2012

 Control the operation of a command. For example, the HPASSOC syatem
variable controls whether hatch patterns are associative by default.
 Retrieve stored information about the current drawing and about the
program configuration. For example, CDATE is a read-only system variable
that stores the current date in decimal format. You can display the values
of read-only system variables, but you cannot change them.
Usually system variables are accessible from dialog boxes. You can change
their values either in a dialog box, directly in the Command Line, or
automatically in a script or custom program.
Enter System Variables on the Command Line
To change the setting of a system variable
1 In the Command Line, enter the system variable name. For example,
enter pickadd to change the style for selecting objects, whether selecting
objects automatically replaces the current selection set, or whether they
are added to the current selection set.
2 If necessary, press Fn-F1 to view the documentation for that system
variable.
3 Enter the setting that you want to use. In the example of PICKADD,
enter 0, 1, or 2 to determine how you select multiple objects.
Switch Between Dialog Boxes and the Command
Line
You can display prompts on the command line instead of using a dialog box,
or switch back again. This option is useful primarily when using scripts.
Some functions are available both in the Command Line and in a dialog box.
In many cases, you can enter a hyphen before a command to suppress the
dialog box and display prompts in the Command Line instead.
For example, entering layer on the command line displays the Layers palette.
Entering -layer on the command line displays the equivalent Command Line
options.
Suppressing a dialog box is useful for familiar operation with earlier versions
of the program, and for using script files. There may be slight differences
16 | Chapter 2 The User Interface