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A \markup
block is used to typeset text with an extensible
syntax called “markup mode”.
The markup syntax is similar to LilyPond's usual syntax: a
\markup
expression is enclosed in curly braces {
... }
. A single word is regarded as a minimal expression,
and therefore does not need to be enclosed with braces.
Unlike simple “quoted text” indications, \markup
blocks
may contain nested expressions or markup commands,
entered using the backslash \
character.
Such commands only affect the first following expression.
a1-\markup intenso a2^\markup { poco \italic più forte } c e1 d2_\markup { \italic "string. assai" } e b1^\markup { \bold { molto \italic agitato } } c
A \markup
block may also contain quoted text strings.
Such strings are treated as minimal text expressions, and
therefore any markup command or special character (such as
\
and #
) will be printed verbatim without affecting
the formatting of the text. Double quotation marks themselves
may be printed by preceding them with backslashes.
a1^"\italic markup..." a_\markup { \italic "... prints \"italic\" letters!" } a a
To be treated as a distinct expression, a list of words needs
to be enclosed with double quotes or preceded by a command.
The way markup expressions are defined affects how these
expressions will be stacked, centered and aligned; in the
following example, the second \markup
expression is
treated the same as the first one:
c1^\markup { \center-column { a bbb c } } c1^\markup { \center-column { a { bbb c } } } c1^\markup { \center-column { a \line { bbb c } } } c1^\markup { \center-column { a "bbb c" } }
Markups can be stored in variables. Such variables may be directly attached to notes:
allegro = \markup { \bold \large Allegro } { d''8.^\allegro d'16 d'4 r2 }
An exhaustive list of \markup
-specific commands can be found in
Text markup commands.
Notation Reference: Text markup commands.
Snippets: Text.
Installed files: scm/markup.scm.
Syntax errors for markup mode can be confusing.