Next: How to read the tutorial, Previous: Simple notation, Up: First steps
LilyPond input files are similar to source files in many common programming languages.
They are case sensitive, and white-space is generally equivalent. Expressions are
formed with curly braces { }, and comments are denoted with % or
%{ ... %}.
If the previous sentence sounds like nonsense, don't worry! We'll explain what all these terms mean:
a, b, s, t) or upper case (i.e.
A, B, S, T). Notes are lower case: { c d e }
is valid input; { C D E } will produce an error message.
{ c d e } means the same thing
as { c d e } and
{
c d
e }
Of course, the previous example is hard to read. A good rule of thumb is to indent code blocks with either a tab or two spaces:
{
c d e
}
A function (such as \relative { }) also counts as a single
music expression.
%{ and %} is
ignored. (Comments do not nest.) The following fragment shows possible uses for comments
% notes for twinkle twinkle follow
c4 c g' g a a g2
%{
This line, and the notes below
are ignored, since they are in a
block comment.
g g f f e e d d c2
%}
There are more tips for constructing input files in
Suggestions for writing LilyPond files.
Next: How to read the tutorial, Previous: Simple notation, Up: First steps
This page is for LilyPond-2.11.28 (development-branch).
Report errors to http://post.gmane.org/post.php?group=gmane.comp.gnu.lilypond.bugs.
Your suggestions for the documentation are welcome.