AutoCAD Commands Cheat Sheet (+ Top 20)

AutoCAD commands by category with full name, alias and what each does: draw, modify, layers, dimensions, blocks and inquiry. Plus the 20 commands to learn first and which ones free CADCraft supports.

Oct 25, 2026

CADCraft AI Editorial

Short answer: type a command's full name or its alias at the command line and press Enter: OFFSET or O, TRIM or TR, DIMLINEAR or DLI. Answer the prompts, choosing options by typing the capital letters shown in [brackets]. Press Enter on an empty line to repeat the command, and Esc to stop it. Below, the commands are grouped by job. Each row gives the full name, alias, what it does, and whether the free CADCraft app supports it. The last section lists the 20 to learn first.

cadcraft.org is an independent guide, not the official site. The CADCraft column was checked against the command catalogue of CADCraft 0.8.0 (cadcraft-cli commands), not taken from marketing pages.

CADCraft desktop with a mounting bracket drawing: Draw, Modify, Dimension and Block tool sets on the left, Layers and Properties on the right, and the command line at the bottom

Draw commands

Command	Alias	What it does	CADCraft
LINE	L	Straight segments, each a separate object	✓
PLINE	PL	One object of lines and arcs, with widths	✓
CIRCLE	C	Centre/radius, diameter, 2P, 3P, TTR, TTT	✓
ARC	A	Arc by three points or centre/angle options	✓
RECTANG	REC	Rectangle, optionally filleted or chamfered	✓
POLYGON	POL	Regular polygon, inscribed or circumscribed	✓
ELLIPSE	EL	Ellipse or elliptical arc	✓
SPLINE	SPL	Smooth curve by fit or control points	✓
XLINE / RAY	XL / —	Infinite / one-way construction lines	✓
POINT	PO	Point object (style from PTYPE)	✓
DONUT	DO	Filled ring	✓
REVCLOUD	—	Revision cloud	✓
WIPEOUT	—	Mask that hides what's behind it	✓
HATCH	H	Pattern, solid or gradient fill	✓
BOUNDARY	BO	Closed polyline from a picked area	✓
TEXT	DT	Single-line text	✓
MTEXT	T, MT	Paragraph text	✓
TABLE	TB	Table with rows and columns	✓
MLINE	ML	Parallel multilines	✓

Modify commands

Command	Alias	What it does	CADCraft
MOVE	M	Move by base point and second point	✓
COPY	CO, CP	Copy, repeatedly until Enter	✓
ROTATE	RO	Rotate around a base point	✓
SCALE	SC	Resize by factor or reference	✓
MIRROR	MI	Mirror across a line, keep or delete the source	✓
STRETCH	S	Move the vertices inside a crossing window	✓
OFFSET	O	Parallel copy at a distance or through a point	✓
TRIM	TR	Cut back to edges	✓
EXTEND	EX	Lengthen to edges	✓
FILLET	F	Round corner (radius 0 makes a sharp corner)	✓
CHAMFER	CHA	Bevelled corner	✓
BREAK	BR	Remove part of an object	✓ (and BREAKATPOINT)
JOIN	J	Join collinear or end-to-end objects	✓
EXPLODE	X	Split blocks, polylines, dimensions into pieces	✓
ARRAY	AR	Rectangular, polar or path copies	✓
PEDIT	PE	Edit polylines (join, width, close)	✓
LENGTHEN	LEN	Change length by delta, percent or total	✓
ALIGN	AL	Move, rotate and scale onto reference points	✓
ERASE	E	Delete	✓
OVERKILL	—	Delete duplicate and overlapping objects	✓
MATCHPROP	MA	Copy layer, colour, linetype and more	✓

Layer commands

The CADCraft Layer Properties Manager listing layers 0, A-ANNO, A-DOOR, A-FURN, A-GLAZ, A-WALL and Defpoints with On, Freeze, Lock, Plot, Color, Linetype, Lineweight and Transparency columns

LA opens the Layer Properties Manager. Here it shows the layers of CADCraft’s sample floor plan.

Command	Alias	What it does	CADCraft
LAYER	LA	Layer Properties Manager	✓
-LAYER	-LA	Same options at the command line	✓
LAYMCUR	—	Make the picked object's layer current	✓
LAYCUR	—	Move objects to the current layer	✓
LAYMCH	—	Move objects to a picked object's layer	✓
LAYISO / LAYUNISO	—	Isolate layers / restore them	✓
LAYOFF / LAYON	—	Turn a picked layer off / all layers on	✓
LAYFRZ / LAYTHW	—	Freeze a picked layer / thaw all	✓
LAYLCK / LAYULK	—	Lock / unlock a picked layer	✓
LAYMRG	—	Merge layers into one	✓
LAYDEL	—	Delete a layer and everything on it	✓
LAYERP	—	Undo the last layer setting change	✓
LAYWALK	—	Step through layers one at a time	✗
COPYTOLAYER	—	Copy objects onto another layer	✗ (COPY, then LAYMCH)

Dimension commands

Command	Alias	What it does	CADCraft
DIMLINEAR	DLI	Horizontal or vertical dimension	✓
DIMALIGNED	DAL	Dimension parallel to the object	✓
DIMANGULAR	DAN	Angle between lines or on an arc	✓
DIMRADIUS	DRA	Radius	✓
DIMDIAMETER	DDI	Diameter	✓
DIMARC	DAR	Arc length	✓
DIMORDINATE	DOR	X or Y datum dimension	✓
DIMCONTINUE	DCO	Chain from the last dimension	✓
DIMBASELINE	DBA	Stack from a common baseline	✓
QDIM	—	Dimension many objects at once	✓
DIM	—	One command for every dimension type	✓
DIMSPACE	—	Even out spacing between dimensions	✓
DIMBREAK	—	Break dimension lines where objects cross	✓
DIMSTYLE	D	Dimension Style Manager	✓
DIMOVERRIDE	DOV	Override one dimension's variables	✓
MLEADER	MLD	Multileader	✓
QLEADER	LE	Quick leader	✗ (LEADER / MLEADER instead)

Block commands

Command	Alias	What it does	CADCraft
BLOCK	B	Define a block from objects	✓
INSERT	I	Insert a block	✓
WBLOCK	W	Save objects or a block as a new drawing file	✓
BEDIT	BE	Block Editor	✓
ATTDEF	ATT	Define an attribute	✓
ATTEDIT	ATE	Edit attribute values	✓
ATTSYNC	—	Update references after editing attributes	✓
BATTMAN	—	Block Attribute Manager	✓
BASE	—	Insertion base point of the drawing	✓
REFEDIT	—	Edit a block or reference in place	✓
XATTACH	XA	Attach a DWG as an external reference	✓
XCLIP	XC	Clip an external reference	✗
PURGE	PU	Remove unused blocks, layers, styles	✓

Dynamic blocks are partly supported: CADCraft reads their parameters and lets you switch visibility states, but it can't drag distances or positions yet.

Inquiry (measuring and checking) commands

Command	Alias	What it does	CADCraft
DIST	DI	Distance and angle between two points	✓
MEASUREGEOM	MEA	Distance, radius, angle or area in one command	✓ (type the full name; `MEA` isn't an alias, and `ME` is MEASURE)
AREA	AA	Area and perimeter	✓
ID	—	Coordinates of a point	✓
LIST	LI	Everything about the selected objects	✓ (`LS` too)
MASSPROP	—	Properties of regions	✓ (regions; no 3D solids)
COUNT	—	Count blocks or objects like a picked one	✓
FIND	—	Find and replace text	✓
QSELECT	QS	Select by property	✓
TIME	—	Time spent in the drawing	✓
STATUS	—	Drawing status summary	✓
UNITS	UN	Units and precision	✓

The output reads like AutoCAD's. Here is what CADCraft 0.8.0 printed for ID 12.5,40 and DI 0,0 30,40:

X = 12.5000     Y = 40.0000     Z = 0.0000
Distance = 50.0000,  Angle in XY Plane = 53,  Angle from XY Plane = 0
Delta X = 30.0000,  Delta Y = 40.0000,   Delta Z = 0.0000

So the habit of checking a drawing with ID and DIST before you trust it carries over.

The CADCraft command history showing Command: ID with X = 12.5000 Y = 40.0000 Z = 0.0000, then Command: DIST with Distance = 50.0000 and Delta X = 30.0000, Delta Y = 40.0000

The same two commands in the web build of CADCraft 0.8.0, with the history expanded (F2).

Gaps worth knowing before you switch

CADCraft is a 2D drafting app. The project's own parity documents describe 3D modelling as future work. So UCS, EXTRUDE, PRESSPULL, SECTIONPLANE and the rest of the 3D toolset aren't in the catalogue. Neither are PDF underlays (PDFATTACH) or attaching raster images: an ATTACH command exists but answers "not available yet". If a workflow depends on these, keep AutoCAD for that part. Open-source CAD compared lists tools that do 3D.

The 20 commands to learn first

If you're new to AutoCAD or to CADCraft, these 20 do most of the everyday 2D work. Learn the alias with the name. After a week the alias is all you'll type.

#	Command	Alias	Why it's in the top 20
1	LINE	L	Most drawings start here
2	PLINE	PL	Closed outlines you can offset and hatch
3	CIRCLE	C	Holes, columns, fixtures
4	RECTANG	REC	Frames, plates, rooms in two clicks
5	OFFSET	O	Walls, margins, parallel edges
6	TRIM	TR	Clean up intersections
7	EXTEND	EX	Close gaps to an edge
8	FILLET	F	Rounded corners; radius 0 makes clean square ones
9	MOVE	M	Put things where they belong
10	COPY	CO	Repeat elements
11	ROTATE	RO	Turn objects to angle
12	MIRROR	MI	Symmetric parts in half the time
13	ERASE	E	Delete (or select and press Delete)
14	LAYER	LA	Keep walls, text and dimensions apart
15	MATCHPROP	MA	Fix properties by example
16	HATCH	H	Sections, materials, fills
17	DIMLINEAR	DLI	Show the sizes
18	MTEXT	T	Notes and labels
19	ZOOM	Z	`Z` `E` gets you back to the whole drawing
20	UNDO	U	Ctrl+Z, or `U` at the command line

All 20 work in CADCraft with the same names and aliases. You can try them in the browser at /online without installing anything, or get the desktop app.

FAQ

What is the difference between an AutoCAD command and a shortcut?

The command is the full name, such as OFFSET. The shortcut (alias) is the short form that starts it, such as O. Both are typed at the command line and confirmed with Enter or Space. Some commands also have a dash form (-LAYER, -INSERT) that asks its questions at the command line instead of opening a dialog.

Which AutoCAD commands should a beginner learn first?

LINE, PLINE, CIRCLE, RECTANG, MOVE, COPY, ROTATE, OFFSET, TRIM, EXTEND, FILLET, MIRROR, ERASE, LAYER, MATCHPROP, HATCH, DIMLINEAR, MTEXT, ZOOM and UNDO. Together they cover most everyday 2D drafting. The full list with aliases is at the end of the article.

Does CADCraft support AutoCAD commands?

CADCraft 0.8.0 has 426 commands and uses AutoCAD’s names and most of its aliases for the 2D drafting set: draw, modify, layers, dimensions, blocks and inquiry. It has no UCS command, no 3D modelling commands such as EXTRUDE, and no XCLIP, LAYWALK, COPYTOLAYER or QLEADER.

How do I see every command CADCraft has?

Press F1 in the app for the command list. From a terminal, cadcraft-cli commands prints the whole catalogue as JSON, and cadcraft-cli commands dim filters it to commands whose id, label or alias contains “dim”.

AutoCAD shortcuts cheat sheet: Ctrl and F-keys, object snaps and aliases
CADCraft vs AutoCAD from the command line
Open-source CAD compared