ABCTAB2PS

abctab2ps − typesets music in abc format directly in postscript

abctab2ps [-1bcEhHIlnNopPx] [-a alfa] [-B barsperline] [-d distance] [-D fmtdir] [-eCRST selectors] [-f infile] [-F formatfile] [-g shrink|space|stretch|fill] [-k nbars] [-m margin] [-paper format] [-noauthor] [-notab] [-nofrenchtab] [-noitaliantab] [-nogermantab] [-O outfile] [-s scale] [-t transposition] [-tabsize fontsize] [-transposegchords] [-v verbosity] [-V voices] [-w width] [-X strictness] [infile[.abc]]

abctab2ps reads an input file containing music in abc format and typesets it directly in PostScript. For a description of the abc syntax, please see the separate user’s guide.

Basically, the usage is abctab2ps file1 file2 ... where file1, file2 ... are the abc input files. This will write the Postscript output to the file Out.ps; for a different filename use flag -O. If no input file is specified, abctab2ps reads its input from stdin so that you can pipe the output of some other abc tool into abctab2ps.

Note that most flags (see OPTIONS) can be used in any sequence. However, the position does matter for flags e,f,C,S,R,T since these determine how the following arguments are interpreted.

Flags can be contracted together if the meaning is clear, and a numerical argument for the last flag can be appended. That is, "-b -s 0.7 -v 1" can be contracted to "-bs0.7 -v1".

-1

writes every tune on a separate page.

-a alfa

set the maximal amount of permitted shrinking to alfa, where 0 <= alfa <= 1. A value of 0.0 means that no shrinking is allowed, and a value of 1.0 allows shrinking until the symbols are almost touching. In conjunction with -c, by default alfa is set to an intermediate value (displayed with "abctab2ps -c -h"). When -c is not used, maximal shrinking and stretching are allowed.

-b

break at all line ends, even if they end with the continuation symbol "\".

-B barsperline

try to typeset with barsperline bars on each line.

-c

consider the input as one long line, ie., implicitly append the continuation symbol ’\’ to every line of music. When doing automatic line breaking with -c, the user can control the spacing of the symbols along the staff by specifying the "compression parameter" alfa with the -a flag.

-d distance

set staff distance to distance (cm/in/pt).

-D fmtdir

look for format files in directory fmtdir.

-e selector1 [selector2 ...]

typesets only the tunes matching the xref numbers selector1 [selector2 ...]. Optionally, the search can be done on other fields using in place of -e the flags -R (seaches the rhythm field), -C (searches the composer field), -S (searches the source field), -T (seaches the title field (default)).

-E

make EPSF (encapsulated postscript) output. Each tune is then put into a separate file with a correct bounding box and no page breaks.

-f infile

sets the input file. Has the same effect as omitting this flag.

-F formatfile

read format from file formatfile.fmt. The directory can be set with flag -D.

-g shrink|space|stretch|fill

sets the "glue mode". The default mode is fill, which fills the staff. This flag is useful when changing the layout parameters, to see what effect the changes have for each mode separately.

-h

quick help, equivalent to "abctab2ps" without any arguments. This also shows the default settings for some parameters.

-H

show the default format parameters.

-I

write index file "Ind.ps".

-k nbars

number every nbars. To number every first bar per staff, set nbars to 0.

-l

print in landscape mode.

-m margin

sets the left margin to margin (cm/in/pt).

-maxs nsymbols

obsolete option for different memory allocation. No longer necessary because memory is now allocated dynamically.

-maxv nvoices

obsolete option for different memory allocation. No longer necessary because memory is now allocated dynamically.

-noauthor

suppresses the postscript DSC comment for the author (%%For). Useful when abctab2ps is run automatically on a webserver or when you do not want your name listed in the ouput file.

-notab

suppresses all tablature specific postscript routines and fonts in the output file; useful for music only input, because the resulting output file is smaller. Basically, abctab2ps should behave like abc2ps with this option.

-nofrenchtab

does not include the font for french tab into the output file; useful if you only use a different tab, because the resulting output file is smaller.

-noitaliantab

does not include the font for italian tab (and other number based tabs) into the output file; useful if you only use a different tab, because the resulting output file is smaller.

-nogermantab

does not include the font for german tab into the output file; useful if you only use a different tab, because the resulting output file is smaller.

-n

includes historical notes and other stuff at the bottom of each tune.

-N

write page numbers

-o

obsolete option that is ignored. In abc2ps, only with this option postscript output was generated.

-O outfile

in PS (EPS) mode, the output is written to outfile.ps (outfile001.eps). If the parameter to -O is ’=’, output for "foo.abc" is written to "foo.ps" ("foo001.eps").

-p

generates pretty output, with more whitespace between tunes, larger fonts for titles, and larger music symbols. By default, the layout squeezes the tunes to reduce the number of pages.

-P

another pretty output format.

-paper format

sets paper format. Typical values for format are "a4" or "letter". This command line option overrides the system-wide default papersize given in /etc/papersize. For a list of all possible values try an invalid value for format; this will also print the default papersize on your system.

-s scale

scales the music output by factor scale.

-t transposition

transpose all music. If transposition is a number, the music is transposed up as many halftones; for downward transposition start the number with an underscore "_". If transposition is a note name, this note becomes the root.

-tabsize fontsize

sets the size of the tablature font TabFont to fontsize.

-transposegchords

transpose guitar chords too (in combination with option -t), in case you use guitar chords actually for chord letters

-v verbosity

sets the verbosity for output to the screen to verbosity. Hereby -v0 gives very little, -v1,v2,v3.. show successively more information. Verbosity >= 10 is for debugging.

-V voices

select specified voices, eg. "-V 1,4-5"

-w width

sets the width of the staff to width (cm/in/pt).

-x

includes the xref numbers in the tune title.

-X strictness

set strictness for note spacing; 0 < strictness < 1.

ABCTABFONTS

Semicolon separated list of directories which abctab2ps searches for tablature font files. If unset, fonts files are searched in /usr/share/abctab2ps, /usr/local/share/abctab2ps and fonts (in that order) on Unix/Win32/MacOs X and in :fonts on MacOs 8/9. Please note that the separator is a semicolon ";" rather than a colon ":". This is necessary because colons are part of path names on MacOs and Win32.

PAPERSIZE

Sets the default paper format (a4 or letter); overrides entry in /etc/papersize.

PAPERCONF

Full path to a file containing the default paper size (a4 or letter). If unset, /etc/papersize is used.

/etc/papersize

Contains the name of the system-wide default paper size (a4 or letter). A different file can be given with the environment variable PAPERCONF.

Typeset all tunes from mytunes.abc into Out.ps, choosing all line breaks automatically:

abctab2ps mytunes.abc -c

Squeeze notes together more and write the output to mytunes.ps:

abctab2ps mytunes.abc -O ’=’ -c -a0.9

Equivalent commands to typeset tunes 1 to 10 in bla.abc and 11-20 in fasel.abc:

abctab2ps bla -e 1-10 -f fasel -e 11-20

abctab2ps bla.abc 1-10 fasel.abc 11-20

abctab2ps bla 1-10 fasel.abc 11-20

Typeset all tunes with the string ’House’ in the title or with xref numbers 10-12, in all abc files whose name starts with X, including historical notes and xref numbers in the output, forcing a line break at continuation lines, with reduced size of the symbols, putting one tune per page:

abctab2ps X*.abc -e House 10,11,12 -nx -s0.9 -b1

abctab2ps currently has a number of hard coded limits:

-

Info fields must not exceed 300 characters

-

file names must not exceed 100 characters

-

the size of an output page is limited

If you encounter a limit, you currently need to change the hard coded value in abctab2ps.h and recompile.

Christoph Dalitz <christoph(dot)dalitz[at]hs-niederrhein(dot)de>

This man page describes abctab2ps version 1.8.1 from May 2007. This version is built on Michael Methfessel’s abc2ps 1.3.3 from December 1998.

Copyright 1999-2007 by Christoph Dalitz

abctab2ps is supplied "as is" without any warranty. It is free software and can be used, copied, modified and distributed without fee under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

abcselect(1)