# Text Formatting   Scribble Deluxe supports many in-line commands that can be used inside a string. Here's a quick example: ``` scribble("This text is normal size. [scale,2]This text is twice as big.").draw(x, y); ``` This will draw a string with two differently sized substrings. Simple! Of course, because the `[` character is used to open a command tag, putting a single square bracket in a line will cause Scribble to try to interpret following characters as part of a command tag. If you want to include a `[` literal in your string then double up the character: ``` //This string will display as "Here's a square bracket [!" scribble("Here's a square bracket [[!"); ``` You **don't** need to double up the closing bracket `]` to include one in your displayed text.   **Please note** that text alignment follows the following rules: 1. In-line vertical alignment affects the entire textbox and cannot be changed midway through text display 2. Changing horizontal alignment in the middle of a line of text will add a line break 3. Native GameMaker font alignment options (`fa_left`, `fa_center`, `fa_right`) are not intended to be used in conjunction with Scribble's own custom alignment options (`pin_left`, `pin_center`, `pin_right`)   Scribble supports the following commands: |Formatting tag |Behaviour | |-------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |`[/]` |Reset formatting to defaults | |`[/page]` |Manual page break | |`[]` |Set font | |`[/font]` `[/f]` |Reset font | |`[nbsp]` |Inserts a non-breaking space. Actual non-breaking space characters *are* natively supported but `[nbsp]` may be more convenient in some situations | |`[zwsp]` |Inserts a zero-width space. Actual zero-width space characters *are* natively supported but `[zwsp]` may be more convenient in some situations | |`[region,]` |Creates a region of text that can be detected later. Useful for tooltips and hyperlinks | |`[/region]` |Ends a region | |**Colour and Alpha** | | |`[]` |Set colour. Colour names are defined in [`__scribble_config_colours()`](configuration?id=__scribble_config_colours) | |`[#]` |Set colour via a hexcode (format controlled by [`SCRIBBLE_BGR_COLOR_HEX_CODES`](configuration)) | |`[d#]` |Set colour via a decimal integer, using GameMaker's BGR format | |`[/colour]` `[/color]` `[/c]` |Reset colour | |`[alpha,]` |Sets the alpha blending value for the following text. A value from `0` to `1` should be used, with `0` being invisible and `1` being fully visible | |`[/alpha]` |Resets the alpha value to `1`, fully visible | |**Sprites, Surfaces, Sounds** | | |`[]` |Insert an animated sprite starting on image 0 and animating using [`SCRIBBLE_DEFAULT_SPRITE_SPEED`](configuration) | |`[,]` |Insert a static sprite using the specified image index | |`[,,]` |Insert animated sprite using the specified image index and animation speed | |`[surface,]` |Insert surface with the associated index | |`[]` |Insert sound playback event. Sounds will only be played when using Scribble's typewriter feature | |`[texture,,,,,]` |Insert part of a texture. The position and size parameters should be in pixels (i.e. not normalized UV values) | |**Positioning** | | |`[fa_left]` |Horizontally align this line of text to the left of the [`.draw()`](scribble-methods?id=drawx-y) coordinate | |`[fa_center]` `[fa_centre]` |Horizontally align this line of text centrally at the [`.draw()`](scribble-methods?id=drawx-y) coordinate | |`[fa_right]` |Horizontally align this line of text to the right of the [`.draw()`](scribble-methods?id=drawx-y) coordinate | |`[fa_top]` |Vertically align **all text** to the top of the [`.draw()`](scribble-methods?id=drawx-y) coordinate | |`[fa_middle]` |Vertically align **all text** to the middle of the [`.draw()`](scribble-methods?id=drawx-y) coordinate | |`[fa_bottom]` |Vertically align **all text** to the bottom of the [`.draw()`](scribble-methods?id=drawx-y) coordinate | |`[pin_left]` |Horizontally align this line of text to the left of the entire textbox | |`[pin_center]` `[pin_centre]` |Horizontally align this line of text centrally versus the entire textbox | |`[pin_right]` |Horizontally align this line of text to the right of the entire textbox | |`[l2r]` |Provides a hint at the direction of text. Useful at the start of strings or adjacent to punctuation to fix minor issues in text layout | |`[r2l]` |Provides a hint at the direction of text. Useful at the start of strings or adjacent to punctuation to fix minor issues in text layout | |`[offset,,]` |Pushes an offset to the stack. Offset units are in pixels. This is useful to nudge sprites into the perfect position in your text. Generally you should call `[offsetPop]` once for every `[offset]` | |`[offsetPop]` |Pops an offset from the stack | |**Typewriter Control** |*The following commands only affect the typewriter when text is fading **in*** | |`[,,...]` |Trigger an event with the specified arguments (see [`scribble_typist_add_event()`](misc-functions?id=scribble_typists_add_eventname-function) | |`[delay,]` |Delay the typewriter by the given number of milliseconds. If no time value is given then the delay with defaults to [`SCRIBBLE_DEFAULT_DELAY_DURATION`](configuration) | |`[pause]` |Pause the typewriter. The typewriter can be unpaused by calling [`.unpause()`](typist-methods?id=unpause) | |`[sync,]` |Timecode to wait for in sound playback. See [`.sync_to_sound()`](typist-methods?id=sync_to_sound) | |`[speed,]` |Sets the speed of the typewriter by multiplying the value set by [`.in()`](typist-methods?id=inspeed-smoothness) by ``. A value of `2.0` will be twice as fast etc. | |`[/speed]` |Resets the speed of the typewriter to the value set by [`.in()`](typist-methods?id=inspeed-smoothness) | |`[typistSound,...]` |Sets the sound of the typewriter by replicating the behaviour of the [`.sound()`](typist-methods?id=soundsoundarray-overlap-pitchmin-pitchmax) typist | |`[typistSoundPerChar,...]` |Sets the sound of the typewriter by replicating the behaviour of the [`.sound_per_char()`](typist-methods?id=sound_per_charsoundarray-pitchmin-pitchmax-exceptionstring) | |**Transformation** | | |`[scale,]` |Set text (and in-line sprite) scale | |`[scaleStack,]` |Multiply the scale of text (and in-line sprite) by `factor` | |`[/scale]` `[/s]` |Reset scale to x1 | |`[slant]` `[/slant]` |Set/unset italic emulation. The size of the x offset is controlled by [`SCRIBBLE_SLANT_AMOUNT`](configuration) | |**Effects** | | |`[wave]` `[/wave]` |Set/unset text to wave up and down. Modified by [`scribble_anim_wave()`](animation-properties?id=scribble_anim_wavesize-frequency-speed) | |`[shake]` `[/shake]` |Set/unset text to shake. Modified by [`scribble_anim_shake()`](animation-properties?id=scribble_anim_shakesize-speed) | |`[wobble]` `[/wobble]` |Set/unset text to wobble by rotating back and forth. Modified by [`scribble_anim_wobble()`](animation-properties?id=scribble_anim_wobbleangle-frequency) | |`[pulse]` `[/pulse]` |Set/unset text to shrink and grow rhythmically. Modified by [`scribble_anim_pulse()`](animation-properties?id=scribble_anim_pulsescale-speed) | |`[wheel]` `[/wheel]` |Set/unset text to circulate around their origin. Modified by [`scribble_anim_wheel()`](animation-properties?id=scribble_anim_wheelsize-frequency-speed) | |`[jitter]` `[/jitter]` |Set/unset text to scale erratically. Modified by [`scribble_anim_jitter()`](animation-properties?id=scribble_anim_jitterminscale-maxscale-speed) | |`[blink]` `[/blink]` |Set/unset text to flash on and off. Modified by [`scribble_anim_blink()`](animation-properties?id=scribble_anim_blinkonduration-offduration-timeoffset) | |`[rainbow]` `[/rainbow]` |Set/unset rainbow colour cycling. Modified by [`scribble_anim_rainbow()`](animation-properties?id=scribble_anim_rainbowweight-speed) | |`[cycle,,,,]`|Set a custom HSV colour cycle using the specified hues. Up to four hues may be specified. Saturation and value are controlled using [`scribble_anim_cycle()`](animation-properties?id=scribble_anim_cyclespeed-saturation-value)| |`[/cycle]` |Unset colour cycling |