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16 Mup files do not have to follow any naming convention,
17 although on systems that use file name suffixes to associate a file
18 with an application, it is traditional to use .mup for the suffix.
19 It can also be useful to put a special "magic string"
20 on the first line of Mup files.
21 This magic string is completely optional, but having it there
22 makes it easy for both people
23 and programs to identify the file as Mup input.
24 The standard recommended value for this string is:
28 with exactly that spacing and capitalization.
29 If the file uses features of newer versions of Mup, and thus would
30 not work with older versions, you can add a dash and
31 the minimim version number the file requires, as in:
40 Any number of spaces and tabs can be put in
41 almost anywhere except in the middle of a word.
42 Each statement goes on a separate line.
43 If for some reason you wish to split a statement onto several lines,
44 each but the last must end with a "\" (backslash) character, to
45 tell Mup to treat the next line as a continuation of the current line.
46 Blank lines can be put between statements to make things easier to read.
49 Comments begin with two slashes and continue to end of line. All comments
50 will be totally ignored by Mup, and are for your own use to remind yourself
51 of something. For example:
53 // Note: in some early manuscripts, this chord had an accent
57 Staffs are numbered from top to bottom, starting at staff 1.
60 Several different units are used for distances. One is inches or
61 centimeters. (There is a
62 <A HREF="param.html#units">units parameter</A>
63 that is used to select which you want to use.) Another
64 is "stepsizes." One stepsize is half the distance between two staff lines.
65 In the horizontal dimension, "counts" are sometimes used. A "count"
66 refers to the musical duration of a note with a duration of the denominator
67 (bottom number) of the time signature.
68 The actual distance on the page will vary depending
69 on how Mup determines notes should be placed.
71 <A HREF="param.html#time">time signature</A>
72 with two or more fractions added together,
73 as in 3/4 + 3/8, the "count" is the largest denominator, which would be
74 8 in the example just given.
77 Upper and lower case letters are not interchangeable. Thus, for example,
78 "SCORE" is not the same as "score."
81 Most lines of input end with a semicolon. There are some kinds of input that
82 do not require an ending semicolon, but Mup will allow semicolons on those
83 too, so that if you can't
84 remember if a given command requires a semicolon or not, you can just use one
85 anyway. For the examples in this User's Guide, semicolons are not used when
86 they are not necessary.*
88 * The commands on which the ending semicolon is optional are:
89 <A HREF="bars.html">bar,</A>
90 <A HREF="multirst.html">multirest,</A>
91 <A HREF="param.html">setting of parameters,</A>
92 <A HREF="prnttext.html">print, left, right, center, title,</A>
93 <A HREF="newscore.html">newscore, newpage,</A>
94 <A HREF="linecurv.html">line, and curve.</A>
95 Semicolons are not allowed after commands that indicate entering a new
96 <A HREF="contexts.html">context (header, footer, music, staff, grids, etc.).</A>
97 A newline after those commands is optional,
98 although often a good idea for readability.
102 <A HREF="music.html">music context,</A>
103 newlines are required to separate commands: music data, bar lines, rolls,
104 commands to print strings, dynamic marks, lyrics, etc. all must each
105 end with a newline. In
106 <A HREF="textmark.html#grids">grids context</A>
108 <A HREF="shaped.html#hdshape">headshape context,</A>
109 each pair of strings must end with a newline.
110 In other contexts, there are a few cases where newlines between commands
111 are optional, although you may wish to use them anyway to improve readability.
115 <A HREF="macros.html">macros and conditionals (like 'if' and 'ifdef')</A>
116 that can be placed anywhere in input, except in the middle of words,
117 numbers, or strings; they needn't be on separate lines.
120 In a number of statements, Mup expects a text string. All strings must be
121 enclosed in double quotes. For example:
123 "This is a string."
128 A string can contain any combination of letters, numbers, spaces,
130 It can also contain various things that will cause printing of special music
131 characters, change font and size, and so forth. Those things are covered in
132 <A HREF="textstr.html">the chapter on text strings.</A>
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