You may also create a text file where each line of the file executes one of the commands listed in Interface 2. A simple example file is given below:

init :output (:lilypond :view t)
(init
 :filename "outfile"
 :quality 2)

;; remark
part 1 :name "Piano" :instr :piano

note 1 :off 0 :dur 1 :note 60
note 1 :off 1 :dur 1 :note 62 \
     :marks (:accent) ; remark
(note 1	
      :off 2 
      :dur 1
      :note 64
      :marks (:marcato (:textnote "Text")))

off +2
note 1 :off 2 :dur 1/2 :note c4 ; actual offset is 4
off -1
note 1 :off 10 :dur 1/2 :note c4 ; actual offset is 9
off

note 1 :off 20 :dur 2 :notes (c4 e4 g4 c5)
	

Each element is read using the Lisp READ command (nothing is evaluated), with the exception of expressions that begin with MAKE-. These are evaluated to avoid having to specify FOMUS classes and/or structures with #S or #Z syntax (the Z reader macro is defined by FOMUS). INIT lines specify values for FOMUS settings and can contain multiple keyword/arguments on a line. As many INIT lines as needed may appear. The \ character may be used at the end of a line to concatenate it with the following line. Also, as shown in the example above, any "entry" may be surrounded by a set of parenthesis to indicate that all elements inside them are read/parsed together (like an ordinary Lisp expression)--this can also be used to spread entries across several lines.

A few extra things are possible with input files to facilitate editing. Any section of the file may contain an OFF tag optionally followed by a number. This tag shifts the offsets of everything that follows by the specified amount. An OFF tag with no number resets the offset shift to 0. Also, a :NOTES keyword is available for specifying chords. A chord is then specified as a list of notes as shown above. When FOMUS reads this it creates a separate note object for each note in the list.

To process this file, use the FOMUS command as follows:

(FOMUS filename &key value ...)

(fomus "/directory/file.fms")
	

(fomus "/directory/file.fms" :output :cmn)
	

Keyword/argument pairs passed to this function override the settings stored in the input file.

The FOMUS-FILE function may be used to parse an input file and return the objects specified in that file without processing them:

(FOMUS-FILE filename &key value ...)

Four return values are returned: a list of PART objects, a sorted list of NOTE, REST and MARK objects, a list of TIMESIG objects (and KEYSIG objects when implemented), and a list of keyword/argument pairs representing the keywords and values found in the INIT lines. The following example show how you can edit and resave data using these files:

(multiple-value-bind (parts events globals args)
    (fomus-file "/directory/myfomusfile.fms")
  ;; user processing...
  (apply #'fomus "/directory/myfomusfile.fms"
	 :global globals :parts parts :events events
	 args))