albumartists separator is \NULL

[T-o-m-H-u]

The separator in the albumartists tag is handled as \␀.

Picard and ffprobe show the correct ; in the tag.

I can handle the separated fields like so.
%first{${albumartists},2,0,\␀,---}
The docs imply ; as the correct separator though.

Running this command in verbose (-vv) mode:

$ beet -vv list -a sonicw
Parsed query: AndQuery([AnyFieldQuery('sonicw', ('album', 'albumartist', 'genre'), SubstringQuery)])
Parsed sort: NullSort()
上原ひろみ\␀Sonicwonder - 2023 - Sonicwonderland
Sending event: cli_exit

Setup

• OS: arch
• Python version: Python 3.13.3
• beets version: beets 2.2.0-1
• Turning off plugins made problem go away (yes/no): no

$  beet --plugins= version
beets version 2.1.0
Python version 3.13.3
no plugins loaded

My configuration (output of beet config) is:

# --------------- Main ---------------

library: library.db
directory: ~/Musik
statefile: state.pickle

# --------------- Plugins ---------------

plugins: []
pluginpath: []

# --------------- Import ---------------

clutter: [Thumbs.DB, .DS_Store]
ignore:
- .*
- '*~'
- System Volume Information
- lost+found
ignore_hidden: yes

import:
    write: yes
    copy: yes
    move: no
    timid: no
    quiet: no
    log:
    default_action: apply
    languages: []
    quiet_fallback: skip
    none_rec_action: ask
    link: no
    hardlink: no
    reflink: no
    delete: no
    resume: ask
    incremental: no
    incremental_skip_later: no
    from_scratch: no
    autotag: yes
    singletons: no
    detail: no
    flat: no
    group_albums: no
    pretend: no
    search_ids: []
    duplicate_keys:
        album: albumartist album
        item: artist title
    duplicate_action: ask
    duplicate_verbose_prompt: no
    bell: no
    set_fields: {}
    ignored_alias_types: []
    singleton_album_disambig: yes

# --------------- Paths ---------------

path_sep_replace: _
drive_sep_replace: _
asciify_paths: no
art_filename: cover
max_filename_length: 90
replace:
    "[\\[\\]\\(\\)\\.\\?\\!\\*\\|\\+\\=\\,\\#~\xA7<>:]": ''
    \&: ''
    \": _
    '[\\/]': ''
    ^\.: ''
    \.$: ''
    '[\x00-\x1f]': ''
    ^-: ''
    _$: ''
    \s+$: ''
    ^\s+: ''
    \s: _
    \': "\u2019"
    -{3}$: ''

aunique:
    keys: albumartist album
    disambiguators: catalognum albumtype year label albumdisambig releasegroupdisambig
    bracket: "\u2014"

sunique:
    keys: artist title
    disambiguators: year trackdisambig
    bracket: "\u2014"

# --------------- Tagging ---------------

per_disc_numbering: yes
original_date: yes
artist_credit: no
id3v23: no
va_name: Various Artists
paths:
    default: "%first{${albumartists},1,0,\\\u2400,\\;}/${year}---$album---${catalognum}/${disc}-${track}---${title}"
    singleton: Non-Album/$genre/$artist_-_$title
    comp: Compilations/$genre/$album%aunique{}/$track_-_$title

# --------------- Performance ---------------

threaded: yes
timeout: 5.0

# --------------- UI ---------------

verbose: 0
terminal_encoding:

ui:
    terminal_width: 80
    length_diff_thresh: 10.0
    color: yes
    colors:
        text_success: [bold, green]
        text_warning: [bold, yellow]
        text_error: [bold, red]
        text_highlight: [bold, red]
        text_highlight_minor: [white]
        action_default: [bold, cyan]
        action: [bold, cyan]
        text: [normal]
        text_faint: [faint]
        import_path: [bold, blue]
        import_path_items: [bold, blue]
        added: [green]
        removed: [red]
        changed: [yellow]
        added_highlight: [bold, green]
        removed_highlight: [bold, red]
        changed_highlight: [bold, yellow]
        text_diff_added: [bold, red]
        text_diff_removed: [bold, red]
        text_diff_changed: [bold, red]
        action_description: [white]

    import:
        indentation:
            match_header: 2
            match_details: 2
            match_tracklist: 5
        layout: column

# --------------- Search ---------------

format_item: "%first{${albumartists},2,0,\\\u2400,--} - $year - $album - $track - $title"
format_album: $albumartists - $year - $album
time_format: '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'
format_raw_length: no

sort_album: albumartist+ original_year+ album+
sort_item: artist+ album+ disc+ track+
sort_case_insensitive: yes

# --------------- Autotagger ---------------

overwrite_null:
    album: []
    track: []
musicbrainz:
    enabled: yes
    host: musicbrainz.org
    https: no
    ratelimit: 1
    ratelimit_interval: 1.0
    searchlimit: 7
    extra_tags:
    - year
    - country
    - media
    - label
    genres: no
    external_ids:
        discogs: no
        bandcamp: no
        spotify: no
        deezer: no
        beatport: no
        tidal: no

match:
    strong_rec_thresh: 0.04
    medium_rec_thresh: 0.25
    rec_gap_thresh: 0.25
    max_rec:
        missing_tracks: medium
        unmatched_tracks: medium
    distance_weights:
        source: 2.0
        artist: 3.0
        album: 3.0
        media: 1.0
        mediums: 1.0
        year: 1.0
        country: 0.5
        label: 0.5
        catalognum: 0.5
        albumdisambig: 0.5
        album_id: 5.0
        tracks: 2.0
        missing_tracks: 0.9
        unmatched_tracks: 0.6
        track_title: 3.0
        track_artist: 2.0
        track_index: 1.0
        track_length: 2.0
        track_id: 5.0
        medium: 1.0
    preferred:
        countries: []
        media: []
        original_year: no
    ignored: []
    required: []
    ignored_media: []
    ignore_data_tracks: yes
    ignore_video_tracks: yes
    track_length_grace: 10
    track_length_max: 30
    album_disambig_fields: data_source media year country label catalognum albumdisambig
    singleton_disambig_fields: data_source index track_alt album

[snejus]

Thanks for reporting this, I had a similar issue with this NULL-based separator. I think it should ideally be configurable, and default to ; indeed. Could you point to where did you find this in the docs?

The docs imply ; as the correct separator though.

[T-o-m-H-u]

It’s mentioned in the description for first. I wouldn’t think it would be necessary for it to be configurable.

%first{text}: Returns the first item, separated by ; (a semicolon followed by a space).