Default files - GNU LilyPond
Description: GNU LilyPond

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### 5.3 Default files

The Program Reference documentation contains a lot of information about LilyPond, but even more information can be gathered from looking at the internal LilyPond files.

Some default settings (such as the definitions for `\header{}`s) are stored as `.ly` files. Other settings (such as the definitions of markup commands) are stored as `.scm` (Scheme) files. Further explanation is outside the scope of this manual; users should be warned that a substantial amount of technical knowledge or time is required to understand these files.

- Linux: `{INSTALLDIR}/lilypond/usr/share/lilypond/current/`
- OSX: `{INSTALLDIR}/LilyPond.app/Contents/Resources/share/lilypond/current/`. To access this, either `cd` into this directory from the Terminal, or control-click on the LilyPond application and select "Show Package Contents".
- Windows: `{INSTALLDIR}/LilyPond/usr/share/lilypond/current/`

The `ly/` and `scm/` directories will be of particular interest. Files such as `ly/property-init.ly` and `ly/declarations-init.ly` define all the common tweaks.

This page is for LilyPond-2.8.8 (stable-branch).

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