LilyPond – Music notation for everyone: Tiny examples

## Tiny examples

### What are “Tiny examples”?

A tiny example is an example from which nothing can be removed.

### Why create them?

- The simpler the example is, the quicker potential helpers can understand it and help you.
- A simple example demonstrates that you have put effort towards solving the problem yourself. When people send huge portions of input, it looks like they don’t care how if we help them or not.
- Creating a tiny example forces you to understand what is happening. Many false problem reports can be avoided by attempting to create a tiny example; if you cannot replicate a “bug” in a tiny example, then the problem was probably an insufficient understanding of LilyPond, not an actual bug!

### How do I create them?

- Include the \version number.
- Make it small! Examples about spacing or page layout might require many bars of music, but most issues can be reproduced using only a single measure.
- When trying to create an example, try commenting out (`%` or `%{ … %}`) sections of your file. If you can comment something while still demonstrating the main idea, then remove the commented-material!
- Avoid using complicated notes, keys, or time signatures, unless the bug is about the behavior of those items.
- Do not use `\override` or `\set` commands unless the bug is about those particular commands.

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### Validation

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