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Reference

EXPLODE in AutoCAD

How AutoCAD's EXPLODE (X) works: a polyline into lines and arcs, a block into its objects, text into lines, a hatch into its lines. Try it free in your browser.

EXPLODE breaks a compound object into the objects it is made of. Select the objects and press Enter: a polyline becomes lines and arcs along its centreline, a block reference the objects of its block, one level down, multiline text one line of text for each line it shows, and a pattern hatch the lines of its pattern. Each piece keeps the object's layer and properties; a block's pieces keep their own. A wide polyline loses its width, and EXPLODE says so. Lines, circles, arcs, single-line text and dimensions cannot be exploded: they are refused as they are selected, and a spline, an ellipse or a solid hatch when the selection closes. The explode is one step that Undo takes back.

At the command line

The engine draws it and writes its history as you would type it: the prompts in AutoCAD 2027's order, with the same option letters.

A rectangle, one polyline, exploded into four lines, and one of them then erased on its own.
  1. Command: EXPLODE
  2. Select objects: 1 found
  3. Select objects:
  4. Command: ERASE
  5. Select objects: 1 found
  6. Select objects:
A rectangle, one polyline, exploded into four lines, and one of them then erased on its own.

What it does not do yet

Dimensions, which AutoCAD explodes into lines, arrowheads and text and MellowCAD refuses. A hatch whose pattern is not shipped here is refused as a solid one, and exploded multiline text sits where the font draws it, a hair off AutoCAD's place.

What it does and still lacks, in detail (in English)

Questions

What is the shortcut for EXPLODE in AutoCAD?

X, then Enter or Space. The full name works too, and _EXPLODE in any language of AutoCAD.

How do I undo an explode in AutoCAD?

Type U or press Ctrl+Z straight away: the explode is one undo step. Later, JOIN turns lines and arcs that meet end to end back into one polyline, and BLOCK makes objects one block again.

Can I explode text in AutoCAD?

Multiline text, yes: each line becomes a single-line text. Single-line text is already the smallest piece, and EXPLODE refuses it.

How do I explode a block in AutoCAD?

Select the block reference and press Enter: it becomes the objects of its block, where the reference drew them. A block inside it stays a block: explode it again. Attributes come back as their definitions, without the values.

Related commands