' ' (space)

A space in a mask appears as a space in the path/filename that is written. Note that spaces automatically disappear in case they are in the beginning or end of a filename.

'-'

A dash in a mask appears as a dash in the path/filename that is written.

'\'

A slash following a mask element causes a directory to be created.

'.\'

A .\ at the beginning of a mask causes whatever portions of the mask that follow to be written in the same directory as the source file(s).  For example, a mask of C:\My Music\<Artist> - <Title> would write tracks to C:\My Music, but a mask of .\<Artist> - <Title> would write the new filenames into the directories from which the source files originate.

<Artist>

Writes the Artist field to a directory or filename (depending on whether it is followed by a '\')

<Album>

Writes the Album field to a directory or filename (depending on whether it is followed by a '\')

<Title>

Writes the Title field to a directory or filename (depending on whether it is followed by a '\')

<Genre>

Writes the Genre field to a directory or filename (depending on whether it is followed by a '\')

<Disc#>

Writes the Disc Number field to a directory or filename (depending on whether it is followed by a '\')

<Track#>

Writes the Track Number field to a filename (assuming it is not followed by a '\')

<Year>

Writes the Year field to a directory or filename (depending on whether it is followed by a '\')

<Bitrate>

Writes the Bitrate field to a directory or filename (depending on whether it is followed by a '\')

<Album Artist>

Writes the Album Artist field to a directory or filename (depending on whether it is followed by a '\')

<BPM>

Writes the Beats Per Minute field to a directory or filename (depending on whether it is followed by a '\')

<Composer>

Writes the Composer field to a directory or filename (depending on whether it is followed by a '\')

<Custom x>

Writes 1 of the 5 Custom fields to a directory or filename (depending on whether it is followed by a '\')

<Skip:x>

Ignores x characters in the path. Used only for Auto-tag from Filename.

$First(<'Field'>,count,skip)

Limits the number of values for multiple definition fields to count, optionally skipping skip values. For instance:

<Genre> would yield: Rock;Pop;Acoustic

$First(<Genre>) would yield: Rock

$First(<Genre>,2) would yield: Rock;Pop

$First(<Genre>,1,1) would yield: Pop

<'Field':n>

Can be used in conjunction with any of the above mask elements in order to force alphabetic fields to a specified length or to pad alphanumeric fields.  For instance:

C:\My Music\<Artist:1>\<Artist>\<Album> - <Track #> - <Title> which would yield C:\My Music\A\Abba\Gold - 2 - Fernando.mp3 , useful for creating alphabetized directories.

<Track#:2> would yield 07 (for Track=7), and would yield 153 (for Track 153)

<Year:3> would yield 1940 (for 1940); <Year:2> would yield 40 (this latter example is an exception--numeric fields are not otherwise truncated)

Note: For text fields, the resultant characters start from the left.  For numeric fields, the resultant digits start from the right.  If n > the number of characters in the field, then the resultant path is padded with spaces or 0's depending on whether the field is text or numeric.

<'Field':-n>

Same as above except that if n > the number of characters in the field, then the resultant path is padded with spaces or 0's (depending on whether the field is text or numeric) from the opposite side.

<'Field'@n>

Creates alphabetical directories grouped in sets of x letters.  For example: C:\My Music\<Artist@3>\<Title> would create directories with all Artists beginning with ABC, DEF, GHI, etc.

$RemovePrefix(string)

Removes a prefix from a string. e.g. $RemovePrefix(<Artist>) changes 'The Beatles' -> 'Beatles' . Prefixes are configured in Tools > Options > Library > Appearance > Ignore prefixes.

$MovePrefix(string)

Moves a prefix to the end of a string. e.g. $RemovePrefix(<Artist>) changes 'The Beatles' -> 'Beatles, The'. Prefixes are configured in Tools > Options > Library > Appearance > Ignore prefixes.

$Group(string,integer)

Groups the first letter of the string into sets of letters of length specified by (optional) integer parameter. e.g. \$Group(<Artist>,2) for 'U2' would yield \UV (similar to <Artist@2>.

$Replace(string,what,by)

Replaces all occurrences in a 'string' of 'what' by 'by'.

$Left(string,n)

Returns the left n characters of string.

$Right(string,n)

Returns right n characters of string.

$Mid(string,i,n)

Returns n characters of string starting with character i

$Trim(string)

Returns string with spaces trimmed from the beginning and end of string

$Upper(string)

Converts string to uppercase

$Lower(string)

Converts string to lowercase

<Folder:n>

This will recreate all folders in a source path except for the first 'n' directories.  For example: C:\My Music\<Folder:2>\<Title> would create the source directory structure (without the first 2 directories in the source paths), followed by track title.

<Folder:-n>

This will recreate only the last n folders in a source path.  This is very useful when it is known that the source directory is homogeneously structured.

<Playlist>

Writes the Playlist name for any Playlists that have been selected to a folder (assuming it is followed by a '\'). This mask can only be used for CD Burning and Exporting tracks.

<Filename>

<Filename:n>

This recreates the current filename, and can be used with modifiers to force the resultant text to a set length.

<Type>

Writes the file type to a directory \My Music\MP3\U2... or \My Music\M4A\U2....

<Auto Number>

<Auto Number:n>

This creates a sequential number that can be inserted into the path. This is especially useful for inserting into the beginning of a filename when exporting to a device or burning to a CD and you wish for tracks in a playlist to be played in the order of the playlist (rather than alphabetical order). By default, 3 digits are used, though this is configurable.

<Random>

<Random:n>

This creates a random number that can be inserted in the path.  It is most useful for inserting into the beginning of a filename when exporting to a device or burning to a CD and you wish to ensure that the tracks will be played in random (rather than alphabetic) order. By default, 4 digits are used, though this is configurable by setting n.

<Path>

This recreates the same path and filename as the original source file(s).

<Path:n>

This recreates the same path and filename as the original source file(s), without the first n folders of the source path.

<Path:-n>

This recreates the same path and filename as the original source file(s), without the last n elements of the source path.

$if(string + criteria,truevalue,falsevalue)

This allows masks to be used conditionally.  Several examples follow:

To use a mask if 2 fields or a field and a string are equal, use '=' . For example, in the case of an Album Artist differing from the Artist, you may want both to appear in the path:

--- \<Album Artist> - <Album>\<Track#> $If(<Artist>=<Album Artist>,,<Artist> - )<Title>

Similarly, other operators such as <,<=,>,>= and <> can be used. For instance, to return 80's for year 1984:

--- $If(<Year><1990,80's,$If(<Year><2000,90's,2000's))

To use a mask if a field isn't empty, just enter a string without any criteria'. For example:

--- D:\My Music\$If(<Artist>,<Artist:1>,None)\<Artist>$If(<Album>, - <Album>\,)<Title>

--- \$If(<Artist>,<Artist> - ,)$If(<Album>,<Album> - ,)$If(<Track#>,<Track#> ,)<Title>

Note: Make sure to precede all control characters such as ')' or ',' with '$' if you wish them to appear as normal characters. For example:

--- \My Music\$if(<artist>,<artist> (<year>$),Unknown)\<track>

$Len(string)

Returns the length of string. Useful with $If() function.

$Assign(variable,value) and $Use(variable)

Allows variables to be used several times in a mask, e.g. '$Assign(V,A)$Use(V)$Use(V)' produces string 'AA'. This is useful when a complex 'value' (i.e. a mask component) needs to be used several times within a mask.