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CAD tip # 8640:

Question

CAD

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Text formatting codes in MText objects.

Paragraph texts in AutoCAD can contain control codes which influence appearance of the text. These formatting control codes are automatically inserted in the internal MText editor. But if you edit your texts with an alternative editor (e.g. Notepad), or if you generate them programmatically, you can use these codes to format your paragraph texts.

Code Function

\L Start underline

\l Stop underline

\O Start overstrike

\o Stop overstrike

\K Start strike-through

\k Stop strike-through

\N New column

\P New paragraph (new line)

\pi \pxi \pxt \pxq

Control codes for bullets, numbered paragraphs, tab stops and columns - e.g. bullets: \pxi-3,l3,t3;, tab stops: \pxt10,t12; (l=left offset, t=tab spacing), justification: \pxql;=left, \pxqr;=right, \pxqc;=center, \pxqj;=block-justified, \pxqd;=distributed

example:

\pxi2,l0.8,r3.2,b0.3948,a0.2616,se0.492;=indent first 2 lines of the paragraph from left/right, spacing before and after the paragraph, line spacing exactly (e) or multiples of (m) the given value (values always in inches)

\X Paragraph wrap on the dimension line (only in dimensions)

\Q Slanting (obliquing) text by angle - e.g. \Q30;

\H Text height - e.g. \H3x;

\W Text width - e.g. \W0.8x;

Font selection

e.g. \Fgdt;o - GDT-tolerance
e.g. \Fkroeger|b0|i0|c238|p10 - font Kroeger, non-bold, non-italic, codepage 238, pitch 10

Stacking, fractions

e.g. \SA^B:
A
B
e.g. \SX/Y:
X
Y
e.g. \S1#4:
¼

Alignment

\A0; = bottom
\A1; = center
\A2; = top

Color change (ACI colors)

\C1; = red
\C2; = yellow
\C3; = green
\C4; = cyan
\C5; = blue
\C6; = magenta
\C7; = white

You can also use \c and a combination of ACI color index and truecolor long code or color book (see color converter) - like this:

\C113;\c10601021; = greenish

\T Tracking, char.spacing - e.g. \T2;

\~ Non-wrapping space, hard space

{} Braces - define the text area influenced by the code

\ Escape character - e.g. \\ = "\", \{ = "{"

Codes and braces can be nested up to 8 levels deep. Formatting codes can be removed via the context menu in the MText editor.

ACADLT

*CAD

21.5.2012 105275× FAQ

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applies to: AutoCAD · AutoCAD LT ·

See also:
Tip 14163:	How to select DWG texts containing a certain number of characters?
Tip 14063:	How to get week day and week number from a given date.
Tip 13971:	What do geolocation codes like 8FWPXFCF+82 or 33UVQ61402434 mean?
Tip 13737:	Formatting leading zeros in AutoCAD fields (and automatic field update).
Tip 13712:	Why do I have an inactive "thousands separator" item in AutoCAD text field formatting?

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