(lilypond-program.info)Invoking abc2ly

---

Next: Invoking etf2ly Prev: Invoking musicxml2ly Up: Converting from other formats

---

Enter node , (file) or (file)node

5.3 Invoking `abc2ly'
=====================

ABC is a fairly simple ASCII based format.  It is described at the ABC
site:

     `http://www.walshaw.plus.com/abc/learn.html'.

   `abc2ly' translates from ABC to LilyPond.  It is invoked as follows:

abc2ly [OPTION]... ABC-FILE

   The following options are supported by `abc2ly':

`-b,--beams=None'
     preserve ABC's notion of beams

`-h,--help'
     this help

`-o,--output=FILE'
     set output filename to FILE.

`-s,--strict'
     be strict about success

`--version'
     print version information.

   There is a rudimentary facility for adding LilyPond code to the ABC
source file.  If you say:

%%LY voices \set autoBeaming = ##f

   This will cause the text following the keyword `voices' to be
inserted into the current voice of the LilyPond output file.

   Similarly,

%%LY slyrics more words

   will cause the text following the `slyrics' keyword to be inserted
into the current line of lyrics.



Known issues and warnings
.........................

The ABC standard is not very `standard'.  For extended features (e.g.,
polyphonic music) different conventions exist.

   Multiple tunes in one file cannot be converted.

   ABC synchronizes words and notes at the beginning of a line;
`abc2ly' does not.

   `abc2ly' ignores the ABC beaming.