In music notation, a repeat sign indicates that one or more measures repeats a second time. There are two different types of repeat signs.

The most common is drawn as a double-bar drawn through the staff, with a slightly thicker line on one side and two dots on the other. It replaces the bar-line separating the measures. When used in pairs, the dots face the inside of the section to be repeated. However, a lone ending repeat sign may be used to indicate that the repeat should be from the beginning of the piece.

On the staff, they look something like this (complete with time signature and quarter notes):


    /\                                                     
---| /---------------------I|----------------------|I------
   |/                      I|                      |I      
---/------------*-------*--I|----------------------|I------
  /|    4   *  |    *  |   I|.       *        *   .|I      
-/-|/\-----|---|---|---|---I|-----*--|----*--|-----|I------
|  |  | 4  |   |   |   |   I|.   |   |   |   |    .|I      
|--|--|----|---|---|---|---I|----|---|---|---|-----|I------
 \ |  |    |       |       I|    |   |   |   |     |I      
--\|_/---------------------I|----|-------|---------|I------
   |                                                       
  \|                                                       

The second type of repeat sign resembles a large percent symbol (%), and is used to indicate that only the last measure is to be repeated. It does not replace the bar-line separating the measures, but sits in the middle of the staff replacing any notes that would otherwise be there.

On the staff, it looks something like this:


    /\                                                     
---| /---------------------|---------------|---
   |/                      |               |               
---/------------*-------*--|---------------|---
  /|    4   *  |    *  |   |     .  /      |              
-/-|/\-----|---|---|---|---|-------/-------|---
|  |  | 4  |   |   |   |   |      /  .     |               
|--|--|----|---|---|---|---|---------------|---
 \ |  |    |       |       |               |               
--\|_/---------------------|---------------|---
   |                                                       
  \|                                                       

Sometimes two or more repeat signs of this type may be used in one measure after another; this means that the last measure with notes in it should be repeated for as many times as there are repeat signs.

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