Dashed individual staff lines - Revision history

Lemzwerg at 08:03, 3 December 2025

2025-12-03T08:03:34Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:03, 3 December 2025
Line 1:		Line 1:
	You can customize a staff so that some (or all) of its lines are dashed instead of solid. This snippet defines a ~~music function~~ called ~~"~~dashedStaffSymbolLines~~"~~ that replaces specified lines of a <code>StaffSymbol</code> with dashed lines. For example, the following ~~will replace~~ the center line of the staff with a dashed line:		You can customize a staff so that some (or all) of its lines are dashed instead of solid. This snippet defines a command called <code>\dashedStaffSymbolLines</code> that replaces specified lines of a <code>StaffSymbol</code> grob with dashed lines. For example, the following replaces the center line of the staff with a dashed line.

	~~<code>~~\dashedStaffSymbolLines #'( #f #f #t #f #f )~~</code>~~		\dashedStaffSymbolLines #'(#f #f #t #f #f)

	A list containing booleans (#t and #f) indicates which lines are to be dashed. (#t means dashed, #f means normal and unchanged)		A list containing booleans (<code>#t</code> and <code>#f</code>) indicates which lines are to be dashed. (<code>#t</code> means dashed, <code>#f</code> means normal and unchanged)

	The width of the dashes and the spacing between them can optionally be customized by adding a pair of values as the first argument when calling the function. The first number of the pair is the width, the second is the spacing. (The default is 0.5 for both.) The following ~~will create~~ wider dashes (1.5) with more space between them (1.2):		The width of the dashes and the spacing between them can optionally be customized by adding a pair of values as the first argument when calling the function. The first number of the pair is the width, the second is the spacing. (The default is 0.5 for both.) The following creates wider dashes (1.5) with more space between them (1.2).

	~~<code>~~\dashedStaffSymbolLines #'(1.5 . 1.2) #'(#f #f #t #f #f)~~</code>~~		\dashedStaffSymbolLines #'(1.5 . 1.2) #'(#f #f #t #f #f)

	The function also works with staves that have different numbers of lines and/or different line positions.		The function also works with staves that have different numbers of lines and/or different line positions.

	<lilypond version="2.24">		<lilypond version="2.24">
	~~%%http://lsr.di.unimi.it/LSR/Item?id=880~~

	% original code (for zig-zag lines) by Thomas Morley (Harm)		% original code (for zig-zag lines) by Thomas Morley (Harm)
	% -> http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2012-12/msg00715.html		% -> http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2012-12/msg00715.html
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	[[Category:Tweaks and overrides]]		[[Category:Tweaks and overrides]]
	[[Category:Scheme]]		[[Category:Scheme]]
	~~[[Category:Symbols and glyphs]]~~
	[[Category:Contemporary notation]]		[[Category:Contemporary notation]]
	[[Category:Snippet]]		[[Category:Snippet]]

Lemzwerg: New category

2025-11-21T23:28:43Z

New category

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:28, 21 November 2025
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	[[Category:Scheme]]		[[Category:Scheme]]
	[[Category:Symbols and glyphs]]		[[Category:Symbols and glyphs]]
	[[Category:Contemporary notation]][[Category:Snippet]]		[[Category:Contemporary notation]]
			[[Category:Snippet]]

Lemzwerg at 22:51, 21 November 2025

2025-11-21T22:51:31Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:51, 21 November 2025
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	[[Category:Scheme]]		[[Category:Scheme]]
	[[Category:Symbols and glyphs]]		[[Category:Symbols and glyphs]]
	[[Category:Contemporary notation]]		[[Category:Contemporary notation]][[Category:Snippet]]

Jean Abou Samra: Replace version="2.24.0" with version="2.24" now that the LilyWiki extension supports auto-selecting the latest release in a stable series

2025-11-16T18:47:38Z

Replace version="2.24.0" with version="2.24" now that the LilyWiki extension supports auto-selecting the latest release in a stable series

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:47, 16 November 2025
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	The function also works with staves that have different numbers of lines and/or different line positions.		The function also works with staves that have different numbers of lines and/or different line positions.

	<lilypond version="2.24.0">		<lilypond version="2.24">
	%%http://lsr.di.unimi.it/LSR/Item?id=880		%%http://lsr.di.unimi.it/LSR/Item?id=880

Jean Abou Samra: Import snippet from LSR

2025-10-26T22:49:44Z

Import snippet from LSR

New page

You can customize a staff so that some (or all) of its lines are dashed instead of solid. This snippet defines a music function called "dashedStaffSymbolLines" that replaces specified lines of a <code>StaffSymbol</code> with dashed lines. For example, the following will replace the center line of the staff with a dashed line:

<code>\dashedStaffSymbolLines #'( #f #f #t #f #f )</code>

A list containing booleans (#t and #f) indicates which lines are to be dashed. (#t means dashed, #f means normal and unchanged)

The width of the dashes and the spacing between them can optionally be customized by adding a pair of values as the first argument when calling the function. The first number of the pair is the width, the second is the spacing. (The default is 0.5 for both.) The following will create wider dashes (1.5) with more space between them (1.2):

<code>\dashedStaffSymbolLines #'(1.5 . 1.2) #'(#f #f #t #f #f)</code>

The function also works with staves that have different numbers of lines and/or different line positions.

<lilypond version="2.24.0">
%%http://lsr.di.unimi.it/LSR/Item?id=880

% original code (for zig-zag lines) by Thomas Morley (Harm)
% -> http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2012-12/msg00715.html
% slightly modified to create dashed lines by Paul Morris

dashedStaffSymbolLines =
#(define-music-function (dash-space bool-list)
((number-pair? '(0.5 . 0.5)) list?)
"
Replaces specified lines of a StaffSymbol with dashed lines.

The lines to be changed should be given as a list containing booleans, with
the meaning:
#f - no dashes, print a normal line
#t - print a dashed line
The order of the bool-list corresponds with the order of the given list of
'line-positions or if not specified, with the default.
If the length of the bool-list and the 'line-positions doesn't match a warning
is printed.

The width of the dashes and the spacing between them can be altered by adding a pair
as first argument while calling the function:
\\dashedStaffSymbolLines #'(1 . 1) #'(#f #f #t #f #f)
the first number of the pair is the width, the second the spacing
"
#{
\override Staff.StaffSymbol.after-line-breaking =
#(lambda (grob)
(let* ((staff-stencil (ly:grob-property grob 'stencil))
(staff-line-positions
(if (equal? (ly:grob-property grob 'line-positions) '() )
'(-4 -2 0 2 4)
(ly:grob-property grob 'line-positions)))
(staff-width
(interval-length
(ly:stencil-extent staff-stencil X)))
(staff-space (ly:staff-symbol-staff-space grob))
(staff-line-thickness (ly:staff-symbol-line-thickness grob))
;; width of the dash
(dash-width (car dash-space))
;; space between dashes
(space-width (cdr dash-space))
;; Construct the first dash
(sample-path `((moveto 0 0)
(lineto ,dash-width 0)
))
;; Make a stencil of the first dash
(dash-stencil
(grob-interpret-markup
grob
(markup
#:path staff-line-thickness sample-path)))
;; width of both dash and space
(dash-space-width (+ dash-width space-width))

;; another way: get width of dash from the dash stencil
;; (stil-width
;; (interval-length
;; (ly:stencil-extent dash-stencil X)))
;; (dash-space-width (+ stil-width space-width))

;; Make a guess how many dashes are needed.
(count-dashes
(inexact->exact
(round
(/ staff-width
(- dash-space-width
staff-line-thickness)))))
;; Construct a stencil of dashes with the guessed count
(dashed-stil
(ly:stencil-aligned-to
(apply ly:stencil-add
(map
(lambda (x)
(ly:stencil-translate-axis
dash-stencil
(* (- dash-space-width staff-line-thickness) x)
X))
(iota count-dashes)))
Y
CENTER))
;; Get the the length of that dashed stencil
(stil-x-length
(interval-length
(ly:stencil-extent dashed-stil X)))
;; Construct a line-stencil to replace the staff-lines.
(line-stil
(make-line-stencil staff-line-thickness 0 0 staff-width 0))
;; Calculate the factor to scale the dashed-stil to fit
;; the width of the original staff-symbol-stencil
(corr-factor
(/ staff-width (- stil-x-length staff-line-thickness)))
;; Construct the new staff-symbol
(new-stil
(apply
ly:stencil-add
(map
(lambda (x y)
(ly:stencil-translate
(if (eq? y #f)
line-stil
(ly:stencil-scale
dashed-stil
corr-factor 1))
(cons (/ staff-line-thickness 2)
(* (/ x 2) staff-space))))
staff-line-positions bool-list))))

(if (= (length bool-list)(length staff-line-positions))
(ly:grob-set-property! grob 'stencil new-stil)
(ly:warning
"length of dashed line bool-list doesn't match the line-positions - ignoring"))))
#})

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% EXAMPLE
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

music =
\relative f' {
c2 d e f g a b
}

<<
\new Staff \with {
\dashedStaffSymbolLines #'(#f #f #t #f #f)
}
\music

\new Staff \with {
\dashedStaffSymbolLines #'(0.2 . 0.3) #'(#f #t #f #t #f)
}
\music

\new Staff \with {
\override StaffSymbol.line-positions = #'(-4 0 4)
\dashedStaffSymbolLines #'(#f #t #f)
% make staff smaller:
fontSize = #-3
\override StaffSymbol.staff-space = #(magstep -3)
\override StaffSymbol.thickness = #(magstep -3)
}
\music
>>
</lilypond>

[[Category:Staff notation]]
[[Category:Tweaks and overrides]]
[[Category:Scheme]]
[[Category:Symbols and glyphs]]
[[Category:Contemporary notation]]