User Guide

79
About paths and anchor points
A path is any line or shape that you cre-
ate using the Adobe Illustrator drawing
tools, and represents the outline of a
graphic object. A single straight line, a
rectangle, and the outline of a map are
all typical examples of paths.
A path consists of one or more seg-
ments. Anchor points, which define
where each segment of a path starts and
ends, “anchor” the path in place. By
moving anchor points, you modify path
segments, and change the shape of a
path.
A path can be either open or closed. A
closed path is a path that is continuous
and has no beginning or end (and there-
fore, no endpoints); a circle is an exam-
ple of a closed path. An open path has
distinct endpoints; a wavy line, for
example, is an open path.