MusicBrainz Picard/Documentation/Scripting

Scripting in Picard

This page describes a simple scripting language implemented in PicardQt.

Syntax

The syntax is derived from Foobar2000's titleformat. There are three base elements: text, variable and function. Variables consist of alpha-numeric characters enclosed in percent signs (e.g. %artist%). Functions start with a dollar sign and end with an argument list enclosed in parentheses (e.g. $lower(...)).

To use parenthesis or commas as-is inside a function call you must escape them with a backslash.

Metadata Variables

See PicardTags for list of variables available in TaggerScript.

Technical Variables

%_extension%

• Extension of the file name. For example mp3 for file 01 Track.mp3.

Functions

$if(if,then,else)

• If if is not empty, it returns then, otherwise it returns else.

$if2(a1,a2,a3,...)

• Returns first non empty argument.

$lower(text)

• Returns text in lower case.

$upper(text)

• Returns text in upper case.

$left(text,num)

• Returns first num characters from text.

$right(text,num)

• Returns last num characters from text.

$num(num,len)

• Returns num formatted to len digits.

$replace(text,search,replace)

• Returns replace in place of text, if search was found in text.

$rsearch(text,pattern)

• Regular expression search. This function will return the first matching group.

$rreplace(text,pattern,replace)

• Regular expression replace.

$in(x,y)

• Returns true, if x contains y.

$unset(name)

• Unsets the variable name.

$set(name, value)

• Sets the variable name to value.

$get(name)

• Returns the variable name (equivalent to %name%).

$copy(new,old)

• Copies metadata from variable old to new. The difference between $set(new,%old%) is that $copy(new,old) copies multi-value variables without flattening them.

$trim(text[,char])

• Trims all leading and trailing whitespaces from text. The optional second parameter specifies the character to trim.

$add(x,y)

• Add y to x.

$sub(x,y)

• Substracts y from x.

$div(x,y)

• Divides x by y.

$mod(x,y)

• Returns the remainder of x divided by y.

$mul(x,y)

• Multiplies x by y.

$or(x,y)

• Returns true, if either x or y not empty.

$and(x,y)

• Returns true, if both x and y are not empty.

$not(x)

• Returns true, if x is empty.

$eq(x,y)

• Returns true, if x equals y.

$ne(x,y)

• Returns true, if x not equals y.

$lt(x,y)

• Returns true, if x is lower than y.

$lte(x,y)

• Returns true, if x is lower than or equals y.

$gt(x,y)

• Returns true, if x is greater than y.

$gte(x,y)

• Returns true, if x is greater than or equals y.

$noop(...)

• Does nothing (useful for comments or disabling a block of code).

$len(text)

• Returns the number of characters in text.

$performer(pattern="", join=", ")

• Returns the performers where the performance type (e.g. "vocal") matches pattern, joined by join.

Examples

Use case 1: Disc numbers

$set(discnumber,$rsearch(%album%,\\\(disc \(\\d+\)\\\)))
$set(album,$rreplace(%album%,\\s\\\(disc \\d+\\\),))

• Would it be possible to trim all of (disc 1: Subtitle Here) and also set the disc number? --AaronCooper (2007-03-07)
  • You can use the plugin from PicardQt/Plugins. --LukasLalinsky
    • %totaldiscs% Doesn't really work, is there some way to fix that? --Madness

Use case 2: Artist names

$if($search(%album%,(feat. conductor)),
  $set(artist,%orchestra%))

• Stupid assumption that all classical albums have "feat. conductor" in the title, but it shows the idea. :)

Use case 3: Live tracks on live albums

$if($and($eq(%releasetype%,live),$not($in(%title%,\(live\)))),$set(title,%title% \(live\)))

Lower case filenames with underscores

$lower($replace(%albumartist%/%album%/$num(%tracknumber%,2) %title%, ,_))

(Year) only if available

$if(%date%,\($left(%date%,4)\))

Remove "feat." from track titles

$set(title,$rreplace(%title%,\\s\\\(feat. [^\)]+\\\),))

Convert triple-dot to ellipsis

$set(title,$replace(%title%,...,…))
$set(album,$replace(%album%,...,…))

This one is useful for people concerned about correct typography and also fixes one problem on Linux: if an album (assuming it's also a directory) is called something like "...for you!", it is considered hidden and therefore might be not accessible from some applications.

Use a different naming pattern for NATs

$if($eq([non-album tracks],%album%),[non-album tracks]/%tracknumber%. %artist% - ,%artist% - $if(%date%, $left(%date%,4) )- %album%/%tracknumber%.)%title%

Result:

• Non-Album Tracks: [non-album tracks]/Band Name - Track Name.ext
• Tracks in releases: Band Name - year - Release Name/##. Track Name.ext