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Invoking LilyPond

Usage:

             lilypond [option]... file...
     

When invoked with a filename that has no extension, LilyPond will try to add .ly as an extension first. To have LilyPond read from stdin, use a dash - for file.

When LilyPond processes filename.ly it will produce filename.tex as output (or filename.ps for PostScript output). If filename.ly contains more than one \score block, then LilyPond will output the rest in numbered files, starting with filename-1.tex. Several files can be specified; they will each be processed independently. 1

Command line options

The following options are supported:


-e,--evaluate=expr
Evaluate the Scheme expr before parsing any .ly files. Multiple -e options may be given, they will be evaluated sequentially. The function ly:set-option allows for access to some internal variables. Use -e '(ly:option-usage') for more information.
-f,--format=format
Output format for sheet music. Choices are tex (for TeX output, to be processed with plain TeX, or through ly2dvi), pdftex for PDFTeX input, ps (for PostScript), scm (for a Scheme dump), sk (for Sketch) and as (for ASCII-art).

This option is only for developers. Only the TeX output of these is usable for real work. More information can be found at http://lilypond.org/wiki?OutputFormats.

-h,--help
Show a summary of usage.
--include, -I=directory
Add directory to the search path for input files.
-i,--init=file
Set init file to file (default: init.ly).
-m,--no-paper
Disable TeX output. If you have a \midi definition midi output will be generated.
-M,--dependencies
Output rules to be included in Makefile.
-o,--output=FILE
Set the default output file to FILE.
-v,--version
Show version information
-V,--verbose
Be verbose: show full paths of all files read, and give timing information.
-w,--warranty
Show the warranty with which GNU LilyPond comes. (It comes with NO WARRANTY!)

Environment variables

For processing both the TeX and the PostScript output, you must have appropriate environment variables set. The following scripts do this:

  • buildscripts/out/lilypond-profile (for sh shells)
  • buildscripts/out/lilypond-login (for C-shells)

They should normally be sourced as part of your login process. If these scripts are not run from the system wide login process, then you must run it yourself.

If you use sh, bash, or a similar shell, then add the following to your .profile

     	. lilypond-profile
     

If you use csh, tcsh or a similar shell, then add the following to your ~/.login

     	source lilypond-login
     

These scripts set the following variables

TEXMF
To make sure that TeX and lilypond find data files (among others .tex, .mf and .tfm), you have to set TEXMF to point to the lilypond data file tree. A typical setting would be
          {/usr/share/lilypond/1.6.0,{!!/usr/share/texmf}}
          

GS_LIB
For processing PostScript output (obtained with -f ps) with Ghostscript you have to set GS_LIB to point to the directory containing LilyPond PS files.
GS_FONTPATH
For processing PostScript output (obtained with -f ps) with Ghostscript you have to set GS_FONTPATH to point to the directory containing LilyPond PFA files.

When you print direct PS output, remember to send the PFA files to the printer as well.

The LilyPond binary itself recognizes the following environment variables

LILYPONDPREFIX
This specifies a directory where locale messages and data files will be looked up by default. The directory should contain subdirectories called ly/, ps/, tex/, etc.
LANG
This selects the language for the warning messages of LilyPond.

Footnotes

  1. The status of GUILE is not reset across invocations, so be careful not to change any default settings from within Scheme .


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Please send GNU LilyPond questions and comments to lilypond-user@gnu.org.

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Copyright (c) 1997--2002 Han-Wen Nienhuys and Jan Nieuwenhuizen.

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.


This page was built from LilyPond-1.7.14 (development-branch) by

Buchan Milne <(address unknown)>, Thu Mar 6 21:11:35 2003 CET.