If you’re relatively new to AutoCAD or if you tend to access commands from the user interface, you may not be aware of AutoCAD’s powerful command alias functionality. A command alias is an abbreviation that you enter at the command line to launch a command or action macro. AutoCAD includes many default command aliases. For example, you can type “A” to launch the ARC command, B to launch the BLOCK command, and C to launch the CIRCLE command. You can easily modify the default command aliases or create new ones to meet your needs.
Command aliases are defined in the AutoCAD Program Parameters (ACAD.PGP) file, which is installed under Documents and Settings for the local user. In the following image, you can see where it’s located on my system for each version of AutoCAD.
In AutoCAD 2009 you can easily access the PGP file from the Menu Browser under Tools>Customize>Edit Program Parameters (acad.pgp).
Selecting this option automatically opens the acad.pgp file in the text editor. Scroll down to view the default command aliases, which are listed in alphabetical order. Before making changes, it’s a good idea to save a copy of the acad.pgp file in case you want to restore it. To modify or add command aliases, follow the same syntax. For example, if I created an action macro (only available in AutoCAD 2009) called MYNEWCOMMAND, I could create the following command alias in the acad.pgp file:
After making changes, save the file. If AutoCAD was running when you made the changes, you can use the REINIT command to reload the updated version of the PGP file. The updated version is automatically loaded the next time you launch AutoCAD.
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