4.5.4.2 Spacing between adjacent non-musical items
Within a non-musical column, items are laid out in a specific
order. For instance, with the set of items in the picture below,
the default order places the breathing sign first, then the clef,
then the bar line, the key cancellation and key signature, and
finally the time signature (this is controlled by the
BreakAlignment.break-align-orders property).
\relative { \key g \minor g'1 \breathe \clef alto \time 6/8 \key a \major aes4. }
![[image of music]](../eb/lily-575e61e1.png)
The distance between two adjacent items from the same non-musical
column is controlled by the value of the space-alist
property of the leftmost one of the two. space-alist has
the form of an associative list mapping break align symbols to
(spacing-style . value) pairs. A breakable item’s break
align symbol is given by the value of its
break-align-symbol property; standard choices are
listed in
break-alignment-interface. Spacing styles
are listed in
break-aligned-interface. Among the
available options, only extra-space and
minimum-space are relevant for tweaking the space between
non-musical items. The difference is that extra-space
measures the padding from the right of the first object to the
left of the second object while minimum-space counts from
the left of the first object. Thus, a way to move the bar line
farther from the clef is:
\relative { \key g \minor g'1 \override Staff.Clef.space-alist.staff-bar = #'(extra-space . 4) \breathe \clef alto \time 6/8 \key a \major aes4. }
![[image of music]](../86/lily-f751418e.png)
space-alist settings, not limited to the two spacing styles
described above, are also possible to override the spacing between
different columns. However, this kind of spacing is flexible, and
does not merely depend on the types of object involved but also
their shapes. Methods specific to it are documented in the next
section.
See also
Notation Reference:
Using the break-alignable-interface.
Extending LilyPond: Association lists (alists).
Internals Reference: Break_align_engraver, BreakAlignGroup, BreakAlignment, break-alignable-interface, break-aligned-interface, break-alignment-interface.