[abcusers] Re: About the choice of '!'

[Bryancreer]

Irwin Oppenheim wrote - 

>line breaking
>
>To force a line break at all times, a star (*) can be
>used. The star can be inserted everywhere, where a note
>group could.
>
>Deprecated line breaking
>
>The abc2win program used a `!' character to force line
>breaks, as is currently supported with the * operator
>(see section Line breaking).

If there is a recognised need for a line break character, then, whatever the rights and wrongs of the situation, ! is well established in that role.  It seems pointless to waste another character to do the same job.

>The abc2win usage obviously conflicts with the !...!
>style notation for musical symbols

It would be more accurate to say that !...! conflicts with the abc2win usage and is far less widely used. (I've never come across an example in nature.)  Why not use *....* for musical symbols?

Bryan Creer