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5.3.3 The \override command

There is a special type of context property: the grob description. Grob descriptions are named in StudlyCaps (starting with capital letters). They contain the ‘default settings’ for a particular kind of grob as an association list. See ‘scm/define-grobs.scm’ to see the settings for each grob description. Grob descriptions are modified with \override.

The syntax for the \override command is

\override [context.]GrobName.property = #value

For example, we can increase the thickness of a note stem by overriding the thickness property of the Stem object:

c''4 c''
\override Voice.Stem.thickness = #3.0
c''4 c''

If no context is specified in an \override, the bottom context is used:

\override Staff.Stem.thickness = #3.0
<<
  \relative {
    e''4 e
    \override Stem.thickness = #0.5
    e4 e
  } \\
  \relative {
    c''4 c c c
  }
>>

Some tweakable options are called ‘subproperties’ and reside inside properties. To tweak those, use commands in the form

\override Stem.details.beamed-lengths = #'(4 4 3)

or to modify the ends of spanners, use a form like these

\override TextSpanner.bound-details.left.text = "left text"
\override TextSpanner.bound-details.right.text = "right text"

The effects of \override can be undone by \revert.

The syntax for the \revert command is

\revert [context.]GrobName.property

For example,

\relative {
  c''4
  \override Voice.Stem.thickness = #3.0
  c4 c
  \revert Voice.Stem.thickness
  c4
}

The effects of \override and \revert apply to all grobs in the affected context from the current time forward:

<<
  \relative {
    e''4
    \override Staff.Stem.thickness = #3.0
    e4 e e
  } \\
  \relative {
    c''4 c c
    \revert Staff.Stem.thickness
    c4
  }
>>

\once can be used with \override or \revert to affect only the current time step:

<<
  \relative c {
    \override Stem.thickness = #3.0
    e''4 e e e
  } \\
  \relative {
    c''4
    \once \override Stem.thickness = #3.0
    c4 c c
  }
>>

See also

Internals Reference: Backend.

---

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LilyPond — Notation Reference v2.24.4 (stable-branch).