Configuring Directory and File Formats

When [Ripping Tracks from CDs.htm ripping], converting, synchronizing tracks to a portable device, saving tracks to the virtual CD, burning Tracks to a CD, or auto-organizing tracks, you can select the format in which the directories and filenames will be created. When auto-tagging from filenames, you can select what tags will be written based on the Directory/Filename format. This section describes Directory and File masks that allow you to define these formats.

Concepts

Generally, there are 3 elements to configure when choosing a destination format:

1. Directory: This is chosen using the directory browser button (e.g. C:\My Music), though in some cases (e.g. for burning a CD) there's no need to choose a directory.
2. Directory format: This is chosen using the 'masks' such as \<Artist>\<Album>\ . e.g.
   C:\My Music\<Artist>\<Album>\ would result in
   C:\My Music\U2\The Joshua Tree\
3. Filename format: This is chosen using the 'masks' such as \<Track #> - <Title> . e.g.
   C:\My Music\<Artist>\<Album>\<Track #> - <Title> would result in
   C:\My Music\U2\The Joshua Tree\1 - Where the Streets Have No Name.mp3

Similarly, when using Auto-tag from Filename, 2 elements are configured to read the filename format:

1. Directory format: e.g. \<Artist>\<Album>\ would read \My Music\Beatles\White Album\Song.mp3 and set Artist field to 'Beatles', and Album field to 'White Album'
2. Filename format: e.g. \<Artist> - <Title> would read \U2 - God and set Artist field to 'U2' and Title field to 'God'

Mask Reference

The table below describes most of the commonly used characters and fields in a mask.

' ' (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.

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