.TH "ABCM2PS" "1" 
.SH "NAME" 
abcm2ps \(em translate ABC music notation to PostScript 
.SH "SYNOPSIS" 
.PP 
\fBabcm2ps\fR [\fIoptions\fR]  [\fIabc-file\fR \fI[file-options]\fR]  [...]  
.PP 
\fBabcm2ps\fR [\fB-h\fP]  
.SH "DESCRIPTION" 
.PP 
\fBabcm2ps\fR translates tunes written in 
the ABC music notation format to customary sheet music scores in 
PostScript. It is based on \fBabc2ps\fR 1.2.5 and was 
developed mainly to print Baroque organ scores that have 
independent voices played on multiple keyboards and a 
pedal-board. The program has since been extended to support 
various other notation conventions in use for sheet music. 
.PP 
Options given immediately after the command name apply to 
the run as a whole; options given after an ABC file name apply 
to that file. 
.PP 
Formatting parameters can also be set in `format files' and 
in the ABC files themselves. 
.SH "OPTIONS" 
.IP "\fB-0\fP" 10 
Split tunes across page breaks if necessary. 
.IP "\fB+0\fP" 10 
Start a new page if a tune doesn't fit on the current 
one (default). 
.IP "\fB-1\fP" 10 
Output one tune per page. 
.IP "\fB+1\fP" 10 
Output multiple tunes per page (default). 
.IP "\fB-a \fIa\fR\fP" 10 
Maximal horizontal compression when staff breaks are 
chosen automatically. Must be between 0 and 1. This 
corresponds to the 
`\fB%%maxshrink\fP \fIa\fR' 
formatting parameter (default: 0.65) 
.IP "\fB-A\fP" 10 
This option inserts reference elements in the 
PostScript or SVG output. 
.IP "\fB-B \fIb\fR\fP" 10 
Try to typeset \fIb\fR bars on 
each staff line. This corresponds to the 
`\fB%%barsperstaff\fP \fIb\fR' 
formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB+B\fP" 10 
Don't try to typeset a fixed number of bars on each 
staff line (default). This corresponds to the 
`\fB%%barsperstaff\fP \fB0\fP' 
formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB-b \fIb\fR\fP" 10 
Start measure numbering at \fIb\fR. 
.IP "\fB-c\fP" 10 
The continuation symbol is implicitly appended to each 
music line. This amounts to automatic line breaking. 
.IP "\fB+c\fP" 10 
Automatic line breaking is turned off (default). 
.IP "\fB-D \fIdirectory\fR\fP" 10 
Search format files in 
\fIdirectory\fR. 
.IP "\fB-d \fIlength\fR\fP" 10 
Set the vertical interstaff space to 
\fIlength\fR. This corresponds to the 
`\fB%%staffsep\fP \fIlength\fR' 
formatting parameter (default: 46pt) 
.IP "\fB-E\fP" 10 
Output is generated in EPS format, one file per page. 
.IP "\fB-e \fIlist\fR\fP" 10 
Select which tunes from an ABC file to print. 
\fIlist\fR is either a 
comma-separated list of tune numbers (as per the `X:' 
header), or a regular expression which will be matched 
against the tune headers as a whole. The 
\fB-e\fP option must occur after an ABC file 
name and applies to that file. 
.IP "" 10 
Ranges of tune numbers may 
be specified like 
\fIt1\fR-\fIt2\fR; 
\fIt2\fR may be omitted which means 
`all remaining tunes until the end of file'. Note that 
filtering may cause problems, e.g., with global (non-tune) 
definitions in the ABC file. 
.IP "\fB-F \fIfile\fR\fP" 10 
Read the format file 
\fIfile\fR.fmt. 
.IP "\fB+F\fP" 10 
Do not read the default format file. 
.IP "\fB-f\fP" 10 
Enable flat beams (useful for bagpipe tunes).  This 
corresponds to the 
`\fB%%flatbeams\fP \fB1\fP' 
formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB-G\fP" 10 
Omit slurs on grace notes. This corresponds to the 
`\fB%%graceslurs\fP \fB0\fP' 
formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB+G\fP" 10 
Draw slurs on grace notes (default). This corresponds 
to the `\fB%%graceslurs\fP \fB1\fP' 
formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB-g\fP" 10 
Produce SVG output instead of EPS. In this mode, each 
tune goes to a separate file whose name 
is `Out\fInnn\fR.svg' (see 
option \fB-O\fP). 
.IP "" 10 
If output is directed to stdout 
(`\fB-O-\fP'), all SVG images are output 
without an XML header. 
.IP "\fB-H\fP" 10 
Display the current values of the formatting parameters. 
.IP "\fB-h\fP" 10 
Display program usage hints and quit. 
.IP "\fB-I \fIlength\fR\fP" 10 
Indent the first line of the tune by 
\fIlength\fR (default: 0). 
This corresponds to the 
`\fB%%indent\fP \fIlength\fR' 
formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB-i\fP, \fB+i\fP" 10 
Insert a red circle around errors in the PostScript 
output. 
.IP "\fB-j\fIb\fR\fI[b]\fR\fP" 10 
Output a measure number every 
\fIb\fR measures. If 
\fIb\fR is 0, the measure number 
appears at the left of each staff. The trailing 
\fBb\fP causes a box to be drawn around each 
measure number (default: no measure numbering). 
This corresponds to the \fB%%measurenb\fP 	    formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB+j\fP" 10 
Don't output measure numbers. This corresponds to 
the `\fB%%measurenb\fP \fB-1\fP' 
formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB-k\fP" 10 
Sets the size of the PostScript output buffer in 
kibibytes. Specifying a higher value permits the generation 
of big tunes with \fB-E\fP 	    or \fB-g\fP (default: 64). 
.IP "\fB-l\fP" 10 
Generate landscape output. This corresponds to the 
`\fB%%landscape\fP \fB1\fP' 
formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB+l\fP" 10 
Generate portrait output (default). This corresponds 
to the `\fB%%landscape\fP \fB0\fP' 
formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB-M\fP" 10 
Suppress lyrics. See the \fB%%writefields\fP             formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB+M\fP" 10 
Include lyrics (default). See the \fB%%writefields\fP             formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB-m \fIlength\fR\fP" 10 
Set the left margin to 
\fIlength\fR (default: 1.8cm). This 
corresponds to the 
`\fB%%leftmargin\fP \fIlength\fR' 
formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB-N\fI[mode]\fR\fP" 10 
Number pages according to the 
\fImode\fR: 
.RS 
.IP "\fB0\fP" 10 
no page numbers 
.IP "\fB1\fP" 10 
page numbers at top left 
of page 
.IP "\fB2\fP" 10 
page numbers at top right 
of page 
.IP "\fB3\fP" 10 
page numbers at top left of 
even-numbered pages, top right of odd-numbered 
pages 
.IP "\fB4\fP" 10 
page numbers at top right of 
even-numbered pages, top left of odd-numbered 
pages 
.RE 
.IP "" 10 
For compatibility, 
\fB-N\fP is equivalent to 
\fB-N2\fP (default: \fB-N0\fP). 
.IP "" 10 
If a header is defined using 
`\fB%%header\fP', this option is ignored. 
.IP "\fB+N\fP" 10 
Equivalent to \fB-N0\fP (no page 
numbering). 
.IP "\fB-n\fP" 10 
Include notes and history from ABC tune `N:' 
fields. See the \fB%%writefields\fP formatting 
parameter. 
.IP "\fB+n\fP" 10 
Omit notes and history from ABC tune `N:' fields 
(default). See the \fB%%writefields\fP formatting 
parameter. 
.IP "\fB-O \fIname\fR\fP" 10 
Define the output file name. By default, the output 
file name is `Out.ps' for PostScript output, 
`Out\fInnn\fR.eps' for EPS output (see 
\fB-E\fP), or 
`Out\fInnn\fR.svg' for SVG output 
(see 
\fB-g\fP), where \fInnn\fR 	    is a sequence number. If this option is given, the output 
name will be \fIname\fR (for 
PostScript output), or \fIname\fR 	    will replace `Out' in the output file name (for EPS and 
SVG output), respectively. If 
\fIname\fR is `=', the output file name 
will be the name of the ABC source file with the extension 
`.ps', `.eps', or `.svg'. If \fIname\fR is `\-', 
the output is written to stdout. 
.IP "\fB+O\fP" 10 
Revert to the default output file name (`Out.ps' or 
`Out\fInnn\fR.eps') 
.IP "\fB-q\fP" 10 
Quiet mode, only error messages will be shown. 
.IP "\fB-S\fP" 10 
Secure mode; disables file inclusion via 
\fB%%format\fP and \fB%%EPS\fP             and disallows direct PostScript injection via 
\fB%%beginps\fP and 
\fB%%postscript\fP. 
.IP "\fB-s \fIscale\fR\fP" 10 
Set the page scale factor to 
\fIscale\fR. Note that the header and 
footer are not scaled (default: 0.75). This corresponds 
to the 
`\fB%%scale\fP \fIscale\fR' 
formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB-T\fIn\fR[\fIvoice\fR]\fP, \fB+T\fIn\fR[\fIvoice\fR]\fP" 10 
Activate (or deactivate) tabulature 
drawing. \fIn\fR is the tabulature 
number as defined in \fB%%tabulature\fP           (up to a maximum of 8 tabulatures), 
and \fIvoice\fR is the voice name, 
full name or subname as found in \fBV:\fP. When 
this is absent, the option applies to all voices. Up to 4 
such options may be given. See 
also \fBformat.txt\fP. 
.IP "\fB-V\fP" 10 
Output version number and quit. 
.IP "\fB-v\fP" 10 
Produce SVG output instead of simple PS. In this mode, 
each page goes to a separate output file called 
`Out\fInnn\fR.svg' (see 
option \fB-O\fP). 
.IP "\fB-w \fIlength\fR\fP" 10 
Adjust the right margin such that the staff width is 
\fIlength\fR (default: none). This 
corresponds to the 
`\fB%%staffwidth\fP \fIlength\fR' 
formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB-X\fP" 10 
Produce XML+SVG output instead of simple PS. The 
default file name is `Out.xhtml' (see option `\-O'). 
.IP "\fB-x\fP" 10 
Include the `X:' tune number in the title. See 
the \fB%%writefields\fP formatting parameter. 
.IP "\fB+x\fP" 10 
Do not include the `X:' tune number in the title 
(default). See the \fB%%writefields\fP formatting 
parameter. 
.SH "FORMATTING PARAMETERS" 
.PP 
Abcm2ps supports a vast number of formatting parameters that 
govern the appearance of the typeset output. Please refer to 
the \fB/usr/share/doc/abcm2ps/format.txt\fP file or 
the formatting parameter documentation on the 
\fIofficial 
abcm2ps web site (link to URL http://moinejf.free.fr/abcm2ps-doc/index.html) \fR. 
.SH "ADDITIONAL FEATURES" 
.SS "Clefs" 
.PP 
Clefs can be given in \fBK:\fP and 
\fBV:\fP headers. The full syntax is 
 
.PP 
.nf 
[\fBclef=\fP]\fItype\fR[\fIline\fR][\fB+8\fP|\fB-8\fP] [\fBmiddle=\fP\fIpitch\fR]          
.fi 
 
.PP 
The `\fBclef=\fP' can be omitted when the 
\fItype\fR is a clef name. 
 
.PP 
\fItype\fR denotes the clef type. It may 
be: 
 
.IP "A note pitch (\fBG\fP, \fBC\fP, or \fBF\fP)" 10 
The pitch indicates which clef is meant: 
\fBG\fP is the treble clef, 
\fBC\fP the alto clef and 
\fBF\fP the bass clef. It also gives the 
name of the note that appears on the clef's line. 
.IP "A clef name" 10 
The available clef names are 
\fBtreble\fP (clef gives the pitch for 
\fBG\fP), \fBalto\fP or 
\fBtenor\fP (\fBC\fP), and 
\fBbass\fP (\fBF\fP) 
.IP "\fBperc\fP or \fBP\fP" 10 
In percussion mode, accidentals change the glyphs used 
for note heads. By default, sharp notes are drawn as `x' 
and flat notes as circled `x'. This may be changed by 
redefining the PostScript 
functions \fBpshhd\fP and \fBpflhd\fP. 
.IP "\fBnone\fP" 10 
No clef will be displayed. 	 
.PP 
The \fIline\fR gives the number of the 
line within the staff that the base clef will be written 
on. The default values are 2 for the treble clef, 3 for the 
alto clef, and 4 for the tenor and bass clefs. 
 
.PP 
The \fB+8\fP and \fB-8\fP options 
draw an 8 above or below the staff, respectively. 
`\fBmiddle=\fP\fIpitch\fR' 
(or `\fBm=\fP\fIpitch\fR', 
for short) is an alternative way of defining the line number 
of the clef: 
The \fIpitch\fR indicates what note will be 
displayed on the middle line of the staff. 
.PP 
When no clef is specified, clef changes between 
\fBbass\fP and \fBtreble\fP will be 
inserted automatically. 
 
.SS "Multi-voice typesetting" 
.PP 
Multiple voices may be defined within the header or the 
tune using 
 
.PP 
.nf 
\fBV:\fP\fIname\fR \fIdefinition\fR ... 
 
.fi 
.PP 
where \fIname\fR is a word consisting of 
letters and digits only (like \fBviolin1\fP). In 
the tune body, the following notes refer to this voice until 
another \fBV:\fP is encountered. A 
\fIdefinition\fR can be one of: 
 
.IP "\fBclef=\fP..." 10 
See above 
.IP "\fBname=\fP\fIname\fR or \fBnm=\fP\fIname\fR" 10 
The \fIname\fR will be 
displayed at the beginning of the first staff. It can 
contain \fB\\n\fP sequences which will 
force line breaks. If it contains whitespace it must be 
double-quoted. 
.IP "\fBsubname=\fP\fIname\fR or \fBsnm=\fP\fIname\fR" 10 
The \fIname\fR will be 
displayed at the beginning of all staves except for the 
first. It can 
contain \fB\\n\fP sequences which will 
force line breaks. If it contains whitespace it must be 
double-quoted. 
.IP "\fBmerge\fP" 10 
The voice goes on the same staff as the previous 
voice. 
.IP "\fBup\fP or \fBdown\fP" 10 
Forces the direction of the stems for the voice. 
.IP "\fBdyn=up\fP or \fBdyn=down\fP or \fBdyn=auto\fP" 10 
Forces positioning of dynamic marks (above or 
below the staff) or reverts to automatic positioning 
(the default) 
.IP "\fBgstem=up\fP or \fBgstem=down\fP or \fBgstem=auto\fP" 10 
Forces the direction of the stems of grace notes (always 
up or always down) or reverts to automatic positioning 
(the default) 
.IP "\fBstem=auto\fP" 10 
Reverts to automatic positioning of note stems (up or 
down) (the default) 
.IP "\fBlyrics=up\fP or \fBlyrics=down\fP or \fBlyrics=auto\fP" 10 
Places lyrics above or below the staff or reverts to 
automatic positioning (the default) 
.IP "\fBgchord=up\fP 	      or \fBgchord=down\fP" 10 
Places guitar chords above (the default) or below the 
staff. 
.IP "\fBstafflines=\fP\fIvalue\fR" 10 
Sets the number of lines on the staff in question. 
(default: 5) 
.IP "\fBstaffscale=\fP\fIvalue\fR" 10 
Sets the scale of the associated staff up to 3. 
(default: 1) 	All other definitions are ignored. 
.PP 
By default, each voice goes on its own staff. The `%%staves 
\fIdefinition\fR' 
pseudo-comment can be used to control staff assignment. The 
\fIdefinition\fR consists of voice names 
(from \fBV:\fP) and pairs of parentheses, braces 
or brackets. 
 
.IP "   \(bu" 6 
When a voice name is not within a pair of special 
characters, it goes on a separate staff. 
.IP "   \(bu" 6 
For voice names enclosed in brackets, a bracket is 
displayed at the beginning of each line that joins the 
staves of the voices in question. 
.IP "   \(bu" 6 
For voice names enclosed in braces, all the voices 
go on two staves (keyboard score). There can be at most 
four voices between a single pair of braces. 
.IP "   \(bu" 6 
For voice names enclosed in parentheses, all the 
voices appear on a single staff.        
.PP 
The `\fB|\fP' character prevents measure bars from 
being drawn between two staves. 
.PP 
If `%%staves' occurs in a tune, all the voices not mentioned 
will not be output at all. 
.SS "The \fB%%score\fP directive" 
.PP 
The \fB%%score\fP directive occurs in the ABC 
draft 2.0 standard and is similar to the \fB%%staves\fP 	specification described earlier. The rules are: 
 
.IP "   \(bu" 6 
Voice names within parentheses form a "voice group" 
and go on a single staff. A voice name that is not 
within parentheses forms its own voice group and goes on 
a staff by itself. 
.IP "   \(bu" 6 
Voice groups within braces form a "voice block" and 
are preceded by a big brace in the output. This is 
especially useful for keyboard music. 
.IP "   \(bu" 6 
Voice groups or voice blocks within brackets form a 
"voice block" and will be preceded by a big bracket in 
the output. 
.IP "   \(bu" 6 
If a `\fB|\fP' character occurs between 
two voice groups or voice blocks, the bar lines in all 
of the associated staves will be continuous. 
.IP "   \(bu" 6 
A single voice surrounded by two voice groups can be 
preceded by an asterisk to make it into a `floating' 
voice. This means that, for each note of the voice, a 
separate decision is made whether it is printed on the 
preceding or the following voice group's staff. 
.IP "   \(bu" 6 
Voices that appear in the tune body but not in 
the \fB%%score\fP directive will not be 
output at all. If there is no \fB%%score\fP 	      directive, each voice will be output on its own 
staff. 
.IP "   \(bu" 6 
A \fB%%score\fP directive inside a tune 
resets the mechanism so voices can be removed or 
added.        
.SS "Voice overlay" 
.PP 
You can add notes to a staff without introducing a 
complete extra voice by using the ampersand (\fB&\fP). 
A single measure can be split into two voices like 
 
.PP 
.nf 
|F2A2Bc&F2c2bc| 
 
.fi 
.PP 
The \fB(&...&...&)\fP construction 
allows splitting multiple measures: 
 
.PP 
.nf 
|!f!(&GG<G|GG F=E| E2  E(_D/E)|_D D  C      D |C4- |C 
\ \ \ \ \ &DC<C|CC_D C|=B,2_B,B,   |_A,A,(G,/A,/)B,|F,4-|F,)zzD=E| 
 
.fi 
.PP 
A double ampersand (\fB&&\fP) will allow 
overlaying more than two lines of music but this feature has 
not yet been implemented. 
 
.SS "Lyrics" 
.PP 
Aligned lyrics under a staff are written as a 
\fBw:\fP line directly below the staff line. For 
example: 
 
.PP 
.nf 
edc2 edc2| 
w:Three blind mice, three blind mice 
 
.fi 
.PP 
Each word in the \fBw:\fP line (delimited by 
blanks) is associated with one note, in sequence. The 
following special symbols modify this behaviour: 
 
.IP "\fB*\fP" 10 
Skips one note. 
.IP "\fB-\fP" 10 
Splits a word into two syllables which are 
associated with two adjacent notes. A `\-' is drawn 
between them. 
.IP "\fB|\fP" 10 
Advances to the next bar 
line 
.IP "\fB~\fP" 10 
Is output as a space, but unites two words 
so they appear under a single note. 
.IP "\fB_\fP" 10 
Draws a thin underscore from the 
previous note to the next.        
.PP 
To include more than one line of lyrics, use multiple 
\fBw:\fP lines. To include hyphens without 
splitting a word over multiple notes, use 
\fB\-\fP. 
 
.PP 
If a word starts with a digit, this is interpreted as a stanza 
number and outdented a bit to the left. 
 
.SS "Slurs and ties" 
.PP 
The direction of slurs and ties may be controlled using 
the \fB(,\fP and \fB('\fP, 
and \fB-,\fP and \fB-'\fP, constructions. 
 
.SS "Microtone pitches" 
.PP 
Microtone pitches are indicated by a fraction after an 
accidental, as in \fB 
3/4c\fP. When omitted, the 
numerator defaultes to 1 and the denominator to 2 (so \fB 
/c\fP is the same as \fB 
1/2c\fP). The numerator and denominator 
values may not exceed 256. There is built-in support for 
quarter-tone accidentals (1/2 and 3/2 sharps and flats); 
for other values, rendering functions must be defined using 
\fB%%postscript\fP (see 
\fBfeatures.txt\fP). 
.SS "EPS inclusion" 
.PP 
EPS files may be included inside tunes using the 
pseudo-comment `%%EPS \fIfile\fR'. 
.SH "SEE ALSO" 
.PP 
The original documentation can be found in files 
\fBfeatures.txt\fP, 
\fBformat.txt\fP, and \fBoptions.txt\fP, 
which on a Debian system are in 
\fB/usr/share/doc/abcm2ps\fP. 
.SH "AUTHOR" 
.PP 
This manual page was written by Anselm Lingnau <lingnau@debian.org> for 
the \fBDebian\fP system (but may be used by others).  Permission is 
granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document as long 
as its origin is not misrepresented. 
.\" created by instant / docbook-to-man, Sat 18 Oct 2014, 23:40