# writing file creation date to tag with this format : YYYYMMDD (year, month, day)
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/writing-file-creation-date-to-tag-with-this-format-yyyymmdd-year-month-day/11174
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [November 23, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/writing-file-creation-date-to-tag-with-this-format-yyyymmdd-year-month-day/11174 "2010-11-23T16:58:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@abducted](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/abducted)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/writing-file-creation-date-to-tag-with-this-format-yyyymmdd-year-month-day/11174/1 "2010-11-23T16:58:37Z")
Hi, I would like to write the file creation date into the "year" tag.
In fact I know how to do it with "actions" but it is writing it in this format : DD/MM/YYYY
and I prefer this format : YYYYMMDD. SO how to change the date format and write it into
a tag please?
---
### Author:  [@pone](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/pone)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/writing-file-creation-date-to-tag-with-this-format-yyyymmdd-year-month-day/11174/2 "2010-11-23T17:16:24Z")
~~**%\_file\_create\_date%** gives you DD.MM.YYYY not DD/MM/YYYY~~
**$regexp(%\_file\_create\_date%,(..)/(..)/(....),$3$2$1)** gives you YYYYMMDD like you want it.
Edit:
How to write it into a tag:
Action: Format Value
Field: YEAR
Format String: $regexp(%\_file\_create\_date%,(..)/(..)/(....),$3$2$1)
---
### Author:  [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/writing-file-creation-date-to-tag-with-this-format-yyyymmdd-year-month-day/11174/3 "2010-11-23T17:24:03Z")
The format that %\_file\_create\_date% returns depends on your region settings in windows.
So it is possible that it returns DD/MM/YYYY
'. does not escape . You need .
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### Author:  [@abducted](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/abducted)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/writing-file-creation-date-to-tag-with-this-format-yyyymmdd-year-month-day/11174/4 "2010-11-23T17:31:48Z")
I tried and it works ! Thanks (and yes my date format is really DD/MM/YYYY because I'm in France)
And by the way....How to trim the last character of a tag please ? That's because I have some
old files tagged like this : "YYYYMMDD1" and I'd like to delete the "1" from the tag to make it simply "YYYYMMDD". (Of course I could do it manually but I want to create an action for it because there are
many files to process)
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### Author:  [@pone](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/pone)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/writing-file-creation-date-to-tag-with-this-format-yyyymmdd-year-month-day/11174/5 "2010-11-23T17:35:39Z")
> [@dano](#):
>
> The format that %\_file\_create\_date% returns depends on your region settings in windows.
> So it is possible that it returns DD/MM/YYYY
thank you dano, i edited my post.
> [@](#):
>
> '. does not escape . You need .
actually both work, at least at format value.
(thinking about it, maybe not. if **.** is not escaped it can be represented by any character including **.** )
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### Author:  [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/writing-file-creation-date-to-tag-with-this-format-yyyymmdd-year-month-day/11174/6 "2010-11-23T22:59:47Z")
@abducted
_$left(%year%,8)_
gives you the first 8 characters
---
### Author:  [@abducted](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/abducted)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2010, 8:19am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/writing-file-creation-date-to-tag-with-this-format-yyyymmdd-year-month-day/11174/7 "2010-11-24T08:19:04Z")
Thanks Dano !
---
### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:22pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/writing-file-creation-date-to-tag-with-this-format-yyyymmdd-year-month-day/11174/8 "2026-02-09T12:22:42Z")