FAQs, esp. on how to create actions:
> [@Actions and batch-operations](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/actions-and-batch-operations/967):
>
> Mp3tag provides a variety of actions, which can be applied to filenames and tags. The actions are grouped together into named sets (action groups), which can be applied independently via Alt + 6. If you do not want to create a reusable action group for applying one single action, the Actions (Quick) toolbar button or keyboard shortcut Shift + Alt + 6 can be used. How to [create a new action](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/actions/967/2)? How to ... [change upper/lower case of tag fields or filenames](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/actions/967/3)? [replace the string āxyzā in tag-fields ā¦](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/actions/967/4)
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### Author:  [@GreatEMU](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/GreatEMU)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/trying-to-remove-leading-track-numbers/49006/3 "2020-05-18T15:50:27Z")
Thank you for the quick response
Well, I read the help but didn't come clear with regular expressions.
Thanks to your help I made progress by using different actions.
2 problems still remains:
1. Removing leading track numbers for the filename
filename: 12. Max Musterman - My song.mp3
What have I done: I created a new actiongroup and inserted a new action "Replace with regular expression".
My inputs:
Field: \_filename
Regular expression: `^\s*\d+\s*-\s*` (copied from the FAQ)
Replace matches with:
My expectation: Max Musterman - My song.mp3
But after the performing the action the filename is still unchanged.
If I understand that, I may be able to solve the second problem (upper/lower-case) myself.
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/trying-to-remove-leading-track-numbers/49006/4 "2020-05-18T16:14:18Z")
If this is the filename
> [@GreatEMU](#):
>
> 1. Max Musterman - My song.mp3
and you use this pattern in the regular expression
> [@GreatEMU](#):
>
> ^\s\*\d+\s\*-\s\*
then they simply don' match as the expression has a hyphen as separator and the filename has a dot.
But why do you fiddle about with the filename?
Are all the tag fields filled?
If not then it would be much better to import the data from the filename first with
Convert\>Filename-Tag
Pattern: %track%. %artist% - %title%
and then use Convert\>Tag-Filename with
Format string: %artist% - %title%
to create uniform filenames for all files.
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### Author:  [@GreatEMU](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/GreatEMU)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/trying-to-remove-leading-track-numbers/49006/5 "2020-05-18T16:17:54Z")
I just found that out š
Both the way to put together the file name from artist and title as well as the error in my regular expression.
Thanks so far.
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:28pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/trying-to-remove-leading-track-numbers/49006/6 "2026-02-09T12:28:36Z")