250 AutoCAD Command Shortcuts: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet
AutoCAD Command Shortcuts, or command aliases are the foundation of efficient AutoCAD workflows, serving as essential keyboard shortcuts that streamline your drafting process. While basic commands like 'L' for LINE and 'C' for CIRCLE may seem straightforward, understanding how to effectively integrate them into your design process can dramatically improve your productivity.
In this reference guide, you'll find a comprehensive collection of AutoCAD command shortcuts that form the backbone of efficient drafting. For each command, we provide the alias, the full command name, and a brief description of its function.
While this command reference serves as a handy quick guide, truly mastering AutoCAD requires understanding these commands in real-world contexts. At CAD Masters, we've found that students best retain command knowledge when they learn through practical application and guided instruction.
Our AutoCAD Introduction and Advanced classes are structured to build your proficiency systematically, with our award-winning instructors demonstrating how these commands work together in actual design scenarios. You'll learn not just what each command does, but the optimal situations for using them and how they fit into efficient workflows.
Every student receives:
- Lifetime access to comprehensive training materials, including detailed PDF guides
- Step-by-step video tutorials you can review at your own pace
- Hands-on project exercises that reinforce your learning
- 3 months of post-class technical support from our expert team
For more detailed information about specific commands, Autodesk maintains an extensive command reference in their online documentation that provides more detailed explanations (including subcommands and parameters). While this resource is valuable, we've found that combining it with hands-on training leads to better retention and practical application of these essential skills.
AutoCAD Command Shortcuts Full List
Command Shortcut
Command Name
Command Details
3A
3DARRAY
Creates nonassociative, 3D rectangular or polar arrays.
3AL
3DALIGN
Aligns objects with other objects in 2D and 3D.
3DO
3DORBIT
Provides interactive viewing in 3D with the mouse. Right-click to display viewing options.
3DW
3DWALK
Changes the 3D view in a drawing interactively to create the appearance of walking through the model.
3F
3DFACE
Creates a three-sided or four-sided surface in 3D space.
3M
3DMOVE
In a 3D view, displays the 3D Move gizmo to aid in moving 3D objects a specified distance in a specified direction.
3DMIRROR
MIRROR3D
Creates a mirrored copy of selected 3D objects across a mirroring plane.
3DNAVIGATE
3DWALK
Changes the 3D view in a drawing interactively to create the appearance of walking through the model.
3P
3DPOLY
Creates a 3D polyline.
3R
3DROTATE
In a 3D view, displays the 3D Rotate gizmo to aid in revolving 3D objects around a base point.
A
ARC
Creates an arc.
AA
AREA
Calculates the area and perimeter of objects or defined areas.
AC
BACTION
Adds an action to a dynamic block definition. (This command is available only in the Block Editor)
ADC
ADCENTER
Manages and inserts content such as blocks, xrefs, and hatch patterns.
AECTOACAD
EXPORTTOAUTOCAD
Creates a version of a drawing file that can be opened in products such as AutoCAD and previous releases of a toolset.
AL
ALIGN
Aligns objects with other objects in 2D and 3D.
AP
APPLOAD
Loads and unloads applications and defines which applications to load at startup.
AR
ARRAY
Creates multiple copies of objects in a pattern.
-AR
-ARRAY
From the command line, creates copies of objects arranged in a pattern.
ATI
ATTIPEDIT
Changes the textual content of an attribute within a block.
ATT
ATTDEF
The Attribute Definition dialog box is displayed.
-ATT
-ATTDEF
At the Command prompt, creates an attribute definition for storing data in a block.
ATE
ATTEDIT
Changes attribute information in a block.
-ATE
-ATTEDIT
Modify both attribute values & properties, independent of a block.
ATTE
-ATTEDIT
Modify both attribute values & properties, independent of a block.
B
BLOCK
Creates a block definition from selected objects.
-B
-BLOCK
At the Command prompt, creates a block definition from selected objects.
BC
BCLOSE
Closes the Block Editor.
BE
BEDIT
Opens the block definition in the Block Editor.
BH
HATCH
Fills an enclosed area or selected objects with a hatch pattern, solid fill, or gradient fill.
BO
BOUNDARY
Creates a region or a polyline from an enclosed area.
-BO
-BOUNDARY
At the Command prompt, creates regions or polylines from enclosed areas.
BR
BREAK
Breaks the selected object between two points.
BS
BSAVE
Saves the current block definition.
BVS
BVSTATE
Creates, sets, or deletes a visibility state in a dynamic block.
C
CIRCLE
Creates a circle.
CAM
CAMERA
Sets a camera and target location to create and save a 3D perspective view of objects.
CH
PROPERTIES
Controls properties of existing objects.
-CH
CHANGE
From the command line, controls properties of existing objects.
CHA
CHAMFER
Bevels the edges of objects.
CHK
CHECKSTANDARDS
Checks the current drawing for standards violations.
CLI
COMMANDLINE
Displays the Command Line window.
COL
COLOR
Sets the color for new objects.
CO
COPY
Copies objects a specified distance in a specified direction.
CT
CTABLESTYLE
Sets the name of the current table style.
CYL
CYLINDER
Creates a 3D solid cylinder.
Command Shortcut
Command Name
Command Details
D
DIMSTYLE
Creates and modifies dimension styles.
DAL
DIMALIGNED
Creates an aligned linear dimension.
DAN
DIMANGULAR
Creates an angular dimension.
DAR
DIMARC
Creates an arc length dimension.
DBA
DIMBASELINE
Creates a linear, angular, or ordinate dimension from the baseline of the previous or selected dimension.
DBC
DBCONNECT
Provides an interface to external database tables.
DCE
DIMCENTER
Creates the center mark or the centerlines of circles and arcs.
DCO
DIMCONTINUE
Creates a dimension that starts from an extension line of a previously created dimension.
DCON
DIMCONSTRAINT
Applies dimensional constraints to selected objects or points on objects.
DDA
DIMDISASSOCIATE
Removes associativity from selected dimensions.
DDI
DIMDIAMETER
Creates a diameter dimension for a circle or an arc.
DED
DIMEDIT
Edits dimension text and extension lines.
DI
DIST
Measures the distance and angle between two points.
DIV
DIVIDE
Creates evenly spaced point objects or blocks along the length or perimeter of an object.
DJL
DIMJOGLINE
Adds or removes a jog line on a linear or aligned dimension.
DJO
DIMJOGGED
Creates jogged dimensions for circles and arcs.
DL
DATALINK
The Data Link dialog box is displayed.
DLI
DIMLINEAR
Creates a linear dimension.
DLU
DATALINKUPDATE
Updates data to or from an established external data link.
DO
DONUT
Creates a filled circle or a wide ring.
DOR
DIMORDINATE
Creates ordinate dimensions.
DOV
DIMOVERRIDE
Controls overrides of system variables used in selected dimensions.
DR
DRAWORDER
Changes the draw order of images and other objects.
DRA
DIMRADIUS
Creates a radius dimension for a circle or an arc.
DRE
DIMREASSOCIATE
Associates or re-associates selected dimensions to objects or points on objects.
DRM
DRAWINGRECOVERY
Displays a list of drawing files that can be recovered after a program or system failure.
DS
DSETTINGS
Sets grid and snap, polar and object snap tracking, object snap modes, Dynamic Input, and Quick Properties.
DST
DIMSTYLE
Creates and modifies dimension styles.
DT
TEXT
Creates a single-line text object.
DV
DVIEW
Defines parallel projection or perspective views by using a camera and target.
DX
DATAEXTRACTION
Extracts drawing data and merges data from an external source to a data extraction table or external file.
E
ERASE
Removes objects from a drawing.
ED
DDEDIT
Edits single-line text, dimension text, attribute definitions, and feature control frames.
EL
ELLIPSE
Creates an ellipse or an elliptical arc.
ER
EXTERNALREFERENCES
Opens the External References palette.
EX
EXTEND
Extends objects to meet the edges of other objects.
EXIT
QUIT
Exits the program.
EXP
EXPORT
Saves the objects in a drawing to a different file format.
EXT
EXTRUDE
Extends the dimensions of a 2D object or 3D face into 3D space.
F
FILLET
Rounds and fillets the edges of objects.
FI
FILTER
Creates a list of requirements that an object must meet to be included in a selection set.
FREEPOINT
POINTLIGHT
Creates a point light that radiates light in all directions from its location.
FS
FSMODE
Creates a selection set of all objects that touch the selected object.
FSHOT
FLATSHOT
Creates a 2D representation of all 3D objects based on the current view.
G
GROUP
Creates and manages saved sets of objects called groups.
-G
-GROUP
Creates and manages saved sets of objects called groups.
GD
GRADIENT
Fills an enclosed area or selected objects with a gradient fill.
GEO
GEOGRAPHICLOCATION
Specifies the geographic location information for a drawing file.
H
HATCH
Fills an enclosed area or selected objects with a hatch pattern, solid fill, or gradient fill.
-H
-HATCH
Uses command prompts to fill an enclosed area or selected objects with a hatch pattern, solid fill, or gradient fill.
HE
HATCHEDIT
Modifies an existing hatch or fill.
HI
HIDE
Regenerates a 3D wireframe model with hidden lines suppressed.
I
INSERT
Displays the Blocks palette, which you can use to insert blocks and drawings into the current drawing.
-I
-INSERT
Inserts a block or drawing into the current drawing.
IAD
IMAGEADJUST
Controls the image display of the brightness, contrast, and fade values of images.
IAT
IMAGEATTACH
Inserts a reference to an image file.
ICL
IMAGECLIP
Crops the display of a selected image to a specified boundary.
IM
IMAGE
Displays the External References palette.
-IM
-IMAGE
Attaches a raster image to the drawing.
IMP
IMPORT
Imports files of different formats into the current drawing.
IN
INTERSECT
Creates a 3D solid, surface, or 2D region from overlapping solids, surfaces, or regions.
INF
INTERFERE
Creates a temporary 3D solid from the interferences between two sets of selected 3D solids.
IO
INSERTOBJ
Inserts a linked or embedded object.
Command Shortcut
Command Name
Command Details
J
JOIN
Joins similar objects to form a single, unbroken object.
JOG
DIMJOGGED
Creates jogged dimensions for circles and arcs.
L
LINE
Creates straight line segments.
LA
LAYER
Manages layers and layer properties.
-LA
-LAYER
From the Command Line, manages layers and layer properties.
LAS
LAYERSTATE
Saves, restores, and manages named layer states.
LE
QLEADER
Creates a leader and leader annotation.
LEN
LENGTHEN
Changes the length of objects and the included angle of arcs.
LI
LIST
Displays property data for selected objects.
LMAN
LAYERSTATE
Saves, restores, and manages sets of layer settings that are called layer states.
LO
-LAYOUT
Creates and modifies drawing layouts.
LT
LINETYPE
Loads, sets, and modifies linetypes.
-LT
-LINETYPE
At the Command prompt, loads, sets, and modifies linetypes.
LTS
LTSCALE
Changes the scale factor of linetypes for all objects in a drawing.
LW
LINEWEIGHT
Sets the current lineweight, lineweight display options, and lineweight units.
M
MOVE
Moves objects a specified distance in a specified direction.
MA
MATCHPROP
Applies the properties of a selected object to other objects.
MAT
MATERIALS
Shows or hides the Materials window.
ME
MEASURE
Creates point objects or blocks at measured intervals along the length or perimeter of an object.
MEA
MEASUREGEOM
Measures the distance, radius, angle, area, and volume of selected objects or sequence of points.
MI
MIRROR
Creates a mirrored copy of selected objects.
ML
MLINE
Creates multiple parallel lines.
MLA
MLEADERALIGN
Aligns and spaces selected multileader objects.
MLC
MLEADERCOLLECT
Organizes selected multileaders that contain blocks into rows or columns, and displays the result with a single leader.
MLD
MLEADER
Creates a multileader object.
MLE
MLEADEREDIT
Adds leader lines to, or removes leader lines from, a multileader object.
MLS
MLEADERSTYLE
Creates and modifies multileader styles.
MO
PROPERTIES
Controls properties of existing objects.
MS
MSPACE
Switches from paper space to a model space viewport.
MSM
MARKUP
Opens the Markup Set Manager.
MT
MTEXT
Creates a multiline text object.
MV
MVIEW
Creates and controls layout viewports.
NORTH
GEOGRAPHICLOCATION
Specifies the geographic location information for a drawing file.
O
OFFSET
Creates concentric circles, parallel lines, and parallel curves.
OP
OPTIONS
Customizes the program settings.
ORBIT
3DORBIT
Rotates the view in 3D space but constrained to horizontal and vertical orbit only.
OS
OSNAP
Sets running object snap modes.
-OS
-OSNAP
From the Command prompt, sets running object snap modes.
Command Shortcut
Command Name
Command Details
P
PAN
Shifts the view without changing the viewing direction or magnification.
-P
-PAN
Shifts the view by specifying up to two points to determine a distance and direction.
PA
PASTESPEC
Pastes objects from the Clipboard into the current drawing and controls the format of the data.
PAR
PARAMETERS
Controls the associative parameters used in the drawing.
PARAM
BPARAMETER
Adds a parameter with grips to a dynamic block definition.
PARTIALOPEN
-PARTIALOPEN
Loads geometry and named objects from a selected view or layer into a drawing.
PE
PEDIT
Edits polylines and 3D polygon meshes.
PL
PLINE
Creates a 2D polyline.
PO
POINT
Creates a point object.
POL
POLYGON
Creates an equilateral closed polyline.
PR
PROPERTIES
Displays Properties palette.
PRCLOSE
PROPERTIESCLOSE
Closes the Properties palette.
PRE
PREVIEW
Displays the drawing as it will be plotted.
PLOT
Plots a drawing to a plotter, printer, or file.
PS
PSPACE
Switches from a model space viewport to paper space.
PSOLID
POLYSOLID
Creates a 3D wall-like polysolid.
PU
PURGE
Removes unused items, such as block definitions and layers, from the drawing.
-PU
-PURGE
Removes unused named objects, such as block definitions and layers, from the current drawing using the command line.
PYR
PYRAMID
Creates a 3D solid pyramid.
QC
QUICKCALC
Opens the QuickCalc calculator.
QCUI
QUICKCUI
Displays the Customize User Interface Editor in a collapsed state.
R
REDRAW
Refreshes the display in the current viewport.
RA
REDRAWALL
Refreshes the display in all viewports.
RC
RENDERCROP
Renders a specified rectangular area, called a crop window, within a viewport.
RE
REGEN
Regenerates the entire drawing from the current viewport.
REA
REGENALL
Regenerates the drawing and refreshes all viewports.
REC
RECTANG
Creates a rectangular polyline.
REG
REGION
Converts an object that encloses an area into a region object.
REN
RENAME
Changes the names assigned to items such as layers and dimension styles.
-REN
-RENAME
Changes the names assigned to named objects from the Command prompt.
REV
REVOLVE
Creates a 3D solid or surface by sweeping a 2D object around an axis.
RO
ROTATE
Rotates objects around a base point.
RP
RENDERPRESETS
Specifies render presets, reusable rendering parameters, for rendering an image.
RPR
RPREF
Displays or hides the Advanced Render Settings palette for access to advanced rendering settings.
RR
RENDER
Creates a photorealistic or realistically shaded image of a 3D solid or surface model.
RW
RENDERWIN
Displays the Render window without starting a rendering operation.
S
STRETCH
Stretches objects crossed by a selection window or polygon.
SC
SCALE
Enlarges or reduces selected objects, keeping the proportions of the object the same after scaling.
SCR
SCRIPT
Executes a sequence of commands from a script file.
SE
DSETTINGS
Sets grid and snap, polar and object snap tracking, object snap modes, Dynamic Input, and Quick Properties.
SEC
SECTION
Uses the intersection of a plane and solids, surfaces, or mesh to create a region.
SET
SETVAR
Lists or changes the values of system variables.
SHA
SHADEMODE
Starts the VSCURRENT command.
SL
SLICE
Creates new 3D solids and surfaces by slicing, or dividing, existing objects.
SN
SNAP
Restricts cursor movement to specified intervals.
SO
SOLID
Creates solid-filled triangles and quadrilaterals.
SP
SPELL
Checks spelling in a drawing.
SPE
SPLINEDIT
Edits a spline or splinefit polyline.
SPL
SPLINE
Creates a smooth curve that passes through or near specified points.
SPLANE
SECTIONPLANE
Creates a section object that acts as a cutting plane through 3D objects.
SSM
SHEETSET
Opens the Sheet Set Manager
ST
STYLE
Creates, modifies, or specifies text styles.
STA
STANDARDS
Manages the association of standards files with drawings.
SU
SUBTRACT
Combines selected 3D solids, surfaces, or 2D regions by subtraction.
Command Shortcut
Command Name
Command Details
T
MTEXT
Creates a multiline text object.
-T
-MTEXT
Creates a multiline text object.
TA
TEXTALIGN
Aligns multiple text objects vertically, horizontally, or obliquely.
TB
TABLE
Creates an empty table object.
TH
THICKNESS
Sets the default 3D thickness property when creating 2D geometric objects.
TI
TILEMODE
Controls whether paper space can be accessed.
TO
TOOLBAR
Displays, hides, and customizes toolbars.
TOL
TOLERANCE
Creates geometric tolerances contained in a feature control frame.
TOR
TORUS
Creates a donut-shaped 3D solid.
TP
TOOLPALETTES
Opens the Tool Palettes window.
TR
TRIM
Trims objects to meet the edges of other objects.
TS
TABLESTYLE
Creates, modifies, or specifies table styles.
UC
UCSMAN
Manages defined user coordinate systems.
UN
UNITS
Controls coordinate and angle display formats and precision.
-UN
-UNITS
Controls the precision and display formats for coordinates, distances, and angles.
UNI
UNION
Unions two solid or two region objects.
V
VIEW
Saves and restores named views, camera views, layout views, and preset views.
-V
-VIEW
Saves and restores named model space views, layout views, and preset views from the Command prompt.
VP
DDVPOINT
Sets the 3D viewing direction.
VS
VSCURRENT
Sets the visual style in the current viewport.
VSM
VISUALSTYLES
Creates and modifies visual styles and applies a visual style to a viewport.
-VSM
-VISUALSTYLES
Creates and modifies visual styles from the command line.
W
WBLOCK
Writes objects or a block to a new drawing file.
-W
-WBLOCK
Saves selected objects or converts a block to a specified drawing file.
WE
WEDGE
Creates a 3D solid wedge.
X
EXPLODE
Breaks a compound object into its component objects.
XA
XATTACH
Inserts a DWG file as an external reference (xref).
XB
XBIND
Binds one or more definitions of named objects in an xref to the current drawing.
-XB
-XBIND
Binds one or more definitions of named objects in an xref to the current drawing.
XC
XCLIP
Crops the display of a selected external reference or block reference to a specified boundary.
XL
XLINE
Creates a line of infinite length.
XR
XREF
Starts the EXTERNALREFERENCES command.
-XR
-XREF
From the Command prompt, manages drawings inserted as external references (xrefs).
Z
ZOOM
Increases or decreases the magnification of the view in the current viewport.
Mastering AutoCAD command aliases is an ongoing journey that becomes easier with regular practice and reference. While this guide covers the essential shortcuts you'll need for efficient drafting, the best way to internalize these commands is to incorporate them gradually into your daily workflow. Start with a few commonly used aliases and build from there.
Remember that efficiency in AutoCAD isn't just about memorizing shortcuts—it's about developing intuitive workflows that enhance your productivity. Keep this reference handy as you continue to grow your CAD skills. As you become more comfortable with these AutoCAD command shortcuts, you'll find yourself spending less time navigating menus and more time focused on what matters most: bringing your designs to life. Happy drafting!
