# using $if($meta(...

**URL:** <https://community.mp3tag.de/t/using-if-meta/15075>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [October 4, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/using-if-meta/15075 "2013-10-04T17:21:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ydope](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Ydope](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Ydope)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/using-if-meta/15075/1 "2013-10-04T17:21:25Z")

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Why does this expression always return "no"?

$if($meta(x),yes,no)

The $if condition is never met even if an explicit use of $meta(x) has a result.

I wanted to use something like this with $meta(x,1) to find (filter) all files where x is a multi-tag. I can work-around if I don't use the $if, just curious why it's like this.

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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:** [October 4, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/using-if-meta/15075/2 "2013-10-04T18:18:35Z")

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Mp3tag's evaluation of boolean values has always been baffling. I can't figure out what it considers true or false most of the time.

Here's one way to do it:

$iflonger($meta(artist,1),0,yes,no)

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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, 12:24pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/using-if-meta/15075/3 "2026-02-09T12:24:41Z")

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Closed on February 9, 2026, 12:24pm UTC