BranchCAD command cheat sheet
Every command, its short aliases and a worked example. Type any of them in the command line at the bottom of the editor.
- LINE
- Command
- L
- Alias
- ⏎ · ␣
- Enter · separate prompts
Coordinates — type at any point prompt
| x,y | Absolute point 100,250 |
| @dx,dy | Relative to the last point @50,0 |
| d<angle | Absolute polar (distance < degrees CCW) 25<30 |
| @d<angle | Relative polar @100<45 |
| Ge,n | Grid (map) coordinate — needs a GEOREF G1752340.885,5428110.223 |
| number | With the cursor showing a direction, typing a length places the next point that far along it 12.5 ⏎ |
Prompt options (while a command runs)
| U | Undo the last picked point / segment |
| C | Close — LINE, PLINE, SPLINE, AREA, REVCLOUD, FENCE |
| D | CIRCLE: switch to diameter entry |
| I / C | POLYGON: inscribed / circumscribed |
| S / R | INSERT: Scale / Rotate the block being placed |
| DE P T DY | LENGTHEN: Delta / Percent / Total / Dynamic |
| C O J W F S D R | PEDIT: Close / Open / Join / Width / Fit / Spline / Decurve / Reverse |
| Y / N | ALIGN: scale objects to the alignment points? |
| ⏎ / right-click | Finish the command; on an empty line, repeat the last one |
| Esc | Cancel the command |
Draw
| LINE L | Line segments, chained L ⏎ 0,0 ⏎ @10,0 ⏎ @10<90 ⏎ C |
| PLINE PL, POLYLINE | Polyline (one object) PL ⏎ 0,0 ⏎ @20,0 ⏎ @0,10 ⏎ C |
| RECTANG REC, RECTANGLE | Rectangle from two corners REC ⏎ 0,0 ⏎ @30,20 |
| CIRCLE C | Centre + radius; D for diameter C ⏎ 50,50 ⏎ D ⏎ 20 |
| ARC A | Three-point arc A ⏎ 0,0 ⏎ 5,3 ⏎ 10,0 |
| ELLIPSE EL | Ellipse by centre and axes |
| ELLIPSEARC EA, ELLIPTICALARC | Elliptical arc |
| SPLINE SPL, SPLINECV | Spline by control vertices |
| SPLINEFIT SPF | Spline through fit points |
| POLYGON POL | Regular polygon; Inscribed / Circumscribed |
| POINT PO | Point marker PO ⏎ 12,8 |
| DDPTYPE PTYPE | Point style & size |
| RAY | Half-infinite construction line |
| XLINE XL | Infinite construction line |
| REVCLOUD REVC, RC | Revision cloud; C to close |
Modify
| MOVE M | Base point, then destination M ⏎ (pick) ⏎ 0,0 ⏎ @5,0 |
| COPY CO, CP | Copy — repeats until Esc CO ⏎ 0,0 ⏎ @12,0 ⏎ @24,0 |
| ROTATE RO | Base point + angle RO ⏎ 10,10 ⏎ 45 |
| SCALE SC | Base point + factor SC ⏎ 0,0 ⏎ 2 |
| MIRROR MI | Mirror about a two-point line |
| OFFSET O | Distance, pick object, pick side O ⏎ 1.5 ⏎ (pick) (side) |
| TRIM TR | Click the parts to cut away |
| EXTEND EX | Click near the end to extend |
| FILLET F | Round a corner between two objects |
| CHAMFER CHA | Bevel a corner |
| BREAK BR | Split an object at points |
| JOIN J | Join touching objects into one |
| STRETCH | Stretch vertices inside a window |
| LENGTHEN LEN | Change length (DE/P/T/DY) |
| ALIGN AL | Align by two source / target pairs |
| PEDIT PE | Edit polyline (see prompt options) |
| ARRAY AR | Rectangular / polar array of selection |
| EXPLODE X | Break blocks / polylines into parts |
| ERASE E, DEL, DELETE | Delete the selection (or press Del) |
| DIVIDE DIV | Mark N equal parts with points DIV ⏎ (pick) ⏎ 5 |
| MEASURE ME | Mark every N units ME ⏎ (pick) ⏎ 2.4 |
| MATCHPROP MA | Copy properties source → targets |
Select & group
| SELECT S | Back to the select tool |
| QSELECT QSE | Select by type, layer, linetype, colour, length |
| GROUP G | Group the selection |
| UNGROUP UNG | Dissolve the selection's groups |
| GROUPS | Open the Groups manager |
Edit history
| UNDO U | Undo Ctrl+Z |
| REDO MREDO | Redo Ctrl+Y |
Keyboard
| Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y | Undo / redo (Ctrl+Shift+Z also redoes) |
| Ctrl+A | Select all |
| Ctrl+D · Ctrl+Shift+A | Deselect all |
| Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V | Copy / paste the selection |
| Del · Backspace | Erase the selection |
| + / − | Zoom in / out (canvas focused) |
| Arrow keys | Nudge-pan the view |
| F7 · F9 | Grid display · grid snap |
| F8 · F10 · F11 | Ortho · polar · object-snap tracking |
| Mouse wheel | Zoom about the cursor |
| Esc | Cancel / clear selection |
Text & tables
| TEXT T, DTEXT | Single-line text; type in place |
| MTEXT MT | Wrapped paragraph in a two-corner box |
| TABLE TB | Place a table; double-click a cell to edit |
| STYLE ST, TEXTSTYLE | Text styles: font, height, width, oblique |
| LEADER LE, LEAD, MLD, MLEADER | Arrow + note LE ⏎ (tip) (bend) (end) ⏎ TIMBER DECK |
| UPDATEFIELD FIELDUPDATE | Refresh field-bound block attributes |
Dimensions
| DIMLINEAR DLI | Horizontal / vertical DLI ⏎ (p1) (p2) (place) |
| DIMALIGNED DAL | Parallel to the measured points |
| DIMANGULAR DAN, DIMANG | Angle between two lines |
| DIMRADIUS DRA, DIMRAD | Radius of a circle / arc |
| DIMDIAMETER DDI, DIMDIA | Diameter of a circle / arc |
| DIMORDINATE DOR, DIMORD, ORDINATE | X/Y datum coordinate of a feature |
| DIMARC DAR | Arc length |
| DIMBASELINE DBA | Chain from a common baseline |
| DIMCONTINUE DCO, DIMCONT | Continue end-to-end |
| DIMSTYLE D, DST | Dimension styles: text, arrows, precision |
Hatch & regions
| HATCH H, BH, BHATCH | Click inside a closed area to fill |
| HATCHEDIT HE | Edit pattern, angle, scale of a hatch |
| REGION REG, BO, BOUNDARY | Turn closed shapes into regions |
| UNION UNI | Merge selected regions |
| SUBTRACT SU | Cut regions from the first one |
| INTERSECT INT | Keep only the overlap |
Blocks, images & references
| BLOCK B | Define a block from the selection |
| INSERT I | Blocks panel → Insert; S/R while placing |
| IMAGE IAT, IMAGEATTACH | Attach a raster image |
| XREF XR | External references manager |
| XATTACH XA | Attach a .dxf / .dwg as an underlay |
| XBIND | Bind the selected XREF into the drawing |
| XDETACH | Detach the selected XREF |
Layers & properties
| LAYER LA | Layers panel: on/off, freeze, lock, plot, colour |
| LAYISO | Isolate the selection's layers |
| LAYUNISO | Restore layers after LAYISO |
| LAYDEL | Delete selection's layers and their contents |
| LAYMRG | Merge selection's layers into the current one |
| LINETYPE LT | Linetypes (dashed, center, hidden…) |
| LTSCALE LTS | Global linetype scale |
Drafting aids
| GRID GRIDUNIT | Toggle grid display GRID 5 · GRID A · GRID ON · GRID OFF |
| GRID LOCK | Does grid spacing also set cursor snap? GRID LOCK OFF |
| SNAP SN, SNAPUNIT | Toggle / set grid snap step SNAP 0.5 · SNAP OFF |
| ORTHO | Horizontal / vertical only F8 |
| POLAR | Polar tracking angles F10 |
| OTRACK OST | Object-snap tracking F11 |
Object snaps (OSNAP on)
| Endpoint | End of a line, arc or polyline segment |
| Midpoint | Middle of a segment |
| Center CEN | Centre of a circle, arc or ellipse |
| Quadrant | 0° / 90° / 180° / 270° points of a circle |
| Intersection INT | Where two objects cross |
| Perpendicular PERP | Foot of the perpendicular from the last point |
| Tangent TAN | Tangent point on a curve |
| Nearest NEA | Closest point on an object |
| Extension | Along the extension of a line past its end |
| Parallel | Parallel to a segment you hover |
The marker and a tooltip (e.g. Endpoint · 8.38 < −162.6°) show which snap will be used before you click. Toggle individual modes on the status bar.
Inquiry
| DIST DI, DISTANCE | Distance & angle between two points |
| AREA AA | Area & perimeter of picked points; C to close |
Layouts & output
| LAYOUT LO | Create a paper-space sheet |
| MVIEW MV | Add a viewport on the sheet |
| PAGESETUP PAGESET | Paper size, margins, scale of the active sheet |
| PLOT PRINT | Plot to PDF (colour / mono / plot styles) |
Files
| IMPORT OPEN, IMPORTDWG | Open a .dxf or .dwg file |
| EXPORT DXFOUT, SAVEAS | Export the drawing as DXF |
| DXFOUT GRID EXPORT GRID | DXF in real map (grid) coordinates |
| CSVIN POINTSIN | Import a CSV point schedule |
| GEOJSONIN | Import GeoJSON features |
GIS & mapping
| GEOREF GEO, GEOGRAPHICLOCATION | Coordinate system + where local 0,0 sits |
| GIS | GIS panel: basemap imagery, address, parcels |
| ADDRESS | GIS panel with the address search focused |
| PARCEL | Click a point → insert that land parcel |
| BUILDING BLDG | Click a house → insert its footprint (repeats) |
| MAP MAPMODE | Switch to the interactive map environment |
| CAD CADMODE | Back to the CAD canvas |
| AOI MAPAREA | Limit the map to a drawn area of interest |
Fences
| FENCE FN | Draw a fence run like a polyline; C closes FN ⏎ 0,0 ⏎ @30,0 ⏎ @0,40 ⏎ ⏎ |
| GATE FENCEGATE | Click on a fence to add a gate |
| FENCETYPE FT | Fences panel: the fence-type library |
| FENCEAPPLY | Apply the armed fence type to the selection |
| FENCEDESIGN | Open the fence designer |
| FENCEELEV FEL | Elevation of the selected fence |
Status bar (bottom of the canvas)
| Layer list | Current layer for new objects |
| X / Y | Cursor coordinates (E / N when georeferenced) |
| CAD / MAP | Current environment |
| SNAP · GRID | Grid snap · grid display (click to toggle) |
| AUTO (5) | Grid spacing — auto or the value you set |
| OSNAP | Object snap master switch |
| CEN INT PERP TAN NEA | Centre · intersection · perpendicular · tangent · nearest snap modes |
| ORTHO · POLAR 90° | Ortho lock · polar tracking and its angle |
| OTRACK | Object-snap tracking |
| LWT | Show lineweights |
| 58% | Zoom level · ☰ settings |
Mouse & selection
| Click | Select an object (Properties opens) |
| Click, click → | Box from left to right: green crossing |
| Click, click ← | Box from right to left: blue window |
| Drag a grip | Stretch / move that vertex or centre |
| Drag selection | Move it |
| Double-click | Edit text, MTEXT or a table cell in place |
| Right-click | Finish / repeat the last command |
| Wheel | Zoom at the cursor |
| Space + drag | Pan |
Quick tips
| Repeat | Enter on an empty command line repeats the last command |
| Transparent | PAN and the mouse wheel work in the middle of any command |
| Noun → verb | Select first, then type MOVE, ROTATE, GROUP, UNION… |
| Exact sizes | Type the length into the dynamic Length / Angle box next to the cursor |
| Properties | Every value of a selected object is editable in the Properties panel |
| Layers | Set the current layer on the status bar before drawing |
| Units | Choose mm, cm, m, in or ft in Settings → Editor defaults |
| Saving | Work autosaves; name a version in History to mark a milestone |
Worked examples
A 30 × 40 m site boundaryPL ⏎ 0,0 ⏎ @30,0 ⏎ @0,40 ⏎ @-30,0 ⏎ C
A 1 m set-back inside itO ⏎ 1 ⏎ click the boundary, then click inside
A 16 × 11 m house, rotated 15°REC ⏎ 6,14 ⏎ @16,11 ⏎ RO ⏎ select ⏎ 6,14 ⏎ 15
Five equally spaced postsDIV ⏎ pick the line ⏎ 5
Fence a parcel with a gateFN ⏎ click corners ⏎ C · GATE ⏎ click the fence · FEL
Work in real map coordinatesGEOREF → NZTM2000, E/N → Apply · L ⏎ G1752300,5428100 ⏎ @20<90
Sheet at 1:250, then PDFLO ⏎ name, A3 · MV → drag frame · PLOT → Export PDF