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Reference

LINETYPE in AutoCAD

How AutoCAD's LINETYPE (LT) works: the current linetype for new objects, the linetypes loaded, ByLayer, and why a dashed line can show solid. Try it free.

LINETYPE sets the linetype new objects are drawn with. AutoCAD opens the Linetype Manager; MellowCAD has none yet, so LINETYPE runs the command-line form AutoCAD has too, -LINETYPE. It says the current linetype, ByLayer at first, and asks for an option again after each answer, until Enter ends it. ByLayer means each object takes its layer's linetype; a linetype named instead is the object's own. The whole run is one step that U takes back, and typed with an apostrophe inside a command, its linetype applies to what that command draws next.

Every drawing has six linetypes loaded: Continuous and, from AutoCAD's metric file acadiso.lin, DASHED, HIDDEN, CENTER, PHANTOM and DASHDOT. A pattern is laid on each line as AutoCAD lays it, centred along its length with equal dashes at both ends.

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 plate whose hole is drawn with HIDDEN current and its two axes with CENTER, then LINETYPE set back to ByLayer.
  1. Command: LINETYPE
  2. Current line type: "ByLayer"
  3. Enter an option [?/Set]: S
  4. Specify linetype name or [?] <ByLayer>: HIDDEN
  5. Enter an option [?/Set]:
  6. Command: CIRCLE
  7. Specify center point for circle or [3P/2P/Ttr (tan tan radius)]: 50,30
  8. Specify radius of circle or [Diameter]: 18
  9. Command: LINETYPE
  10. Current line type: "Hidden"
  11. Enter an option [?/Set]: S
  12. Specify linetype name or [?] <Hidden>: CENTER
  13. Enter an option [?/Set]:
  14. Command: LINE
  15. Specify first point: -10,30
  16. Specify next point or [Undo]: @120,0
  17. Specify next point or [Undo]:
  18. Command: LINE
  19. Specify first point: 50,-10
  20. Specify next point or [Undo]: @0,80
  21. Specify next point or [Undo]:
  22. Command: LINETYPE
  23. Current line type: "Center"
  24. Enter an option [?/Set]: S
  25. Specify linetype name or [?] <Center>: BYL
  26. Enter an option [?/Set]:
A plate whose hole is drawn with HIDDEN current and its two axes with CENTER, then LINETYPE set back to ByLayer.

Options

?

Lists linetypes in two columns, name and description. At the option prompt, the linetypes of acadiso.lin; at Set's prompt, those loaded in the drawing whose names match what you type, all of them with *.

Set (S)

Asks the linetype's name, offering the current one; type a loaded linetype's name, or BYLayer. A name that is not loaded is not found, as AutoCAD says it, and the option prompt comes back; Enter keeps the current one.

What it does not do yet

The Linetype Manager, and loading, creating or describing linetypes: only the six above exist, and the listing describes only Continuous. A linetype scale for each object (CELTSCALE): only the drawing's, LTSCALE. ByBlock. PSLTSCALE and MSLTSCALE, as there is no paper space. Spanish AutoCAD's linetype names: they are English here in every language. PLINEGEN: a new polyline starts its pattern again at each vertex, unless PEDIT's Ltype gen turns it on.

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

Questions

What is the shortcut for LINETYPE in AutoCAD?

LT, then Enter or Space; LTYPE and DDLTYPE too. The full name works as well, and _LINETYPE in any language of AutoCAD.

Why does my dashed line show as a solid line?

A line shorter than one repeat of its pattern is drawn solid, as in AutoCAD: CENTER's pattern is about 51 units long at the default scale. Raise or lower LTSCALE to fit the pattern to the drawing. Check, too, that the object's linetype, or its layer's when it is ByLayer, is not Continuous.

How do I change the linetype of an existing object?

Select it and choose the linetype in the Linetype row of the Properties palette, or copy it from another object with MATCHPROP. LINETYPE only sets the linetype of objects drawn after it.

How do I change the linetype scale in AutoCAD?

Type LTSCALE and the new factor: 2 makes every dash twice as long, in the whole drawing.

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