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ROTATE in AutoCAD

How AutoCAD's ROTATE (RO) works, prompt by prompt: base point and angle, Copy to keep the original, Reference to turn to an angle. Try it free in your browser.

ROTATE turns the objects you select about a base point: select them, give the base point, then the angle — typed, or picked as a point whose direction from the base point is the angle. Its first line says which way is positive, counterclockwise by default (ANGDIR), and where 0 lies (ANGBASE). Enter at the angle repeats the last turn, 0 in a new drawing. The objects turn about an axis parallel to the UCS's Z through the base point, so in 3D they keep their height. The turn 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 turned 30° about its corner with Copy, the original kept.
  1. Command: ROTATE
  2. Current positive angle in UCS: ANGDIR=counterclockwise ANGBASE=0
  3. Select objects: 1 found
  4. Select objects:
  5. Specify base point: 0,0
  6. Specify rotation angle or [Copy/Reference] <0>: C
  7. Rotating a copy of the selected objects.
  8. Specify rotation angle or [Copy/Reference] <0>: 30
A rectangle turned 30° about its corner with Copy, the original kept.

Options

Copy (C)

Turns a copy and leaves the objects where they were, saying Rotating a copy of the selected objects.. The prompt then asks for the angle again.

Reference (R)

Turns from an angle you have to the one you want: asks for the reference angle (typed, or two points that measure it), then the new angle, and turns by the difference. To set a slanted edge level, pick its two ends as the reference and type 0.

Points (P)

At Reference's new angle: the new angle is that of a line between two points you pick, so the objects line up with an edge that is already drawn.

What it does not do yet

While you give the angle, the turned set follows the cursor in each object's colour, but not its linetype or lineweight.

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

Questions

What is the shortcut for ROTATE in AutoCAD?

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

How do I rotate an object to line up with another?

Choose Reference, pick two points along the object's edge, then choose Points and pick two points along the line it should follow.

How do I rotate an object and keep the original?

Choose Copy before giving the angle: the copy turns and the original stays.

Why does ROTATE turn the wrong way?

A positive angle turns counterclockwise, as the first line's ANGDIR says. Type a negative angle, -30, to turn clockwise.

Related commands