Put repeating codes in a variable in Lilypond

Question

I want to put some commands into a variable, so that I can write the variable instead of repeating the commands over and over:

myvar = \once \override Beam.beam-thickness = #tremBeamThickness \override Beam.gap = #3 

This is throwing an error when I use it like \myvar in my ly file. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Two \overrides are separate elements. Your code is an assignment myvar = \once \override Beam.beam-thickness = #tremBeamThickness followed by a spurious override \override Beam.gap = #3 that is at the top level, trying to make up an entire score by itself. You should put braces around them to unite them into a single "sequential expression" that you can then put into a variable, i.e.,

myvar = {
  \once \override ...
  \once \override ...
}