Basic AutoCAD Commands

Typing a Command
You type a command at command line, as shown.

Creating a Line
To create a line, just follow the steps below:

1. Place your cursor on the command line.

2. Type the word LINE at command line; or you can type the command’s shortcut L
3. Press Enter or Space bar
4. Type an option at the command prompt.

Pay attention to the command prompt. It calls for additional actions you need to do once
you’ve run the command.

Draw 121 Computer-Aided Drafting Instructor: Jersol Bobila, MEng

Practical Example: You want to create a line having a length of 10.
Steps:
1. Place your cursor on the command line.
2. Type L
3. Press Enter (I usually hit Space Bar instead since it’s faster ☺)
4. Move your cursor to the drawing area then click the mouse’s left button.
5. On your keyboard, type 10 (No need to move your cursor to the command line)
6. Press Enter
7. Press Esc
You’re done!
Tips:

• You can click the line icon instead of typing the command.
• If the line you made is horizontal or vertical and you want a diagonal one, you can
change the settings by turning off ORTHO Mode. You do it by simply clicking the
Ortho Mode icon , or by pressing Ctrl + L, or by pressing F8

Drawing a Rectangle

Example: Draw a rectangle with length of 20 and width of 15.

Steps:
1. Place your cursor on the command line then type REC (or Click the rectangle icon

)
2. Press Enter (No need to press enter if you click on the icon)
3. Move your cursor to the drawing area then click the mouse’s left button.
4. On your keyboard, press D (D is for dimension)
5. Press Enter
6. On your keyboard, type 20.
7. Press Enter
8. On your keyboard, type 15.
9. Press Enter
10. Move your cursor to the drawing area then click the mouse’s left button.
Optional steps for steps 4-10. Proceed the following steps after finishing step 3:
4. On your keyboard, type @20,15 (The first entry is the length then the second one is
the width)
5. Press Enter
You now created a rectangle with a length of 20 and width of 15.

Draw 121 Computer-Aided Drafting Instructor: Jersol Bobila, MEng

Tip: In step 1, you can actually omit placing your cursor on the command line, just type
directly the shortcut key (we use REC on this example) on your keyboard. In the next
examples, we will no longer include placing the cursor on the command line.

Drawing a Circle
Steps:

1. On your keyboard, type C (or Click the circle icon )

2. Press Enter (No need to press enter if you click on the icon)
3. Move your cursor to the drawing area then click the mouse’s left button.
4. Type the radius, say 10. On your keyboard, type 10.
5. Press Enter
You now created a circle with radius 10.
If you want to specify the diameter of the circle instead of radius, follow the steps below:

1. On your keyboard, type C (or Click the circle icon )

2. Press Enter (No need to press enter if you click on the icon)
3. Move your cursor to the drawing area then click the mouse’s left button.
4. On your keyboard, press D (D is for diameter)
5. Press Enter
6. Type the diameter, say 20. On your keyboard, type 20.
7. Press Enter
You now created a circle with diameter 20.

Draw 121 Computer-Aided Drafting Instructor: Jersol Bobila, MEng

Offset
Offset command is used to create parallel lines,
concentric circles and polygons, and parallel
curves.

Example: Create a parallel line which has a distance of 1 between them.

Steps:

1. On your keyboard, type O (or click the offset icon )

2. Press Enter (No need to press enter if you click on the icon)
3. On your keyboard, type 1.
4. Press Enter
8. Select the line (click the mouse’s left button)
5. Click the right or left of line using mouse’s left button.
6. Press Enter (or Esc)
You now created a parallel line with a distance of 1.

Creating a Multiple Offset

Example: Create 5 parallel lines which has a distance of 1 between them.

Draw 121 Computer-Aided Drafting Instructor: Jersol Bobila, MEng

Steps:
1. On your keyboard, type O
2. Press Enter
3. On your keyboard, type 1.
4. Press Enter
5. Select the line.
6. On your keyboard, press M
7. Press Enter
8. Click the right of line 4 times.
9. Press Enter

Trim and Extend

The TRIM command allows you to shorten objects to meet the edges of other objects.

Example: Trim the part of the line extending the edge of the circle.

Steps:

1. On your keyboard, type TR (or click the TRIM icon )

2. Press Enter (No need to press enter if you click on the icon)
3. Press Enter again!
4. Select the object to be trimmed by clicking the mouse’s left button.
5. Press Esc

The EXTEND command to lengthen objects to meet the edges of other objects. This is the
opposite of TRIM.

Draw 121 Computer-Aided Drafting Instructor: Jersol Bobila, MEng

Example: Extend the line in order to meet the edge of the circle.

Steps:

1. On your keyboard, type EX (or click the EXTEND icon )

2. Press Enter (No need to press enter if you click on the icon)
3. Press Enter again!
4. Select the object to extend by clicking the mouse’s left button.
5. Press Esc

Again, remember that TR and EX command uses double enter.

Move and Copy

Move Command
Example: Place the center of the circle to the tip of the line.

Steps:

1. On your keyboard, type M (or click the MOVE icon )

2. Press Enter (No need to press enter if you click on the icon)
3. Select the object to extend by clicking the mouse’s left button.
4. Press Enter
5. Select the base point of the object. Here, your base point is the center of the circle.
Select by clicking the mouse’s left button.

Draw 121 Computer-Aided Drafting Instructor: Jersol Bobila, MEng

 6. Move the object to the second point of displacement. Your second point here is the
tip of the line. Place it to the second point by clicking the mouse’s left button.

Note: In order to accomplish the above example, be sure that

Center was checked in Object Snap settings

Copy Command
The steps in copy command is similar to move command. The shortcut key for copy is CP
and its icon is

Rotate and Mirror

Rotate Command
Example: Rotate the object below to make the arrow face rightwards instead of upwards.

Steps:

1. On your keyboard, type RO (or click the ROTATE icon )

2. Press Enter (No need to press enter if you click on the icon)
3. Select the object to rotate by clicking the mouse’s left button.
4. Press Enter
5. Select the base point of the object. Select by clicking the mouse’s left button.
6. Adjust to the desired rotation then click the mouse’s left button.

Draw 121 Computer-Aided Drafting Instructor: Jersol Bobila, MEng

Tips:

• To make the object rotated at right angles, turn on ORTHO Mode . Your output
will look like this

Or else if you turn off ORTHO mode your output may look like this

• In step 5, Make sure OSNAP is turned on when selecting the base point.
• In step 6, the command line will show a command prompt below. You can specify the
rotation angle if you want to. In our example, the rotation angle should be 270°.
Simply type 270 in your keyboard then hit Enter.

Mirror Command

Example # 1: Make a mirrored copy of the figure below.

The required output should look like this:

*This exercise can’t be accomplished by the rotate command

Steps:
Before starting, be sure that ORTHO is turned on.

Draw 121 Computer-Aided Drafting Instructor: Jersol Bobila, MEng

 1. On your keyboard, type MI (or click the MIRROR icon )
2. Press Enter (No need to press enter if you click on the icon)
3. Select the object to mirror by clicking the mouse’s left button.
4. Press Enter
5. Select the first point of the mirror line. You can select the top left vertex of the object
(as shown by red square). Accomplish this by clicking the mouse’s left button.

6. Pick a second point (here, either up or down the object) by clicking the mouse’s left
button.
7. On your keyboard, type Y to delete the original object.
8. Press Enter.

Another Example: Again, make a mirrored copy of the figure below.

But now the output should look like this:

Steps:
Before starting, be sure that ORTHO is turned on.
1. Draw a horizontal line connecting the top left vertex, as shown:

2. On your keyboard, type MI (or click the MIRROR icon )

3. Press Enter (No need to press enter if you click on the icon)
4. Select the object to mirror by clicking the mouse’s left button.

Draw 121 Computer-Aided Drafting Instructor: Jersol Bobila, MEng

 5. Press Enter
6. Select the first point of the mirror line. Here, select the midpoint of the line (as shown
by red triangle). Accomplish this by clicking the mouse’s left button.

7. Pick a second point (here, either up or down the object) by clicking the mouse’s left
button.
8. On your keyboard, type N to keep the original object.
9. Press Enter.

Draw 121 Computer-Aided Drafting Instructor: Jersol Bobila, MEng