# Updating one field with contents of another?
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/updating-one-field-with-contents-of-another/13374
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [April 30, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/updating-one-field-with-contents-of-another/13374 "2012-04-30T18:08:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Alistair](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Alistair)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/updating-one-field-with-contents-of-another/13374/1 "2012-04-30T18:08:02Z")
I've searched about and it looks like similar things have been done, but I can't quite see if this is possible:
I want to automatically move text from one field to another. So if the track name contains 'Bobby', I want "Bobby' to be attached to AlbumArtist, and removed from the track name.
I see I can attach 'Bobby' with the Format command from the FAQ... but how can I have it come from another field?
Anyone feeling clever?
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/updating-one-field-with-contents-of-another/13374/2 "2012-04-30T19:39:56Z")
> [@Alistair](#):
>
> ...I want to automatically move text from one field to another. ...Anyone feeling clever?
Dunno about the clever part.
Generally the info from the FAQ [/t/967/1](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/967/1) apply.
So e.g. if you have artist and albumartist and want to append albumartist with artist then use an action of the type "Format tag field" for ALBUMARTIST
enter as formatstring:
%albumartist% %artist%
BTW: What is the "track name"? TITLE? Filename? TRACK? COMMENT?
---
### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 4:57am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/updating-one-field-with-contents-of-another/13374/3 "2012-05-01T04:57:44Z")
> [@Alistair](#):
>
> I've searched about and it looks like similar things have been done, but I can't quite see if this is possible:
> I want to automatically move text from one field to another. So if the track name contains 'Bobby', I want "Bobby' to be attached to AlbumArtist, and removed from the track name.
> I see I can attach 'Bobby' with the Format command from the FAQ... but how can I have it come from another field? Anyone feeling clever?
At first, please explain what is the "track name" (file name or title tag-field or ...)?
It can help to reduce the scope of tracks, that means reduce the number of files in the list view.
Apply the Filter [F3] expression:
**"%\_filename%" HAS "Bobby"**
... or ....
**TITLE HAS "Bobby"**
Does the file name respectively the title tag-field have a strict structure of delimited sub-areas, which would make it possible to automate the wanted process, regardless of what artist name is given by this file
(e. g. "01 - Bobby - My Hobby Music")?
DD.20120501.0900.CEST
---
### Author:  [@Alistair](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Alistair)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/updating-one-field-with-contents-of-another/13374/4 "2012-05-01T17:32:22Z")
Thanks for the replies - by track name I meant the title tag but I'd hope for a generic solution. When you say TITLE HAS "Bobby", where would that be specified - as part of a regular expression?
I'll experiment - is there a way to back up the tag info before I start doing things to it? I see I can export it, but didn't see a way to read that back in.
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/updating-one-field-with-contents-of-another/13374/5 "2012-05-01T18:38:02Z")
> [@Alistair](#):
>
> ... TITLE HAS "Bobby", where would that be specified ...
No, that is a filter.
Press F3 to see the input box at the bottom of the window. Enter the filter as DetlevD has written it.
Also, see the online help on filters.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:23pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/updating-one-field-with-contents-of-another/13374/6 "2026-02-09T12:23:48Z")