# Help with path format

**URL:** <https://discourse.beets.io/t/help-with-path-format/1895>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [October 3, 2021, 4:25pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/help-with-path-format/1895 "2021-10-03T16:25:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![boredcollie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc79bd/32.png) [@boredcollie](https://discourse.beets.io/u/boredcollie)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 4:25pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/help-with-path-format/1895/1 "2021-10-03T16:25:31Z")

</div>

Hi, I’m new to beets and I’m struggling configuring the paths.

In MusicBrainz Picard I’m using the following:

```auto
$if2(%albumartistsort%,%albumartist%,%artist%)/
$if(%originalyear%,\(%originalyear%\) ) %album% [%_bits_per_sample%-bit $div(%_sample_rate%,1000)kHz $if(%_source%, %_source%)] $if(%catalognumber%, \(%catalognumber%\))/
$if(%_discfolder%,%_discfolder%/)
$num(%tracknumber%,2) - %artist% - %title%

```

in beets, I started from the basic path I found in the documentation and start adding variable to see what happens; this is the first attempt adding for example “original\_year”:

```auto
paths:
    default: $albumartist/(%original_year%) $album%aunique{} /$track $title
    singleton: Non-Album/$artist/$title
    comp: Compilations/$album%aunique{}/$track $title

```

but it is printing (%original\_year) in the folder name instead of the year.  
I’m trying to escap ( ewith ( and aldo adding the path between " " or ’ ’ but without the expected result.

I’m also trying with if statement like this:

```auto
paths:
    default: $albumartist/$if(%original_year%,\(%original_year%\) ) $album%aunique{} /$track $title
    singleton: Non-Album/$artist/$title
    comp: Compilations/$album%aunique{}/$track $title

```

but still the same.

This is my full config; it’s not definitive as I’m trying beets before runing on my library.

```auto
directory: /mnt/media/beets
library: ~/musiclibrary.db

plugins:
    - web
    - discogs
    - acousticbrainz
    - fromfilename

import:
    move: yes

discogs:
    source_weight: 0.0

acousticbrainz:
    auto: yes

aunique:
    keys: albumartist album
    disambiguators: albumtype year label catalognum albumdisambig releasegroupdisambig
    bracket: "[]"

musicbrainz:
    extra_tags: [year, catalognum, country, media, label]

paths:
    default: $albumartist/(%original_year%) $album%aunique{} /$track $title
    singleton: Non-Album/$artist/$title
    comp: Compilations/$album%aunique{}/$track $title

ui:
    color: yes
    colors:
        text_success: green
        text_warning: yellow
        text_error: red
        text_highlight: red
        text_highlight_minor: lightgray
        action_default: turquoise
        action: blue

```

Other informations:

- I’m on windows 10, running beets in WSL Debian (installed with pip3, not apt)

Thanks for any suggestions.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![boredcollie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc79bd/32.png) [@boredcollie](https://discourse.beets.io/u/boredcollie)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2021, 4:33pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/help-with-path-format/1895/2 "2021-10-03T16:33:51Z")

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Well, feeling dumb because i found the error only after writing this post:

it’s $original\_year and not %original\_year% 🙂

I was confusing % and $