New AutoCAD users often ask how many commands they need to know. The 2027 alias file acad.pgp holds 414 aliases for 327 different commands, yet a typical set of construction drawings uses only a few dozen of them. This page gathers the AutoCAD commands used most into nine groups, each with its alias and its own how-to article.
Every alias in the tables below is read straight from the AutoCAD 2027 acad.pgp file, not copied from lists passed around. According to the Autodesk documentation on command aliases, an alias is a shortened name typed at the command line in place of the full command name, stored in a PGP file. Each linked article was written after running the command in AutoCAD 2027, with the command-line prompts copied word for word. If you are just starting, read what AutoCAD is first, then come back here. For drafting taught properly, the Institute runs an AutoCAD course for construction.
Basic AutoCAD commands: 21 that need one letter
Among the hundreds of AutoCAD commands, the quickest way into the basics is the set with a one-letter alias. The 2027 acad.pgp has exactly 21 of them:
| Type | Command | Type | Command | Type | Command |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A | ARC | H | HATCH | R | REDRAW |
B | BLOCK | I | INSERT | S | STRETCH |
C | CIRCLE | J | JOIN | T | MTEXT |
D | DIMSTYLE | L | LINE | V | VIEW |
E | ERASE | M | MOVE | W | WBLOCK |
F | FILLET | O | OFFSET | X | EXPLODE |
G | GROUP | P | PAN | Z | ZOOM |
A few letters are easy to guess wrong: D is not DIM but DIMSTYLE, R is REDRAW rather than RECTANG, and T is MTEXT rather than TEXT. A rectangle needs REC, and single-line text is DT.
After typing a command, press Enter or Space. Pressing Enter at an empty Command: prompt repeats the last command. Details are in how to enter commands. Key combinations such as Ctrl+S and the F3–F12 row are covered in AutoCAD keyboard shortcuts.
AutoCAD command list: starting commands, settings and the display
This group draws nothing, yet without it every other command is slower. Object snaps, coordinates and ZOOM are in use all day long. The full alias list and how to add your own are in the aliases article; how to stop a command typed by mistake is in the article on exiting.
| Command | Alias | What it does (click for the article) |
|---|---|---|
| Typing, Enter, Space | — | Entering and repeating commands |
| Aliases (acad.pgp) | — | The alias list and how to edit it |
| Esc, BCLOSE, PSPACE, QUIT | EXIT | Leaving a command, the Block Editor, a viewport, AutoCAD |
| Interface | — | Ribbon, command line, classic layout |
| PROPERTIES | CH, MO | The Properties palette |
| Selecting objects | — | Windows, crossings and deselecting |
| UNDO / U | — | Undo and marks |
| OSNAP | OS | Object snaps |
| F8 (ORTHOMODE) | — | Orthogonal drawing |
| Coordinates | — | Absolute, relative and polar coordinates |
| UCS | — | User coordinate systems |
| UNITS | UN | Drawing units |
| GRID | — | Grid and snap |
| ZOOM / PAN | Z | Zooming and panning |
| REGEN | RE | Regenerating the display |
| Leaving 3D mode | — | Back to 2D drafting |
| APPLOAD | AP | Loading LISP and applications |
| ACTRECORD | ARR | Recording action macros |
| PURGE, lighter drawings | PU | Cleaning up heavy drawings |
| Drawings that will not open | — | Drawings that will not open |
| SAVEAS, DWGCONVERT | — | Saving to an older DWG version |
AutoCAD commands for drawing
This is the group that creates geometry. For architectural and structural drawings, LINE, PLINE, CIRCLE, RECTANG, OFFSET and HATCH take most of the time. Prefer PLINE over LINE when you need one continuous outline, because a closed polyline gives an area and can be hatched straight away.
| Command | Alias | What it does (click for the article) |
|---|---|---|
| LINE | L | Lines |
| PLINE, PEDIT | PL | Polylines and joining into polylines |
| CIRCLE | C | Circles |
| ARC | A | Arcs |
| Measuring arcs | — | Arc length, radius and angle |
| RECTANG | REC | Rectangles |
| ELLIPSE | EL | Ellipses |
| POLYGON | POL | Regular polygons |
| SPLINE | SPL | Splines |
| REVCLOUD | — | Revision clouds |
| Angles (XLINE) | XL | Lines at a given angle |
| OFFSET | O | Parallel lines |
| MLINE | ML | Multilines |
| Wavy lines | — | Wavy and break lines |
| Arrows (LEADER) | LEAD | Arrows |
| DONUT | DO | Donuts and filled dots |
| TRACE | — | Wide lines |
| POINT, DDPTYPE | — | Point styles |
| REGION | REG | Regions |
| BOUNDARY | BO | Boundaries |
| WIPEOUT | — | Masking areas |
| SOLID | SO | 2D filled shapes |
| HATCH | H, BH | Hatching |
| HATCHEDIT | HE | Editing hatches |
| Hatch errors | — | Hatch troubleshooting |
Editing commands: erase, copy, trim, extend
Fast drafting comes from good editing: you rarely redraw, you copy and modify. TRIM, EXTEND, OFFSET, COPY, MIRROR and ARRAY are the editing commands used most. One habit worth building: in editing commands such as ERASE, the edit happens only after Enter confirms the selection; Esc before that abandons the whole command.
| Command | Alias | What it does (click for the article) |
|---|---|---|
| ERASE | E | Erasing |
| MOVE | M | Moving |
| COPY | CO, CP | Copying |
| ROTATE | RO | Rotating |
| SCALE | SC | Scaling objects |
| MIRROR | MI | Mirroring |
| ARRAY | AR | Rectangular, polar and path arrays |
| TRIM | TR | Trimming |
| EXTEND | EX | Extending to a boundary |
| EXTRIM | — | Trimming everything inside a boundary |
| BREAK | BR | Breaking objects |
| JOIN | J | Joining objects |
| LENGTHEN | LEN | Changing lengths |
| STRETCH | S | Stretching |
| FILLET | F | Rounded corners |
| CHAMFER | CHA | Chamfered corners |
| EXPLODE | X | Exploding objects |
| ALIGN | AL | Aligning by point pairs |
| OVERKILL | — | Removing duplicate lines |
| CHANGE | -CH | Changing endpoints and properties |
| MATCHPROP | MA | Copying properties |
| MEASURE | ME | Placing marks at a spacing |
| DIVIDE | DIV | Dividing into equal parts |
| SPLINEDIT | SPE | Editing splines |
| FILTER, QSELECT | FI | Selecting by conditions |
| GROUP | G | Groups |
Layers, linetypes and lineweights
Layers control colour, linetype, plotted lineweight and whether a set of objects shows at all. A drawing sent out with messy layers is hard to plot and hard to edit. Turning a layer off (LAYOFF) and freezing it (LAYFRZ) look the same on screen but differ when selecting and in a full-extents ZOOM, so the difference is worth reading up on.
| Command | Alias | What it does (click for the article) |
|---|---|---|
| LAYER | LA | Creating and managing layers |
| LAYOFF, LAYFRZ | — | Turning layers off and freezing |
| LAYDEL | — | Deleting layers |
| LAYMRG | — | Merging layers |
| HIDEOBJECTS | — | Hiding objects |
| LINETYPE | LT | Linetypes |
| LTSCALE | LTS | Linetype scale |
| LWEIGHT | LW | Lineweights |
Text, dimensions and measuring
This group turns geometry into a drawing people can read. Set the dimension style (DIMSTYLE, alias D) once for the whole set, then dimension. AREA and DIST are enquiry commands: they draw nothing but give areas and distances at once.
| Command | Alias | What it does (click for the article) |
|---|---|---|
| TEXT, MTEXT | T, MT | Text |
| Line breaks | — | Line breaks in text |
| Batch text edits | — | Editing many texts at once |
| FIELD | — | Fields that update |
| Diameter symbol | — | Diameter, degree and plus-minus symbols |
| DIM | — | Dimensioning |
| DIMSTYLE | D, DST | Dimension styles |
| Dimension text size | — | Dimension text height |
| DIMCONTINUE, DIMLINEAR | DCO | Continued and other dimensions |
| DIMRADIUS | DRA | Radius and diameter dimensions |
| DIMALIGNED | DAL | Aligned dimensions |
| DIMANGULAR | DAN | Angular dimensions |
| DIMTEDIT | — | Editing dimensions |
| QLEADER | LE | Leaders with notes |
| AREA | AA | Areas |
| DIST, MEASUREGEOM | DI | Measuring distances |
Blocks, external references, layouts and plotting
A block gathers many objects into one reusable object: door symbols, sanitary fittings, title blocks. An xref brings a whole other drawing in as a background without copying its data, which suits several people working on one building.
| Command | Alias | What it does (click for the article) |
|---|---|---|
| BLOCK, INSERT | B, BMOD | Creating and inserting blocks |
| BEDIT, REFEDIT | BE | Editing blocks |
| BCOUNT | — | Counting blocks |
| Dynamic blocks | — | Dynamic blocks |
| ATTDEF | ATT | Attribute blocks |
| XREF, XATTACH | XR | External references |
| XCLIP | XC | Clipping blocks and xrefs |
| IMAGEATTACH | IAT | Inserting images |
Layouts and plotting
The model is drawn at 1:1 in Model space; the plot scale is set in a layout viewport. Print to paper with PLOT, send electronically with EXPORTPDF. For multi-sheet sets, a Sheet Set numbers and plots the whole set in one go.
| Command | Alias | What it does (click for the article) |
|---|---|---|
| LAYOUT | — | Paper space layouts |
| Rotating a layout view | — | Rotating a view in a layout |
| VPCLIP | — | Polygonal viewports |
| MVIEW, VPCLIP | MV | Clipping viewports |
| PLAN | — | Returning to plan view |
| PLOT | — | Plotting |
| EXPORTPDF | EPDF | Saving to PDF |
| SHEETSET | SSM | Sheet sets |
| Copy to Word | — | Drawings into Word |
| DATAEXTRACTION | DX | Tables to Excel |
AutoCAD 3D commands
3D work follows an order: model basic solids or extrude from a plan, then cut, subtract and combine, orbit to check, and finally assign materials and render. For 2D users, FLATSHOT is the bridge that turns a 3D solid back into a 2D projection.
| Command | Alias | What it does (click for the article) |
|---|---|---|
| BOX, CYLINDER… | — | Basic 3D solids |
| EXTRUDE | EXT | Extruding |
| REVOLVE | REV | Revolving |
| SWEEP | — | Sweeping along a path |
| LOFT | — | Lofting through sections |
| SHELL | — | Shelling solids |
| SLICE | SL | Slicing solids |
| SUBTRACT | SU | Subtracting solids |
| UNION, INTERSECT | UNI | Union and intersect |
| 3DORBIT | 3DO | Orbiting the 3D view |
| NAVVCUBE | CUBE | Turning off the ViewCube |
| FLATSHOT | — | 3D to 2D projection |
| 3DARRAY | 3A | 3D arrays |
| 3DPOLY, 3DFACE | 3P | 3D polylines, faces and thickness |
| RENDER | RR | Materials and rendering |
LISP routines and downloadable libraries
LISP routines are home-made commands, loaded with APPLOAD, that do repetitive jobs the built-in commands do not: trimming dimension lines in bulk, rebar schedules, plotting many title blocks. The Institute's LISP set was rewritten from scratch, with the code in each article and a file to download.
| Command | Alias | What it does (click for the article) |
|---|---|---|
| LISP library | — | LISP library |
| LISP: trim dimensions | — | Trimming dimension lines |
| LISP: quick dimensions | — | Quick dimensions |
| LISP: align dimensions | — | Aligning dimensions |
| LISP: edit texts and dimensions | — | Editing many texts and dimensions |
| LISP: export coordinates | — | Exporting coordinates |
| Coordinates from Excel | — | Importing coordinates from Excel |
| LISP: numbering | — | Automatic numbering |
| LISP: batch plot | — | Batch plotting |
| LISP: rebar schedule | — | Rebar schedules |
| LISP: total length | — | Total length |
| LISP: block tools | — | Batch block tools |
| LISP: text tools | — | Batch text tools |
| LISP: hatch areas | — | Hatch areas |
| Hatch library | — | Hatch pattern library |
| Linetype library | — | Linetype library |
Frequently asked questions
How many AutoCAD commands are there?
The 2027 acad.pgp file alone has 414 aliases pointing to 327 different commands. This page summarises the AutoCAD commands used most in construction drawings, about a hundred and fifty commands and topics.
Which basic AutoCAD commands should I learn first?
The 21 commands with a one-letter alias in the table at the top, plus PLINE, RECTANG, TRIM, COPY, ROTATE and LAYER.
Are AutoCAD commands and aliases the same on every machine?
The tables above are read from the 2027 acad.pgp. That file can be edited, so each machine may differ; how to view and edit it is in the aliases article.
How do I stop a running command?
Press Esc. The command line prints *Cancel* and returns to Command:.