2004

Table Of Contents
36 | Chapter 3 The Command Window
Enter Commands on the Command Line
To enter a command by using the keyboard, type the full command name on
the command line and press
ENTER or SPACEBAR, or right-click your pointing
device.
Some commands also have abbreviated names. For example, instead of
entering circle to start the
CIRCLE command, you can enter c. Abbreviated
command names are called command aliases and are defined in the acad.pgp
file. To define your own command aliases, see “Create Command Aliases” in
the Customization Guide.
Specify Command Options
When you enter commands on the command line, AutoCAD displays either
a set of options or a dialog box. For example, when you enter circle at the
Command prompt, the following prompt is displayed:
Specify center point for circle or [3P/2P/Ttr (tan, tan, radius)]:
You can specify the center point either by entering X,Y coordinate values or
by using the pointing device to click a point on the screen.
To choose a different option, enter the letters capitalized in one of the
options in the brackets. You can enter uppercase or lowercase letters. For
example, to choose the three-point option (3P), enter 3p.
Execute Commands
To execute commands, press
SPACEBAR or ENTER, or right-click your pointing
device after entering command names or responses to prompts. The instruc-
tions in Help assume this step and do not specifically instruct you to press
ENTER after each entry.
Repeat and Cancel Commands
If you want to repeat a command that you have just used, press
ENTER or
SPACEBAR, or right-click your pointing device at the Command prompt.
You also can repeat a command by entering multiple, a space, and the
command name, as shown in the following example:
Command: multiple circle
To cancel a command in progress, press
ESC.