1.1 Compiling a file

This section introduces “compiling”—the processing of LilyPond input files (written by you) to produce output files.

1.1.1 Entering input

“Compiling” is the term used for processing an input file in LilyPond format to produce output file(s). Output files are generally PDF (for printing or viewing), MIDI (for playing), and PNG (for online use). LilyPond input files are simple text files.

This example shows a simple input file:

\version "2.21.3"
{
  c' e' g' e'
}

The graphical output is:

In addition, LilyPond input is case sensitive. ‘{ c d e }’ is valid input; ‘{ C D E }’ will produce an error message.

Producing output

The method of producing output depends on your operating system and the program(s) you use.

• MacOS X (graphical)
• Microsoft Windows (graphical)
• All operating systems (command-line)

There are several other text editors available with specific support for LilyPond. For more information, see (web)Easier editing section ‘Easier editing’ in General Information.

1.1.2 MacOS X

Step 1. Create your ‘.ly’ file

Double click the LilyPond.app, an example file will open.

From the menus along the top left of your screen, select File > Save.

Choose a name for your file, for example ‘test.ly’.

Step 2. Compile (with LilyPad)

From the same menus, select Compile > Typeset.

A new window will open showing a progress log of the compilation of the file you have just saved.

Step 3. View output

Once the compilation has finished, a PDF file will be created with the same name as the original file and will be automatically opened in the default PDF viewer and displayed on your screen.

Other commands

To create new files for LilyPond, begin by selecting File > New

or File > Open to open and edit existing files you have saved previously.

You must save any new edits you make to your file before you Compile > Typeset and if the PDF file is not displayed check the window with the progress log for any errors.

If you are not using the default Preview PDF viewer that comes with the Mac Operating system and you have the PDF file generated from a previous compilation open, then any further compilations may fail to generate an update PDF until you close the original.

1.1.3 Windows

Step 1. Create your ‘.ly’ file

Double-click the LilyPond icon on your desktop and an example file will open.

From the menus that appear along the top of the example file, select File > Save as. Do not use the File > Save for the example file as this will not work until you have given it a valid LilyPond file name.

Choose a name for your file, for example ‘test.ly’.

Step 2. Compile

To turn your LilyPond file into a music score, you need to compile it. This can be done a number of ways – using drag and drop, with right-click, double-clicking or using the command line (a DOS box). We’ll look at the first three to start with.

1. Drag-and-drop the file directly onto the LilyPond icon on the desktop.

Not much will seem to happen, but after a short while, you should see two new files on your desktop – ‘test.log’ and ‘test.pdf’.

2. Right-click on the file and from the pop-up context menu and choose Generate PDF.

3. Or simply double-click the ‘test.ly’.

Step 3. View output

‘test.pdf’ contains the engraved ‘test.ly’ file. Double-click it and it should open in your PDF viewer:

Other commands

To create a new file, begin by selecting File > New from within any previously created file or File > Open to open and edit any files you have saved before. You can also edit a file by right-clicking it and selecting Edit source.

You must save any edits you make before you try to compile your file. If the PDF file is not created or the output is not what you expected, check the log file that will have been created during the compilation attempt for any errors.

This log file is overwritten each time you compile your LilyPond file.

If you are viewing your file in a PDF viewer, then you must close the PDF if you wish to try a new compilation as it may fail to create the new PDF while it is still being viewed.

1.1.4 Command-line

Step 1. Create your ‘.ly’ file

Create a text file called ‘test.ly’ and enter:

\version "2.20.0"
{
  c' e' g' e'
}

Step 2. Compile (with command-line)

To process ‘test.ly’, type the following at the command prompt:

lilypond test.ly

You will see something resembling:

GNU LilyPond 2.20.0
Processing `test.ly'
Parsing...
Interpreting music...
Preprocessing graphical objects...
Solving 1 page-breaking chunks...[1: 1 pages]
Drawing systems...
Layout output to `test.ps'...
Converting to `./test.pdf'...
Success: compilation successfully completed

Step 3. View output

You may view or print the resulting ‘test.pdf’.

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