Formatting with abc2ps

The abc2ps program and its variants have a number of special parameters that control a lot of details of the formatting. These parameters may be set in several ways:

Here is a list of abc2ps formatting parameters and their default values. Note that different versions may have other parameters, or different defaults. Use "abc2ps -H" to see the full list of parameters for your version of abc2ps.

For parameters that measure distances on the page, the default unit is the printer's point, and you can use "cm" for centimeters or "in" for inches. For true/false values, 1, "yes" and "true" mean true, while 0, "no" and "false" mean false.

parameter default value
pageheight 28.00cm
staffwidth 17.40cm
topmargin 1.00cm
botmargin 1.00cm
leftmargin 1.50cm
topspace 0.80cm
titlespace 0.20cm
subtitlespace 0.10cm
composerspace 0.20cm
musicspace 0.20cm
partsspace 0.30cm
wordsspace 0.00cm
textspace 0.50cm
vocalspace 23.0pt
staffsep 46.0pt
sysstaffsep 40.0pt
systemsep 55.0pt
scale 0.70
maxshrink 0.65
strictness 1 0.30
strictness 2 0.50
indent 0.0pt
achordfont Helvetica 12.0
annotfont Times-Roman 12.0
barlabelfont Times-Bold 18.0
barnumberfont Times-Italic 12.0
composerfont Times-Italic 11.0
indexfont Times-Roman 11.0
partsfont Times-Roman 11.0
subtitlefont Times-Roman 12.0
tempofont Times-Bold 10.0
textfont Times-Roman 12.0
titlefont Times-Roman 15.0
vocalfont Times-Bold 13.0
voicefont Times-Roman 12.0
wordsfont Times-Roman 12.0
lineskipfac 1.1
parskipfac 0.4
barsperstaff 0
barnumbers -1
landscape no
slurgraces no
titleleft no
titlecaps no
stretchstaff yes
stretchlast no
writehistory no
continueall no
breakall no
oneperpage no
withxrefs no
playtempo 120
auquality 1
parameter default value

Parameter descriptions

achordfont

Also called gchordfont, this is the font used for accompaniment ("guitar") chords above the staff.

annotfont

The font to be used for "annotations" of the forms "^text", "=text" or "_text", to be placed above, next to or below the note respectively. This is a new feature that is not yet widely implemented.

auquality

barlabelfont

The font to be used for "quoted text" before bar lines. This looks like an accompaniment chord, but is just plain text, typically section numbers, placed above the bar line.

barnumberfont

If bar numbers are enabled, this is the font to be used for the numbers.

barnumbers

If true (i.e., > 0), bar numbers will be drawn above the bar lines. The value -1 means no bar numbers; 0 numbers the first bar in every staff, and a number greater than 0 means to print a number above bars that are a multiple of that number. So 8 means to number every eighth bar.

barsperstaff

If nonzero, line ends will be ignored, and each staff will have this many bars.

botmargin

The width of the blank border at the bottom of a page.

breakall

composerfont

The font to be used for the "composer" text (C: header lines), shown at the upper right of the first staff.

composerspace

The vertical space between the title (or last subtitle) and the composer text at the upper right of the first staff.

continueall

If true ("yes" or "1"), line endings will be ignored and staff breaks will be generated automatically.

indent

The first staff will be intented by this much.

indexfont

landscape

The default layout is "portrait", with the page taller than it is wide. By setting "landscape" to true, the page will be rotated by 90 degrees so that it is wider than it is tall. You can also use the pageheight and staffwidth parameters to control the shape of a page.

leftmargin

The width of the blank border along the left edge of the page.

lineskipfac

maxshrink

musicspace

The vertical space between the composer text (at the upper right of the first staff) and the top line of the staff. This may be stretched to make room for notes, chords, endings, and annotations.

oneperpage

If true, each tune will be put at the top of a new page.

pageheight

The total physical height of the printed page, including margins.

parskipfac

partsfont

partsspace

The vertical space between a "parts" (P) text and the next staff.

playtempo

scale

The size of the staff and musical symbols. This doesn't affect the various spacing parameters, but affects everything drawn on a staff.

slurgraces

Whether to automatically draw slurs from all grace notes to the folloowing main note.

staffsep

The separation between staves. One-half of this distance is added above and below each staff. Lyrics are drawn between these spaces.

staffwidth

The width of a staff, starting from the left margin. The last staff in a tune may be shorter.

stretchlast

Whether to make the last staff fill the entire staff width.

stretchstaff

This stretches underfull staves across the page. Otherwise, the right edge may be uneven.

strictness

strictness

subtitlefont

The font used for all titles except the first.

subtitlespace

Extra space added above each subtitle.

sysstaffsep

systemsep

tempofont

The font used to display tempo indications (Q lines).

textfont

The font used for %%text lines.

textspace

titlecaps

Show titles in upper case.

titlefont

The font used for the first (main) title.

titleleft

If true, titles will be shown at the left. If false, titles will be centered.

titlespace

The space above the first title, after the topmargin and any %%text.

topmargin

The width of the blank border at the top of the page.

topspace

Extra vertical space at the top of a tune, before any %%text lines.

vocalfont

The font used for vocals (w: lines).

vocalspace

Space between the text of vocals, i.e., the w: lines drawn below the notes.

voicefont

The font used for voice labels at the left of a staff.

withxrefs

Print out X: xref number in title (same as -x).

wordsfont

The font used for W lines, placed below the tune.

wordsspace

The space aboove the words at the end of a tune.

writehistory