# Is it possible to use the modify command to copy data between fields?

**URL:** <https://discourse.beets.io/t/is-it-possible-to-use-the-modify-command-to-copy-data-between-fields/2399>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [September 6, 2023, 9:03pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/is-it-possible-to-use-the-modify-command-to-copy-data-between-fields/2399 "2023-09-06T21:03:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![frankoconnor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6bbea6/32.png) [@frankoconnor](https://discourse.beets.io/u/frankoconnor)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2023, 9:03pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/is-it-possible-to-use-the-modify-command-to-copy-data-between-fields/2399/1 "2023-09-06T21:03:55Z")

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Hi, just started using Beets and it’s amazing! I want to reorganize my music collection and was hoping to use beets to copy information in one field to another.

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**Author:** ![frankoconnor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6bbea6/32.png) [@frankoconnor](https://discourse.beets.io/u/frankoconnor)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 9:32am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/is-it-possible-to-use-the-modify-command-to-copy-data-between-fields/2399/2 "2023-09-07T09:32:42Z")

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I found a solution, not sure if there is a more elegant way.

1. export the tag information you need

> beet ls -f ‘$id,$albumartist’ genre:classical \> tag\_export.csv

2 run this bash script below

> #! /bin/bash  
> while IFS=“,” read -r ID TEXT  
> do  
> beet modify -y comment=“$TEXT” id:“$ID”  
> done \< tag\_export.csv

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**Author:** ![jackwilsdon](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.beets.io/jackwilsdon/32/10_2.png) [@jackwilsdon](https://discourse.beets.io/u/jackwilsdon)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 1:14pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/is-it-possible-to-use-the-modify-command-to-copy-data-between-fields/2399/3 "2023-09-07T13:14:54Z")

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It sounds like you’re looking for [formatted modify](https://github.com/beetbox/beets/issues/488). It was added [here](https://github.com/beetbox/beets/pull/4095) - you can try it out by [installing the latest source version of beets](https://beets.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html#run-the-latest-source-version-of-beets).

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**Author:** ![frankoconnor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6bbea6/32.png) [@frankoconnor](https://discourse.beets.io/u/frankoconnor)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 10:30pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/is-it-possible-to-use-the-modify-command-to-copy-data-between-fields/2399/4 "2023-09-09T22:30:13Z")

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Thanks, that was exactly what I was looking for. Formatted modify is really great feature. Thanks again.

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**Author:** ![viscosity0986](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b9e5f3/32.png) [@viscosity0986](https://discourse.beets.io/u/viscosity0986)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2024, 12:21pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/is-it-possible-to-use-the-modify-command-to-copy-data-between-fields/2399/5 "2024-07-02T12:21:08Z")

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is it possible to do this while autotagging? I don’t want to run modify all the time, I want to put rules in my config file and forget about it