#### 3.11.1 Entering lyrics

Lyrics are entered in a special input mode. This mode is is introduced by the keyword `\lyrics`. In this mode you can enter lyrics, with punctuation and accents without any hassle. Syllables are entered like notes, but with pitches replaced by text. For example,

           \lyrics { Twin-4 kle4 twin- kle litt- le star2 }

A word in Lyrics mode begins with: an alphabetic character, `_`, `?`, `!`, `:`, `'`, the control characters `^A` through `^F`, `^Q` through `^W`, `^Y`, `^^`, any 8-bit character with ASCII code over 127, or a two-character combination of a backslash followed by one of ```, `'`, `"`, or `^`.

Subsequent characters of a word can be any character that is not a digit and not white space. One important consequence of this is that a word can end with `}`. The following example is usually a bug. The syllable includes a `}`, and hence the opening brace is not balanced

           \lyrics { twinkle}

Similarly, a period following a alphabetic sequence, is included in the resulting string. As a consequence, spaces must be inserted around property commands

           \override Score . LyricText #'font-shape = #'italic

Any `_` character which appears in an unquoted word is converted to a space. This provides a mechanism for introducing spaces into words without using quotes. Quoted words can also be used in Lyrics mode to specify words that cannot be written with the above rules

           \lyrics { He said: "\"Let" my peo ple "go\"" }

However, at least for english texts, you should use

           \lyrics { He said: ``Let my peo ple go'' }

to get the correct shape of the starting and ending quote.

Centered hyphens are entered as ``-``-`' between syllables. The hyphen will have variable length depending on the space between the syllables and it will be centered between the syllables.

When a lyric is sung over many notes (this is called a melisma), this is indicated with a horizontal line centered between a syllable and the next one. Such a line is called an extender line, and it is entered as `__`.

##### See also

Program reference: events LyricEvent, HyphenEvent, and ExtenderEvent. Objects LyricHyphen, LyricExtender and LyricText.

Examples: input/test/lyric-hyphen-retain.ly.

##### Bugs

The definition of lyrics mode is too complex.

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