AutoCAD Commands Reference

The most used AutoCAD commands with their keyboard aliases and step-by-step usage. Click a command for the full explanation.

Draw

Command	Alias	Name	What it does
ARC	A	Arc	Draws an arc from three points or from combinations of center, angle, radius and direction.
CIRCLE	C	Circle	Draws a circle by center and radius, diameter, two or three points, or tangency.
DONUT	DO	Donut	Draws a filled ring or a solid dot from an inside and outside diameter.
ELLIPSE	EL	Ellipse	Draws an ellipse or elliptical arc by defining its two axes.
HATCH	H, BH	Hatch	Fills an enclosed area with a hatch pattern, a solid fill or a gradient.
LINE	L	Line	Draws straight line segments between points; each segment is a separate object.
MLINE	ML	Multiline	Draws a multiline made of several parallel lines in one command.
PLINE	PL	Polyline	Draws a polyline made of line and arc segments that acts as a single object.
POINT	PO	Point	Places a point object at a location; its appearance is controlled by the point style.
POLYGON	POL	Polygon	Draws an equal-sided regular polygon as a closed polyline.
RECTANG	REC	Rectangle	Draws a rectangle as a closed polyline from two corners, dimensions or an area.
REVCLOUD		Revision Cloud	Draws a revision cloud made of arcs to mark changed areas of a drawing.
SPLINE	SPL	Spline	Draws a smooth curve through fit points or shaped by control vertices.
XLINE	XL	Construction Line	Draws a construction line that extends infinitely in both directions.

Modify

Command	Alias	Name	What it does
ALIGN	AL	Align	Aligns objects with other objects using pairs of source and destination points.
ARRAY	AR	Array	Creates copies of selected objects in a rectangular, polar or path array.
BREAK	BR	Break	Removes the part of an object between two points, or splits it at one point.
CHAMFER	CHA	Chamfer	Bevels the corner between two lines with a straight chamfer line.
COPY	CO, CP	Copy	Creates copies of selected objects at a specified distance and direction.
DIVIDE	DIV	Divide	Places points or blocks along an object to divide it into equal segments.
ERASE	E	Erase	Removes selected objects from the drawing.
EXPLODE	X	Explode	Breaks compound objects such as blocks, polylines and dimensions into their component objects.
EXTEND	EX	Extend	Extends objects so they meet the edges of other objects.
FILLET	F	Fillet	Connects two objects with a tangent arc of a specified radius.
JOIN	J	Join	Combines suitably placed lines, arcs, polylines and splines into a single object.
LENGTHEN	LEN	Lengthen	Changes the length of objects or the included angle of arcs by a value.
MATCHPROP	MA	Match Properties	Applies the properties of a source object to selected destination objects.
MEASURE	ME	Measure	Places points or blocks at a specified interval along an object.
MIRROR	MI	Mirror	Creates a mirrored copy of selected objects across a line defined by two points.
MOVE	M	Move	Moves selected objects a specified distance in a specified direction.
OFFSET	O	Offset	Creates a parallel or concentric copy of an object at a specified distance.
PEDIT	PE	Polyline Edit	Edits polylines and converts and joins lines and arcs into polylines.
ROTATE	RO	Rotate	Rotates selected objects around a base point by a specified angle.
SCALE	SC	Scale	Enlarges or reduces selected objects proportionally around a base point.
STRETCH	S	Stretch	Moves the endpoints inside a crossing selection to stretch or shorten objects.
TRIM	TR	Trim	Trims objects to meet the edges of other objects, removing the excess parts.

Text and Dimensions

Command	Alias	Name	What it does
DIMALIGNED	DAL, DIMALI	Aligned Dimension	Shows the true distance between two points with a dimension parallel to them.
DIMLINEAR	DLI, DIMLIN	Linear Dimension	Creates a horizontal, vertical or rotated linear dimension between two points.
DIMSTYLE	D, DST, DIMSTY, DDIM	Dimension Style	Manages the dimension styles that control arrows, text, units and scale.
MLEADER	MLD	Multileader	Draws a multileader made of an arrowhead, leader line and text or block content.
MTEXT	T, MT	Multiline Text	Creates formatted multiline paragraph text that acts as one object.
STYLE	ST	Text Style	Manages the text styles that set the font, height and effects of text.
TABLE	TB	Table	Creates a table object with rows and columns that can hold text and formulas.
TEXT	DT	Single-Line Text	Creates single-line text where each line is a separate object.
TEXTEDIT	ED	Edit Text	Edits the contents of single-line text, mtext, dimension text and attribute definitions.

Layers

Command	Alias	Name	What it does
LAYER	LA	Layer	Opens the Layer Properties Manager to create, edit and set the current layer.
LAYFRZ		Layer Freeze	Freezes the layer of the object you pick.
LAYISO		Layer Isolate	Hides, or locks and fades, all layers except the layers of the selected objects.
LAYMCUR		Make Object's Layer Current	Makes the layer of the selected object the current layer.
LAYOFF		Layer Off	Turns off the layer of the object you pick.

Blocks

Command	Alias	Name	What it does
ATTDEF	ATT	Attribute Definition	Creates an attribute definition that holds a different value each time a block is inserted.
BEDIT	BE	Block Editor	Opens a block definition in the Block Editor so you can change it.
BLOCK	B	Block	Creates a reusable block definition from selected objects in the current drawing.
INSERT	I	Insert	Places a block definition or a DWG file into the drawing as a block.
WBLOCK	W	Write Block	Writes a block, selected objects or the entire drawing to a new DWG file.

View

Command	Alias	Name	What it does
PAN	P	Pan	Shifts the view in any direction without changing the zoom level.
REGEN	RE	Regenerate	Regenerates the current viewport from the drawing database.
ZOOM	Z	Zoom	Enlarges or reduces the view without changing the drawing itself.

Inquiry

Command	Alias	Name	What it does
AREA	AA	Area	Calculates the area and perimeter of a region defined by points or a closed object.
DIST	DI	Distance	Reports the distance, angle and coordinate differences between two points.
ID		ID Point	Displays the X, Y and Z coordinates of a picked point.
LIST	LI, LS	List	Lists properties and geometry data of selected objects in the text window.

File and Utilities

Command	Alias	Name	What it does
APPLOAD	AP	Load Application	Loads and unloads LISP, VLX, FAS, ARX and DVB applications and sets them to load at startup.
AUDIT		Audit	Checks the integrity of the drawing database and can fix the errors it finds.
OVERKILL		Delete Duplicate Objects	Deletes duplicate overlapping objects and combines overlapping lines.
PURGE	PU	Purge	Removes unused definitions such as blocks, layers, styles and linetypes.
QSAVE		Quick Save	Saves the drawing using its current file name and format without prompting.