AutoCAD Command Aliases | Keyboard Shortcuts

You know that thing where you start typing a command and AutoCAD beats you to it, launching the command before you finish? Of course you do. Those are called AutoCAD command aliases and you probably use them a lot. Well, take a few minutes to browse the complete list of command aliases below and you’ll probably use them a lot more. Which will mean saving a lot more time.

You can also visit the Autodesk Knowledge Network if you want to learn about creating command aliases.

AutoCAD Command Aliases: A – C

A

A ARC: Creates an arc

AA AREA: Calculates the area and perimeter of objects or of defined areas

ADC ADCENTER: Manages and inserts content such as blocks, xrefs, and hatch patterns

AL ALIGN: Aligns objects with other objects in 2D and 3D

AP APPLOAD: Load Application

AR ARRAY: Creates multiple copies of objects in a pattern

ARR ACTRECORD: Starts the Action Recorder

ARM ACTUSERMESSAGE: Inserts a user message into an action macro

ARU ACTUSERINPUT: Pauses for user input in an action macro

ARS ACTSTOP: Stops the Action Recorder and provides the option of saving the recorded actions to an action macro file

ATI ATTIPEDIT: Changes the textual content of an attribute within a block

ATT ATTDEF: Redefines a block and updates associated attributes

ATE ATTEDIT: Changes attribute information in a block

B

B BLOCK: Creates a block definition from selected objects

BC BCLOSE: Closes the Block Editor

BE BEDIT: Opens the block definition in the Block Editor

BH HATCH: Fills an enclosed area or selected objects with a hatch pattern, solid fill, or gradient fill

BO BOUNDARY: Creates a region or a polyline from an enclosed area

BR BREAK: Breaks the selected object between two points

BS BSAVE: Saves the current block definition

BVS BVSTATE: Creates, sets, or deletes a visibility state in a dynamic block

C

C CIRCLE: Creates a circle

CAM CAMERA: Sets a camera and target location to create and save a 3D perspective view of objects

CBAR CONSTRAINTBAR: A toolbar-like UI element that displays the available geometric constraints on an object

CH PROPERTIES: Controls properties of existing objects

CHA CHAMFER: Bevels the edges of objects

CHK CHECKSTANDARDS: Checks the current drawing for standards violations

CLI COMMANDLINE: Displays the Command Line window

COL COLOR: Sets the color for new objects

CO COPY: Copies objects a specified distance in a specified direction

CT CTABLESTYLE: Sets the name of the current table style

CUBE NAVVCUBE: Controls the visibility and display properties of the ViewCube tool

CYL CYLINDER: Creates a 3D solid cylinder

AutoCAD Command Aliases: D – E

D

D DIMSTYLE: Creates and modifies dimension styles

DAN DIMANGULAR: Creates an angular dimension

DAR DIMARC: Creates an arc length dimension

DBA DIMBASELINE: Creates a linear, angular, or ordinate dimension from the baseline of the previous or selected dimension

DBC DBCONNECT: Provides an interface to external database tables

DCE DIMCENTER: Creates the center mark or the centerlines of circles and arcs

DCO DIMCONTINUE: Creates a dimension that starts from an extension line of a previously created dimension

DCON DIMCONSTRAINT: Applies dimensional constraints to selected objects or points on objects

DDA DIMDISASSOCIATE: Removes associativity from selected dimensions

DDI DIMDIAMETER: Creates a diameter dimension for a circle or an arc

DED DIMEDIT: Edits dimension text and extension lines

DI DIST: Measures the distance and angle between two points

DIV DIVIDE: Creates evenly spaced point objects or blocks along the length or perimeter of an object

DJL DIMJOGLINE: Adds or removes a jog line on a linear or aligned dimension

DJO DIMJOGGED: Creates jogged dimensions for circles and arcs

DL DATALINK: The Data Link dialog box is displayed

DLU DATALINKUPDATE: Updates data to or from an established external data link

DO DONUT: Creates a filled circle or a wide ring:

DOR DIMORDINATE: Creates ordinate dimensions

DOV DIMOVERRIDE: Controls overrides of system variables used in selected dimensions

DR DRAWORDER: Changes the draw order of images and other objects

DRA DIMRADIUS: Creates a radius dimension for a circle or an arc

DRE DIMREASSOCIATE: Associates or re-associates selected dimensions to objects or points on objects

DRM DRAWINGRECOVERY: Displays a list of drawing files that can be recovered after a program or system failure

DS DSETTINGS: Sets grid and snap, polar and object snap tracking, object snap modes, Dynamic Input, and Quick Properties

DT TEXT: Creates a single-line text object

DV DVIEW: Defines parallel projection or perspective views by using a camera and target

DX DATAEXTRACTION: Extracts drawing data and merges data from an external source to a data extraction table or external file

E

E ERASE: Removes objects from a drawing

ED DDEDIT: Edits single-line text, dimension text, attribute definitions, and feature control frames

EL ELLIPSE: Creates an ellipse or an elliptical arc

EPDF EXPORTPDF: Exports drawing to PDF

ER EXTERNALREFERENCES: Opens the External References palette

EX EXTEND: Extends objects to meet the edges of other objects

EXIT QUIT: Exits the program

EXP EXPORT: Saves the objects in a drawing to a different file format

EXT EXTRUDE: Extends the dimensions of a 2D object or 3D face into 3D space

AutoCAD Command Aliases: F  – L

F

F FILLET: Rounds and fillets the edges of objects

FI FILTER: Creates a list of requirements that an object must meet to be included in a selection set

FS FSMODE: Creates a selection set of all objects that touch the selected object

FSHOT FLATSHOT: Creates a 2D representation of all 3D objects based on the current view

G

G GROUP: Creates and manages saved sets of objects called groups

GCON GEOCONSTRAINT: Applies or persists geometric relationships between objects or points on objects

GD GRADIENT: Fills an enclosed area or selected objects with a gradient fill

GEO GEOGRAPHICLOCATION: Specifies the geographic location information for a drawing file

H

H HATCH: Fills an enclosed area or selected objects with a hatch pattern, solid fill, or gradient fill

HE HATCHEDIT: Modifies an existing hatch or fill

HI HIDE: Regenerates a 3D wireframe model with hidden lines suppressed

I

I INSERT: Inserts a block or drawing into the current drawing

IAD IMAGEADJUST: Controls the image display of the brightness, contrast, and fade values of images

IAT IMAGEATTACH: Inserts a reference to an image file

ICL IMAGECLIP: Crops the display of a selected image to a specified boundary

ID ID: Displays the UCS coordinate values of a specified location

IM IMAGE: Displays the External References palette

IMP IMPORT: Imports files of different formats into the current drawing

IN INTERSECT: Creates a 3D solid, surface, or 2D region from overlapping solids, surfaces, or regions

INF INTERFERE: Creates a temporary 3D solid from the interferences between two sets of selected 3D solids

IO INSERTOBJ: Inserts a linked or embedded object

J

J JOIN: Joins similar objects to form a single, unbroken object

JOG DIMJOGGED: Creates jogged dimensions for circles and arcs

L

L LINE: Creates straight line segments

LA LAYER: Manages layers and layer properties

LAS LAYERSTATE: Saves, restores, and manages named layer states

LE QLEADER: Creates a leader and leader annotation

LEN LENGTHEN: Changes the length of objects and the included angle of arcs

LESS MESHSMOOTHLESS: Decreases the level of smoothness for mesh objects by one level

LI LIST: Displays property data for selected objects

LO LAYOUT: Creates and modifies drawing layout tabs

LT LINETYPE: Loads, sets, and modifies linetypes

LTS LTSCALE: Changes the scale factor of linetypes for all objects in a drawing

LW LWEIGHT: Sets the current lineweight, lineweight display options, and lineweight units

AutoCAD Command Aliases: M – P

M

M MOVE: Moves objects a specified distance in a specified direction

MA MATCHPROP: Applies the properties of a selected object to other objects

MAT MATERIALS: Shows or hides the Materials window

ME MEASURE: Creates point objects or blocks at measured intervals along the length or perimeter of an object

MEA MEASUREGEOM: Measures the distance, radius, angle, area, and volume of selected objects or sequence of points

MI MIRROR: Creates a mirrored copy of selected objects

ML MLINE: Creates multiple parallel lines

MLA MLEADERALIGN: Aligns and spaces selected multileader objects

MLC MLEADERCOLLECT: Organizes selected multileader that contain blocks into rows or columns, and displays the result with a single leader

MLD MLEADER: Creates a multileader object

MLE MLEADEREDIT: Adds leader lines to, or removes leader lines from, a multileader object

MLS MLEADERSTYLE: Creates and modifies multileader styles

MO PROPERTIES: Controls properties of existing objects

MORE MESHSMOOTHMORE: Increases the level of smoothness for mesh objects by one level

MS MSPACE: Switches from paper space to a model space viewport

MSM MARKUP: Opens the Markup Set Manager

MT MTEXT: Creates a multiline text object

MV MVIEW: Creates and controls layout viewports

N

NORTH GEOGRAPHICLOCATION: Specifies the geographic location information for a drawing file

NSHOT NEWSHOT: Creates a named view with motion that is played back when viewed with ShowMotion

NVIEW NEWVIEW: Creates a named view with no motion

O

O OFFSET: Creates concentric circles, parallel lines, and parallel curves

OP OPTIONS: Customizes the program settings

ORBIT 3DORBIT: Rotates the view in 3D space, but constrained to horizontal and vertical orbit only

OS OSNAP: Sets running object snap modes

P

P PAN: Adds a parameter with grips to a dynamic block definition

PA PASTESPEC: Pastes objects from the Clipboard into the current drawing and controls the format of the data

PAR PARAMETERS: Controls the associative parameters used in the drawing

PARAM BPARAMETER: Adds a parameter with grips to a dynamic block definition

PATCH SURFPATCH: Creates a new surface by fitting a cap over a surface edge that forms a closed loop

PC POINTCLOUD: Provides options to create and attach point cloud files

PCATTACH POINTCLOUDATTACH: Inserts an indexed point cloud file into the current drawing

PCINDEX POINTCLOUDINDEX: Creates an indexed point cloud (PCG or ISD) file from a scan file

PE PEDIT: Edits polylines and 3D polygon meshes

PL PLINE: Creates a 2D polyline

PO POINT: Creates a point object

POFF HIDEPALETTES: Hides currently displayed palettes (including the command line)

POL POLYGON: Creates an equilateral closed polyline

PON SHOWPALETTES: Restores the display of hidden palettes

PR PROPERTIES: Displays Properties palette

PRE PREVIEW: Displays the drawing as it will be plotted

PRINT PLOT: Plots a drawing to a plotter, printer, or file

PS PSPACE: Switches from a model space viewport to paper space

PSOLID POLYSOLID: Creates a 3D wall-like polysolid

PTW PUBLISHTOWEB: Creates HTML pages that include images of selected drawings

PU PURGE: Removes unused items, such as block definitions and layers, from the drawing

PYR PYRAMID: Creates a 3D solid pyramid

Q

AutoCAD Command Aliases: Q – S

QC QUICKCALC: Opens the QuickCalc calculator

QCUI QUICKCUI: Displays the Customize User Interface Editor in a collapsed state

QP QUICKPROPERTIES: Displays open drawings and layouts in a drawing in preview images

QSAVE QSAVE: Saves the current drawing

QVD QVDRAWING: Displays open drawings and layouts in a drawing using preview images

QVDC QVDRAWINGCLOSE: Closes preview images of open drawings and layouts in a drawing

QVL QVLAYOUT: Displays preview images of model space and layouts in a drawing

QVLC QVLAYOUTCLOSE: Closes preview images of model space and layouts in the current drawing

R

R REDRAW: Refreshes the display in the current viewport

RA REDRAWALL: Refreshes the display in all viewports

RC RENDERCROP: Renders a specified rectangular area, called a crop window, within a viewport

RE REGEN: Regenerates the entire drawing from the current viewport

REA REGENALL: Regenerates the drawing and refreshes all viewports

REC RECTANG: Creates a rectangular polyline

REG REGION: Converts an object that encloses an area into a region object

REN RENAME: Changes the names assigned to items such as layers and dimension styles

REV REVOLVE: Creates a 3D solid or surface by sweeping a 2D object around an axis

RO ROTATE: Rotates objects around a base point

RP RENDERPRESETS: Specifies render presets, reusable rendering parameters, for rendering an image

RPR RPREF: Displays or hides the Advanced Render Settings palette for access to advanced rendering settings

RR RENDER: Creates a photorealistic or realistically shaded image of a 3D solid or surface model

RW RENDERWIN: Displays the Render window without starting a rendering operation

S

S STRETCH: Stretches objects crossed by a selection window or polygon

SC SCALE: Enlarges or reduces selected objects, keeping the proportions of the object the same after scaling

SCR SCRIPT: Executes a sequence of commands from a script file

SEC SECTION: Uses the intersection of a plane and solids, surfaces, or mesh to create a region

SET SETVAR: Lists or changes the values of system variables

SHA SHADEMODE: Starts the VSCURRENT command

SL SLICE: Creates new 3D solids and surfaces by slicing, or dividing, existing objects

SN SNAP: Restricts cursor movement to specified intervals

SO SOLID: Creates solid-filled triangles and quadrilaterals

SP SPELL: Checks spelling in a drawing

SPE SPLINEDIT: Edits a spline or spline-fit polyline

SPL SPLINE: Creates a smooth curve that passes through or near specified points

SPLANE SECTIONPLANE: Creates a section object that acts as a cutting plane through 3D objects

SPLAY SEQUENCEPLAY: Plays named views in one category

SPLIT MESHSPLIT: Splits a mesh face into two faces

SPE SPLINEDIT: Edits a spline or spline-fit polyline

SSM SHEETSET: Opens the Sheet Set Manager

ST STYLE: Creates, modifies, or specifies text styles

STA STANDARDS: Manages the association of standards files with drawings

SU SUBTRACT: Combines selected 3D solids, surfaces, or 2D regions by subtraction

AutoCAD Command Aliases: T – Z

T

T MTEXT: Creates a multiline text object

TA TABLET: Calibrates, configures, and turns on and off an attached digitizing tablet

TB TABLE: Creates an empty table object

TEDIT TEXTEDIT: Edits a dimensional constraint, dimension, or text object

TH THICKNESS: Sets the default 3D thickness property when creating 2D geometric objects

TI TILEMODE: Controls whether paper space can be accessed

TO TOOLBAR: Displays, hides, and customizes toolbars

TOL TOLERANCE: Creates geometric tolerances contained in a feature control frame

TOR TORUS: Creates a donut-shaped 3D solid

TP TOOLPALETTES: Opens the Tool Palettes window

TR TRIM: Trims objects to meet the edges of other objects

TS TABLESTYLE: Creates, modifies, or specifies table styles

U

UC UCSMAN: Manages defined user coordinate systems

UN UNITS: Controls coordinate and angle display formats and precision

UNHIDE/UNISOLATE: UNISOLATEOBJECTS: Displays objects previously hidden with the ISOLATEOBJECTS or HIDEOBJECTS command

UNI UNION: Unions two solid or two region objects

V

V VIEW: Saves and restores named views, camera views, layout views, and preset views

VGO VIEWGO: Restores a named view

VP DDVPOINT: Sets the 3D viewing direction

VPLAY VIEWPLAY: Plays the animation associated to a named view

VS VSCURRENT: Sets the visual style in the current viewport

VSM VISUALSTYLES: Creates and modifies visual styles and applies a visual style to a viewport

W

W WBLOCK: Writes objects or a block to a new drawing file

WE WEDGE: Creates a 3D solid wedge

WHEEL NAVSWHEEL: Displays a wheel that contains a collection of view navigation tools

X

X EXPLODE: Breaks a compound object into its component objects

XA XATTACH: Inserts a DWG file as an external reference (xref)

XB XBIND: Binds one or more definitions of named objects in an xref to the current drawing

XC XCLIP: Crops the display of a selected external reference or block reference to a specified boundary

XL XLINE: Creates a line of infinite length

XR XREF: Starts the EXTERNALREFERENCES command

Z

Z ZOOM: Increases or decreases the magnification of the view in the current viewport

ZEBRA ANALYSISZEBRA: Projects stripes onto a 3D model to analyze surface continuity

ZIP ETRANSMIT: Creates a Self-Extracting or Zipped Transmittal Package