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+<HEAD><TITLE>
+Mup General Syntax
+</TITLE></HEAD>
+<BODY>
+<P>
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+
+<H1>
+MUP FILE STRUCTURE
+</H1>
+<P>
+Mup files do not have to follow any naming convention,
+although on systems that use file name suffixes to associate a file
+with an application, it is traditional to use .mup for the suffix.
+It can also be useful to put a special "magic string"
+on the first line of Mup files.
+This magic string is completely optional, but having it there
+makes it easy for both people
+and programs to identify the file as Mup input.
+The standard recommended value for this string is:
+<BR><PRE>
+//!Mup-Arkkra
+</PRE><BR>
+with exactly that spacing and capitalization.
+If the file uses features of newer versions of Mup, and thus would
+not work with older versions, you can add a dash and
+the minimim version number the file requires, as in:
+<BR><PRE>
+//!Mup-Arkkra-5.3
+</PRE><BR>
+</P>
+<H2>
+Mup General Syntax
+</H2>
+<P>
+Any number of spaces and tabs can be put in
+almost anywhere except in the middle of a word.
+Each statement goes on a separate line.
+If for some reason you wish to split a statement onto several lines,
+each but the last must end with a "\" (backslash) character, to
+tell Mup to treat the next line as a continuation of the current line.
+Blank lines can be put between statements to make things easier to read.
+</P>
+<P>
+Comments begin with two slashes and continue to end of line. All comments
+will be totally ignored by Mup, and are for your own use to remind yourself
+of something. For example:
+<BR><PRE>
+// Note: in some early manuscripts, this chord had an accent
+</PRE><BR>
+</P>
+<P>
+Staffs are numbered from top to bottom, starting at staff 1.
+</P>
+<P>
+Several different units are used for distances. One is inches or
+centimeters. (There is a
+<A HREF="param.html#units">units parameter</A>
+that is used to select which you want to use.) Another
+is "stepsizes." One stepsize is half the distance between two staff lines.
+In the horizontal dimension, "counts" are sometimes used. A "count"
+refers to the musical duration of a note with a duration of the denominator
+(bottom number) of the time signature.
+The actual distance on the page will vary depending
+on how Mup determines notes should be placed.
+When you use a
+<A HREF="param.html#time">time signature</A>
+with two or more fractions added together,
+as in 3/4 + 3/8, the "count" is the largest denominator, which would be
+8 in the example just given.
+</P>
+<P>
+Upper and lower case letters are not interchangeable. Thus, for example,
+"SCORE" is not the same as "score."
+</P>
+<P>
+Most lines of input end with a semicolon. There are some kinds of input that
+do not require an ending semicolon, but Mup will allow semicolons on those
+too, so that if you can't
+remember if a given command requires a semicolon or not, you can just use one
+anyway. For the examples in this User's Guide, semicolons are not used when
+they are not necessary.*
+<HR>
+* The commands on which the ending semicolon is optional are:
+<A HREF="bars.html">bar,</A>
+<A HREF="multirst.html">multirest,</A>
+<A HREF="param.html">setting of parameters,</A>
+<A HREF="prnttext.html">print, left, right, center, title,</A>
+<A HREF="newscore.html">newscore, newpage,</A>
+<A HREF="linecurv.html">line, and curve.</A>
+Semicolons are not allowed after commands that indicate entering a new
+<A HREF="contexts.html">context (header, footer, music, staff, grids, etc.).</A>
+A newline after those commands is optional,
+although often a good idea for readability.
+</P>
+<P>
+In
+<A HREF="music.html">music context,</A>
+newlines are required to separate commands: music data, bar lines, rolls,
+commands to print strings, dynamic marks, lyrics, etc. all must each
+end with a newline. In
+<A HREF="textmark.html#grids">grids context</A>
+and
+<A HREF="shaped.html#hdshape">headshape context,</A>
+each pair of strings must end with a newline.
+In other contexts, there are a few cases where newlines between commands
+are optional, although you may wish to use them anyway to improve readability.
+</P>
+<P>
+Mup supports
+<A HREF="macros.html">macros and conditionals (like 'if' and 'ifdef')</A>
+that can be placed anywhere in input, except in the middle of words,
+numbers, or strings; they needn't be on separate lines.
+</P>
+<P>
+In a number of statements, Mup expects a text string. All strings must be
+enclosed in double quotes. For example:
+<BR><PRE>
+"This is a string."
+"Allegro"
+</PRE><BR>
+</P>
+<P>
+A string can contain any combination of letters, numbers, spaces,
+and punctuation.
+It can also contain various things that will cause printing of special music
+characters, change font and size, and so forth. Those things are covered in
+<A HREF="textstr.html">the chapter on text strings.</A>
+</P>
+<HR><P>
+ <A HREF="utilpgms.html"><-- previous page</A> <A HREF="index.html">Table of Contents</A> <A HREF="contexts.html">next page --></A>
+</P>
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~mdw / mup / blobdiff