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<a name="Compiling-a-file"></a>
Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Simple-notation.html#Simple-notation">Simple notation</a>,
Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="First-steps.html#First-steps">First steps</a>
<hr>
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<h4 class="subsection">2.1.1 Compiling a file</h4>
<p>“Compiling” is the term used for processing an input file
in LilyPond format to produce a file which can be printed and
(optionally) a MIDI file which can be played. LilyPond input
files are simple text files. The first example
shows what a simple input file looks like.
<p>To create sheet music, we write an input file that specifies the
notation. For example, if we write:
<pre class="example">{
c' e' g' e'
}
</pre>
<p class="noindent">the result looks like this:
<!-- in this case we don't want verbatim -->
<blockquote>
<p>
<a href="../b1/lily-138ef780.ly">
<img align="middle"
border="0" src="../b1/lily-138ef780.png" alt="[image of music]">
</a>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p><table class="cartouche" summary="cartouche" border="1"><tr><td>
<b>Note:</b> Notes and lyrics in LilyPond input must always be
surrounded by <strong>{ curly braces }</strong>. The braces
should also be surrounded by a space unless they are at the
beginning or end of a line to avoid ambiguities. The braces may
be omitted in some examples in this manual, but don't forget them
in your own music! For more information about the display of
examples in the manual, see <a href="How-to-read-the-manual.html#How-to-read-the-manual">How to read the manual</a>.
</td></tr></table>
<p><a name="index-case-sensitive-39"></a>In addition, LilyPond input is <strong>case sensitive</strong>.
<code>{ c d e }</code><!-- /@w --> is valid input; <code>{ C D E }</code><!-- /@w --> will
produce an error message.
<pre class="sp">
</pre>
<h4 class="subheading">Entering music and viewing output</h4>
<p><a name="index-PDF-file-40"></a><a name="index-viewing-music-41"></a>
In this section we will explain what commands to run and how to
view or print the output.
<p>Note that there are several other text editors available with
better support for LilyPond. For more information, see
<a name="index-Text-editor-support-42"></a><a href="../lilypond-program/Text-editor-support.html#Text-editor-support">Text editor support</a>.
<p><table class="cartouche" summary="cartouche" border="1"><tr><td>
<b>Note:</b> The first time you ever run LilyPond, it may take a
minute or two because all of the system fonts have to be analyzed
first. After this, LilyPond will be much faster!
</td></tr></table>
<h5 class="subsubheading">MacOS X</h5>
<p>If you double click <samp><span class="command">LilyPond.app</span></samp>, it will open with an
example file. Save it, for example, to <samp><span class="file">test.ly</span></samp> on your
Desktop, and then process it with the menu command
<code>Compile > Typeset File</code><!-- /@w -->. The resulting PDF file will be
displayed on your screen.
<p>For future use of LilyPond, you should begin by selecting ‘New’
or ‘Open’. You must save your file before typesetting it. If
any errors occur in processing, please see the log window.
<h5 class="subsubheading">Windows</h5>
<p>On Windows, if you double-click in the LilyPond icon on the
Desktop, it will open a simple text editor with an example file.
Save it, for example, to <samp><span class="file">test.ly</span></samp> on your Desktop and then
double-click on the file to process it (the file icon looks like a
note). After some seconds, you will get a file <samp><span class="file">test.pdf</span></samp> on
your desktop. Double-click on this PDF file to view the typeset
score. An alternative method to process the <samp><span class="file">test.ly</span></samp> file
is to drag and drop it onto the LilyPond icon using your mouse
pointer.
<p>To edit an existing <samp><span class="file">.ly</span></samp> file, right-click on it and
select “Edit source”. To get an empty file to start from, run
the editor as described above and use “New” in
the “File” menu, or right-click on the desktop and select
“New..Text Document”, change its name to a name of your choice
and change the file extension to <code>.ly</code>. Double-click the
icon to type in your LilyPond source code as before.
<p>Double-clicking the file does not only result in a PDF file, but
also produces a <samp><span class="file">.log</span></samp> file that contains some information on
what LilyPond has done to the file. If any errors occur, please
examine this file.
<h5 class="subsubheading">UNIX</h5>
<p>Create a text file called <samp><span class="file">test.ly</span></samp> and enter:
<pre class="example">{
c' e' g' e'
}
</pre>
<p>To process <samp><span class="file">test.ly</span></samp>, proceed as follows:
<pre class="example">lilypond test.ly
</pre>
<p class="noindent">You will see something resembling:
<pre class="example">lilypond test.ly
GNU LilyPond 2.11.57
Processing `test.ly'
Parsing...
Interpreting music...
Preprocessing graphical objects...
Finding the ideal number of pages...
Fitting music on 1 page...
Drawing systems...
Layout output to `test.ps'...
Converting to `test.pdf'...
</pre>
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Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Simple-notation.html#Simple-notation">Simple notation</a>,
Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="First-steps.html#First-steps">First steps</a>
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This page is for LilyPond-2.11.57 (development-branch).
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