Setting System Variables

Setting System Variables

Table C.1 lists the variables and indicates whether they are read-only or adjustable. Most of these variables have counterparts in other commands, as listed in the table. For example, you can adjust Angdir and Angbase by using the Ddunits command (choose Format   Units). Many, such as Highlight and Expert, do not have equivalent commands. You must adjust these at the command line (or through AutoLISP).

Table C.1: System Variables. Items Marked with an Asterisk Were Added in AutoCAD 2004. Items Marked with Two Asterisks Are New in AutoCAD 2005.

Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Acadlspasdoc	Options	Registry	Controls the loading of the Acad.lsp file when present: 0 = load only into first drawing (initial value); 1 = into every opened drawing.
Acadprefix	Options	NA	Indicates the AutoCAD environment setting.
Acadver	NA	NA	Indicates the AutoCAD version number.
Acisoutver	Acisout	With drawing	Controls ACIS version of SAT files.
Adcstate (read-only)	NA	Registry	Indicates the current display state of the AutoCAD DesignCenter: 0 = closed; 1 = opened.
Aflags	Units	NA	Controls attribute mode settings: 1 = invisible; 2 = constant; 4 = verify; 8 = preset.
Angbase	Units	With drawing	Controls direction of to the current UCS.
Angdir	Units	With drawing	Controls positive direction of angles: 0 = counterclockwise; 1 = clockwise.
Apbox	Draw, Edit	Registry	Displays AutoSnap aperture box when AutoSnap is activated: 0 = off; 1 = on.
Aperture	Draw, Edit	Registry	Sets size of Osnap cursor in pixels.
Area (read-only)	Area	NA	Displays last area calculation; use with Setvar or function.
Assiststate**	Quick Help	NA	Controls the display of the Info palette Quick Help: 0 = off; 1 = on.
Attdia	Insert/Attribute	With drawing	Controls the Attribute dialog box: 0 = no dialog box; 1 = dialog box.
Attmode	Attdisp	With drawing	Controls attribute display mode: 0 = off; 1 = normal; 2 = on.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Attreq	Insert	With drawing	Controls the prompt for attributes: 0 = no prompt or dialog box for attributes (attributes use default values); 1 = nor- mal prompt or dialog box upon attrib- ute insertion.
Auditctl	Config	Registry	Controls whether an audit file is cre- ated: 0 = disable; 1 = enable creation of ADT file.
Aunits	Units	With drawing	Controls angular units: 0 = decimal degrees; 1 = degrees-minutes-seconds; 2 = grads; 3 = radians; 4 = units.
Auprec	Units	With drawing	Controls the precision of angular units determined by decimal place.
Autosnap	Draw, Edit	Registry	Controls AutoSnap display and fea- tures: 0 = everything off; 1 = marker on; 2 = Snaptip on; 4 = magnet on.
Backgroundplot**	Plot, Publish	Registry	Controls the background plot feature: 0 = off; 1 = background for Plot but not Publish; 2 = background for Publish but not Plot; 4 = background for both Plot and Publish.
Backz (read-only)	Dview	With drawing	Displays distance from Dview target to back clipping plane.
Bindtype	Xref	NA	Controls the way Xref names are han- dled when bound to a file: 0 = main- tain Xref filename prefix (initial value); 1 = remove Xref filename prefix.
Blipmode	NA	With drawing	Controls appearance of blips: 0 = off; 1 = on.
Cdate (read-only)	Time	NA	Displays calendar date/time read from system date (YYYY MMDD .HHMMSSMSEC).
Cecolor	Color	With drawing	Controls current default color assigned to new objects.
Celtscale	NA	With drawing	Controls current line-type scale for individual objects.
Celtype	Linetype	With drawing	Controls current default line type assigned to new objects.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Celweight	Lineweight	With drawing	Controls the default line weight for new objects: “1 = Bylayer; “2 = Byblock; “3 = default as set by Lwde- fault. Specific line-weight values can also be entered in millimeters.
Chamfera	Chamfer	With drawing	Controls first chamfer distance.
Chamferb	Chamfer	With drawing	Controls second chamfer distance.
Chamferc	Chamfer	With drawing	Controls chamfer distance for Angle option.
Chamferd	Chamfer	With drawing	Controls chamfer angle for Angle option.
Chammode	Chamfer	NA	Controls method of chamfer: 0 = use two distances; 1 = use distance and angle.
Circlerad	Circle	NA	Controls the default circle radius: 0 = no default.
Clayer	Layer	With drawing	Sets the current layer.
Cmdactive (read-only)		NA	NA Displays whether a command, script, or dialog box is active: 1 = com- mand active; 2 = transparent com- mand active; 4 = script active; 8 = dialog box active (values are cumula- tive, so 3 = command and transparent command are active).
Cmddia	NA	Registry	Controls use of dialog boxes for some commands: 0 = = use dialog box.
Cmdecho	Autolisp	NA	With AutoLISP, controls display of prompts from embedded AutoCAD commands: 0 = no display of prompt; 1 = display prompts.
Cmdnames (read-only)		NA	NA Displays the English name of the currently active command.
Cmljust	Mline	With drawing	Sets method of justification for multi- lines: 0 = top; 1 = middle; 2 = bottom.
Cmlscale	Mline	With drawing	Sets scale factor for multiline widths: a 0 value collapses the multiline to a single line; a negative value reverses the justification.
Cmlstyle (read-only)	Mline	With drawing	Displays current multiline style by name.
Compass	3dorbit	NA	Controls the display of the 3D com- pass: 0 = off (initial value); 1 = on.
Coords	F6, Ctrl+D	With drawing	Controls coordinate readout: 0 = coor- dinates displayed only when points are picked; 1 = absolute coordinates dynamically displayed as cursor moves; 2 = distance and angle dis- played during commands that accept relative distance input.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Cplotstyle	Plot, Pagesetup	With drawing	Controls the default plot style for new objects. Startup values are ByLayer, ByBlock, Normal, and User Defined.
Cprofile (read-only)	Options	Registry	Displays the current profile name.
Ctab (read-only)	(tabs)	With drawing	Displays the name of the current tab.
Ctablestyle**	Table	With drawing	Controls the name of the current table style.
Cursorsize	NA	Registry	Determines size of crosshairs as a per- centage of the screen size (1 “100).
Cvport (read-only)	Vports	With drawing	Displays ID number of current view- port.
Date (read-only)	Time	NA	Displays date and time in Julian format.
Dbmod (read-only)	NA	NA	Displays drawing modification status: 1 = object database modified; 2 = sym- bol table modified; 4 = database vari- able modified; 8 = window modified; 16 = view modified.
Dbstate*	dbConnect	With drawing	Read-only. Displays the display state of the dbConnect Manager dialog box: 0 = closed; 1 = opened.
Dctcust	Spell	Registry	Sets default custom spelling diction - ary filename, including path .
Dctmain	Spell	Registry	Sets default main spelling dictionary filename; requires specific keywords for each language. See AutoCAD Help for complete list of keywords.
Deflplstyle	Plotstyle	With drawing	Sets the default plot style for new layers .
Defplstyle	Plotstyle	Registry	Sets the default plot style for new objects.
Delobj	NA	With drawing	Controls whether source objects used to create new objects are retained: 0 = delete objects; 1 = retain objects.
Demandload	NA	Registry	Controls loading of third-party appli- cations required for custom objects in drawing (0 “3).
Diastat (read-only)	NA	NA	Displays how last dialog box was exited: 0 = Cancel; 1 = OK.
Dispsilh	All curved solids	With drawing	Controls silhouette display of curved 3D solids: 0 = no silhouette; 1 = silhou- ette curved solids.
Distance	Dist	NA	Displays last distance calculated by Dist command.
Donutid	Donut	NA	Controls default inside diameter of a donut.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Donutod	Donut	NA	Controls default outside diameter of a donut.
Dragmode	NA	With drawing	Controls dragging: 0 = no dragging; 1 = if requested ; 2 = automatic drag.
Dragp1	NA	Registry	Controls regeneration-drag input sampling rate.
Dragp2	NA	Registry	Controls fast-drag input sampling rate.
Draworderctl**	Draworder	With drawing	Controls the level of functionality offered by the Draworder command: 0 = regen required to display draw order; 1 = draw order display is imme- diate; 2 = adds inheritance to objects with draw order; 3 = full Draworder functionality (1 and 2 combined).
Dwgcheck	NA	Registry	Controls the display of a warning dia- log box indicating that a drawing was last edited in a program other than AutoCAD: 0 = suppress dialog box; 1 = display dialog box when needed.
Dwgcodepage (read-only)	NA	With drawing	Displays code page of drawing (see Syscodepage).
Dwgname (read-only)	Open	NA	Displays drawing name and drive/folder, if specified by user.
Dwgprefix (read-only)	NA	NA file.	Displays drive and folder of current
Dwgtitled (read-only)	NA	NA	Displays whether a drawing has been named: 0 = untitled; 1 = named by user.
Edgemode	Trim, Extend	Registry	Controls how trim and extend bound- aries are determined: 0 = boundaries defined by object only; 1 = boundaries defined by objects and their extension.
Elevation	Elev	With drawing	Controls current 3D elevation relative to current UCS.
Expert	NA	NA	Controls prompts, depending on level of user's expertise: 0 = normal prompts; 1 = suppresses About to regen and Really want to turn the \cur- rent layer off prompts; 2 = suppresses Block already defined and A drawing with this name already exists prompts for Block command; 3 = suppresses An item with this name already exists prompt for the Linetype command; 4 = suppresses An item with this name already exists prompt for the UCS/Save and Vports/Save options; 5 = suppresses An item with this name already exists prompt for Dim/Save and Dim/Over- ride commands.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Explmode	Explode	With drawing	Controls whether blocks inserted with different x, y, and z values are exploded: 0 = blocks are not exploded; 1 = blocks are exploded.
Extmax (read-only)	Zoom	With drawing	Displays upper-right corner coordi- nate of Extents view.
Extmin (read-only)	Zoom	With drawing	Displays lower-left corner coordinate of Extents view.
Extnames	Options	With drawing	Controls the length of names for named objects in AutoCAD: 0 = limit names to 31 characters; 1 = allow up to 255 characters .
Facetratio	Shade , Hide	NA	Controls aspect ratio of faceting of curved 3D surfaces. Value is 0 or 1; 1 increases the density of the mesh.
Facetres	Shade, Hide	With drawing	Controls appearance of smooth, curved, 3D surfaces when shaded or hidden. Value can be between 0.01 and 10. The higher the number, the more faceted (and smoother) the curved surface, and the longer the time needed for shade and hidden- line removal.
Fielddisplay**	Field	Registry	Controls the gray, non-plotting back- ground of fields: 0 = no background; 1 = background.
Fieldeval**	Field	With drawing	Controls the way fields are updated. Values can be added for combined fea- tures: 0 = no update; 1 = on open; 2 = on save; 4 = on plot; 8 = on use of eTransmit; 16 = on regen.
Filedia	Dialog box	Registry	Sets whether a file dialog box is used by default: 0 = requested with a ~ (a tilde); 1 = use whenever possible.
Filletrad	Fillet	With drawing	Controls fillet radius.
Fillmode	Fill	With drawing	Controls fill status: 0 = off; 1 = on.
Fontalt	Open, Dxfin, other File   Import options	Registry	Lets you specify an alternate font when AutoCAD cannot find the font associated with a file. If no font is specified for Fontalt, AutoCAD dis- plays a warning message and a dialog box in which you manually select a font.
Fontmap		Registry	Similar to Fontalt, but lets you designate a set of font substitutions through a font mapping file. Example line from mapping file: romans:c:\ Program Files\Auto CAD2002\fonts\ times.ttf . This substitutes Romans font with Times TrueType font. Font-mapping file can be any name, with extension .fmp.
Frontz (read-only)	Dview	With drawing	Controls front clipping plane for cur- rent viewport; use with Viewmode system variable.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Fullopen (read-only)	Open	NA	Displays whether the current drawing is fully or partially opened.
Gfshift*	Bhatch	Not saved	Controls whether gradient fills are centered: 0 = centered; 1 = shifted up and to the left.
Gridmode	Grid	With drawing	Controls grid: 0 = off; 1 = on.
Gridunit	Grid	With drawing	Controls grid spacing.
Gripblock	Grips	Registry	Controls display of grips in blocks: 0 = show insertion point grip only; 1 = show grips of all objects in block.
Gripcolor	Grips	Registry	Controls color of unselected grips. Choices are integers from 1 to 255; default is 5.
Griphot	Grips	Registry	Controls color of hot grips. Choices are integers from 1 to 255; default is 1.
Griphover*	Grips	Registry	Controls the color of a grip when the cursor hovers over the grip. Values are index colors from 1 to 255; default is 3.
Gripobjlimit*	Grips	Registry	Controls the display of grips based on the number of objects selected. If set to 1, grips are not displayed if more than one object is selected. Range is from 1 to 32,767; default is 100.
Grips	Grips	Registry	Controls use of grips: 0 = grips dis- abled; 1 = grips enabled (default).
Gripsize	Grips	Registry	Controls grip size (in pixels), from 1 to 255; default is 3.
Griptips*	Grips	Registry	Controls the display of grip tips for custom objects: 0 = no grip tips, 1 = grip tips; default is 1.
Handles (read-only)	NA	With drawing	Displays status of object handles: 0 = off; 1 = on.
Hideprecision	Hide, Shade, Hlsettings	NA	Controls the Hide/Shade precision accuracy: 0 = single precision; 1 = dou- ble precision.
Highlight	Select	NA	Controls whether objects are high- lighted when selected: 0 = none; 1 = highlighting.
Hpang	Hatch	NA	Sets default hatch pattern angle.
Hpassoc*	Hatch	Registry	Controls associative property of hatch pattern: 0 = not associative; 1 = asso- ciative; default = 1.
Hpbound	Hatch	Registry	Controls type of object created by Hatch and Boundary commands: 0 = region; 1 = polyline.
Hpdouble	Hatch	NA	Sets default hatch doubling for user- defined hatch pattern: 0 = no dou- bling; 1 = doubling at
Hpdraworder**	Hatch	NA	Controls the draw order of hatches: 0 = no draw order; 1 = send hatch to back of all objects; 2 = bring to front of all objects; 3 = behind boundary; 4 = in front of boundary.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Hpgaptol**	Hatch	Registry	Controls the gap tolerance for hatch boundaries. Values are from 0 to 5000. When the value is 0, the hatch requires a completely closed outline with no gaps.
Hpname	Hatch	NA	Sets default hatch pattern name; use a period (.) to set to no default.
Hpscale	Hatch	NA	Sets default scale for hatch patterns; cannot be 0.
Hpspace	Hatch	NA	Sets default line spacing for user- defined hatch pattern; cannot be 0.
Hyperlinkbase	Hyperlink	With drawing	Sets the base location for hyperlink addresses. If left blank, the drawing path is used.
Imagehlt	Options	Registry	Controls highlighting of raster images: 0 = frame only; 1 = entire image.
Indexctl	NA	With drawing	Controls whether Layer and Spatial indexes are created and saved in drawings: 0 = no index; 1 = Layer index; 2 = Spatial index; 3 = both.
Inetlocation	Browser	Registry	Stores the Internet location used by the Browser command.
Insbase	Base	With drawing	Controls insertion base point of cur- rent drawing.
Insname	Insert	NA	Sets default block or filename for Insert command; enter a period (.) to set to no default.
Insunits	Units	With drawing	Sets the units value for the Design- Center insert: 0 = unitless; 1 = inches; 2 = feet; 3 = miles; 4 = millimeters; 5 = centimeters; 6 = meters ; 7 = kilome- ters; 8 = microinches; 9 = mils; 10 = yards; 11 = angstroms; 12 = nanome- ters; 13 = microns; 14 = decimeters; 15 = decameters; 16 = hectometers; 17 = gigameters; 18 = astronomical units; 19 = light years ; 20 = parsecs.
Insunitsdefsource	Units	Registry	Sets the default source units. Values are the same as for Insunits.
Insunitsdeftarget	Units	Registry	Sets the default target units. Values are the same as for Insunits.
Intersectioncolor*	Hide	With drawing	Controls the color of the intersection of 3D surfaces when Hide or Hidden Shademode are used. The interesting surfaces are displayed by intersec- tion polylines. 0 = Byblock; 256 = Bylayer; 257 = entity color; 1 through 255 = AutoCAD index color. Intersec- tioncolor is valid only when the Inter- sectiondisplay system variable is set to 1; default = 257.
Intersectiondisplay*	Hide	With drawing	Controls whether the intersection of 3D surfaces are displayed with a line, called an intersection polyline: 0 = no intersection polyline; 1 = display intersection polyline; default = 0.
Isavebak	Save	Registry	Controls the creation of BAK files: 0 = no BAK file created; 1 = BAK file cre- ated.
Isavepercent	Save	Registry	Determines whether to do a full or an incremental save based on the amount of wasted space tolerated in a drawing file: (0 “100).
Isolines	Curved solids	With drawing	Specifies the number of lines on a shape.
Lastangle (read-only)	Arc	NA	Displays ending angle for last arc drawn.
Lastpoint	NA	NA	Sets or displays coordinate normally referenced by @.
Lastprompt	NA	NA	Saves last string echoed to the com- mand line.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Layoutregenctl	Options	Registry	Controls the way regens occur when switching between Model/Layout tabs: 0 = regen at each tab selection; 1 = no regen for Model tab or last used Layout tab; 2 = after initial opening of tabs, no regens while switching between tabs.
Lenslength (read-only)	Dview	With drawing	Displays focal length of lens used for perspective display.
Limcheck	Limits	With drawing	Controls limit checking: 0 = no check- ing; 1 = checking.
Limmax	Limits	With drawing	Controls coordinate of upper-right limit.
Limmin	Limits	With drawing	Controls coordinate of lower-left limit.
Lispinit	Load	Registry	Preserves AutoLISP-defined functions and variables beyond current drawing session: 0 = AutoLISP variables pre- served ; 1 = AutoLISP functions valid for current session only.
Locale (read-only)	NA	NA	Displays ISO language code used by your version of AutoCAD.
Localrootprefix (read-only) *	Options	Registry	Displays file path for support and cus- tom files. If entered at the command prompt through AutoLISP [as in (get- var localrootprefix ) ], the full path is displayed.
Logfilemode	NA	Registry	Determines whether log file is recorded: 0 = log file off; 1 = log file on.
Logfilename	NA	Registry	Specifies name/path of log file.
Logfilepath	Options	Registry	Sets the path for the log file.
Loginname (read-only)	NA	NA	Displays
Ltscale	Ltscale	With drawing	Controls the global line-type scale factor.
Lunits	Units	With drawing	Controls unit styles: 1 = scientific; 2 = decimal; 3 = engineering; 4 = architec- tural; 5 = fractional .
Luprec	Units	With drawing	Controls unit accuracy by decimal place or size of denominator.
Lwdefault	Lineweight	Registry	Sets the default line weight. Values are specified in millimeters (25 = 0.25mm).
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Lwdisplay	Lineweight	With drawing	Determines whether line weights are displayed: 0 = not displayed; 1 = dis- played.
Lwscale	Lineweight	With drawing	Determines whether line weights are scaled with plotter scale settings or are absolute values: 0 = scaled with plot; 1 = absolute value.
Lwunits	Lineweight	Registry	Sets the display of line-weight units: 0 = inches; 1 = millimeters.
Maxactvp	Viewports, Vports	With drawing	Controls maximum number of view- ports to regenerate at one time.
Maxobjmem	NA	NA	Specifies the amount of virtual mem- ory that can be used before AutoCAD starts paging a drawing out to disk.
Maxsort	NA	Registry	Controls maximum number of items to be sorted when a command dis- plays a list.
Mbuttonpan	Options	Registry	Determines the behavior of the point- ing behavior determined by menu file; 1 = click-and-drag panning.
Measureinit	Open	Registry	Sets the unit style for new drawings. Determines whether metric or Imper- ial template file should be used. Determines which default line type and hatch pattern files should be used: 0 = Imperial; 1 = metric.
Measurement	Bhatch, Linetype	With drawing	Sets drawing units as Imperial or met- ric: 0 = Imperial; 1 = metric.
Menuctl	NA	Registry	Controls whether side menu changes in response to a command name entered from the keyboard: 0 = no response; 1 = menu response.
Menuecho	NA	NA	Controls messages and command prompt display from commands embedded in menu: 0 = display all mes- sages; 1 = suppress menu item name; 2 = suppress command prompts; 4 = dis- able toggle of menu echo; 8 = debug- ging aid for Diesel expressions.
Menuname (read-only)	Menu	With drawing	Displays name of current menu file.
Mirrtext	Mirror	With drawing	Controls mirroring of text: 0 = dis- abled; 1 = enabled.
Modemacro	NA	NA	Controls display of user-defined text in status line.
Msolescale**	OLE	With drawing	Sets the scale of OLE objects that include text. If the value is 0, scale is set by the Dimscale value.
Mtexted	Mtext	Registry	Controls name of program used for editing Mtext objects.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Mtextfixed*	Mtext	Registry	Controls how text in the Multiline Text Editor is displayed: 0 = AutoCAD attempts to display the text as closely as possible to the actual size and appearance in the drawing; 1 = text is displayed in a fixed size and location based on the last size and position.
Mtjigstring*	Mtext	Registry	Controls the display of the sample text that is displayed when placing the text boundary for Mtext. The default is abc, but can be set to anything up to 10 characters. Enter a period (.) for no display.
MMydocuments “ prefix (read-only)*	Options	Registry	Displays the full path for the current user's My Documents folder.
Nfwstate**	New Feature Workshop	Registry	Turns the New Feature Workshop]on or off: 0 = off and not displayed in Help; 1 = on and displayed in Help.
Nodename	NA	Registry	Controls the filename extension for AutoCAD temporary files.
Nomutt	NA	NA	Suppresses message display (mutter- ing): 0 = normal display; 1 = suppress messages.
Obscuredcolor	Hide, Shade, Hlsettings	With drawing	Controls the color of obscured lines in hidden or shaded views: 0 and 256 = object color; 1 through 255 = AutoCAD color index. This feature is disabled when Obscuredltype is set to 0.
Obscuredltype	Hide, Shade, Hlsettings	With drawing	Controls the line type of obscured lines in hidden or shaded 3D views: 0 = obscured lines are not displayed (default); 1 = solid line; 2 through 11 = various dashed and dotted lines.
Offsetdist	Offset	NA	Controls default offset distance.
Offsetgaptype	Offset	Registry	Controls how polyline line segments are joined when offset: 0 = extend line segments to join ends; 1 = keep line segments the same length and join endpoints with arcs; 2 = keep line seg- ments the same length and join end- points with lines.
Oleframe**	OLE	With drawing	Controls the display of the frame around OLE objects: 0 = no frame; 1 = frame displays and plots; 2 = frame displays but does not plot.
Olehide	NA	Registry	Controls display of OLE objects.
Olequality	Options	Registry	Controls the quality of OLE objects: 0 = line art; 1 = text; 2 = graphics; 3 = photograph; 4 = high-quality photo- graph.
Olestartup	Options	With drawing	Determines whether the source appli- cation of an OLE object is loaded when the OLE object is plotted: 0 = no load; 1 = load.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Opmstate (read-only)Properties erties palette: 0 = not open; 1 = open.		Registry	Displays the current state of the Prop-
Orthomode	F8, Ortho	With drawing	Controls Ortho mode: 0 = off; 1 = on.
Osmode	Osnap	With drawing	Sets current default Osnap mode: 0 = none; 1 = endpoint; 2 = midpoint ; 4 = center; 8 = node; 16 = quadrant; 32 = intersection; 64 = insert; 128 = perpen- dicular; 256 = nearest ; 512 = quick. If more than one mode is required, enter the sum of those modes.
Osnapcoord	Osnap	Registry	Controls whether coordinates entered at the command line use running object snaps : 0 = Running Osnaps set- tings override; 1 = keyboard entry overrides ; 2 = keyboard entry over- rides, except in scripts.
Osnaphatch**	Hatch, Osnap	With drawing	Controls how Osnap behaves with hatches: 0 = Osnap ignores hatches; 1 = Osnap does not ignore hatches.
Osnapnodelegacy**	Mtext, Osnap	With drawing	Controls how Osnaps behave with Mtext bounding box grips: 0 = Osnap recognizes Mtext grips; 1 = Osnap ignores Mtext grips.
Paletteopaque*	Toolpalettes	Registry	Controls the transparency of palettes that offer transparency. Availability of transparency depends on the operat- ing system and whether hardware accelerators are in use. 0 = turned on by user; 1 = off by user; 2 = on by user but unavailable; 3 = off by user but unavailable.
Paperupdate	Plot	Registry	Controls the display of paper size warning message: 0 = display warning if the paper size in a Paper Space lay- out is not supported by the specified plotter; 1 = adjust paper size to con- form with plotter configuration.
Pdmode	Ddptype	With drawing	Controls type of symbol used as a point during Point command.
Pdsize	Point	With drawing	Controls size of symbol set by Pdmode.
Peditaccept*	Pedit	Registry	Controls the display of the Object selected is not a polyine prompt when selecting nonpolyline object with the Pedit command: 0 = prompt; 1 = no prompt.
Pellipse	Ellipse	With drawing	Controls type of object created with Ellipse command: 0 = true NURBS ellipse; 1 = polyline representation of ellipse.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Perimeter (read-only)	Area, List	NA	Displays last perimeter value derived from Area and List commands.
Pfacevmax (read-only)	Pface	NA	Displays maximum number of ver- tices per face. (PFaces are 3D surfaces designed for use by third-party soft- ware producers and are not designed for end-users.)
Pickadd	Select	Registry	Determines how items are added to a selection set: 0 = only most recently selected item(s) become selection set (to accumulate objects in a selection set, hold down Shift while selecting); 1 = selected objects accumulate in a selection set as you select them (hold down Shift while selecting items to remove those items from the selec- tion set).
Pickauto	Select	Registry	Controls automatic window at Select objects: prompt: 0 = window is disabled; 1 = window is enabled.
Pickbox	Select	Registry	Controls size of object-selection pick- box (in pixels).
Pickdrag	Select	Registry	Controls how selection windows are used: 0 = click each corner of the win- dow; 1 = Shift+click and hold on first corner, and then drag and release for the second corner.
Pickfirst	Select	Registry	Controls whether you can pick object(s) before you select a com- mand: 0 = disabled; 1 = enabled.
Pickstyle	Group , Hatch	With drawing	Controls whether groups and/or asso- ciative hatches are selectable: 0 = nei- ther are selectable; 1 = groups only; 2 = associative hatches only; 3 = both groups and associative hatches.
Platform (read-only)	NA	NA	Identifies the version of AutoCAD being used.
Plinegen	Pline, Pedit	With drawing	Controls how polylines generate line types around vertices: 0 = line-type pattern begins and ends at vertices; 1 = line-type patterns ignore vertices and begin and end at polyline begin- ning and ending.
Plinetype	Pline	Registry	Controls whether AutoCAD creates optimized 2D polylines and/or con- verts existing polylines to optimized polylines: 0 = polylines in existing drawings are not converted, and new polylines are not optimized; 1 = poly- lines in existing drawings are not con- verted, but new polylines are optimized; 2 = polylines in existing drawings are not converted, and new polylines are optimized.
Plinewid	Pline	With drawing	Controls default polyline width.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Plotoffset	Plot	Registry	Controls whether the plot offset is rel- ative to the edge of paper or printable area: 0 = printable area; 1 = edge of paper.
Plotrotmode	Plot	Registry	Controls orientation of your plotter output.
Plquiet	NA	Registry	Controls the display of dialog boxes for batch plotting and scripts: 0 = dis- play dialog boxes; 1 = do not display dialog boxes.
Polaraddang	Dsettings	Registry	Sets the value of the Additional Angle setting of the Polar Snap tab of the Drafting Settings dialog box. You can enter as many as 10 angles of 25 char- acters each separated by semicolons.
Polarang	Dsettings	Registry	Sets the Increment Angle setting of the Polar Snap tab of the Drafting Set- tings dialog box.
Polardist	Dsettings	Registry	Sets the Polar Snap distance.
Polarmode	Dsettings, Options	With drawing	Sets Polar and Object Snap Tracking settings. The value is the sum of four pairs of codes as follows . Polar angle measurement: 0 = absolute; 1 = rela- tive. Object Snap Tracking: 0 = orthog- onal only; 2 = use Polar Tracking settings. Use additional Polar Tracking angles: 0 = no; 4 = yes. Acquire Object Snap Tracking points (Options dialog box): 0 = automatically; 8 = Shift to acquire.
Polysides	Polygon	NA	Controls the default number of sides for a polygon.
Popups (read-only)	NA	NA	Displays whether the current system supports pull-down menus : 0 = no; 1 = yes.
Projectname	Options	Registry	Assigns a project name to a drawing. The project name can be associated with one or more folders.
Projmode	Trim, Extend	Registry	Controls how the Trim and Extend commands affect objects in 3D: 0 = objects must be coplanar; 1 = trims/extends based on a plane paral- lel to the current UCS; 2 = trims/extends based on a plane paral- lel to the current view plane.
Proxygraphics	NA	With drawing	Controls whether images of proxy objects are stored in a drawing: 0 = images not stored; 1 = images saved.
Proxynotice	NA	Registry	Issues a warning to the user when a proxy object is created, i.e., when user opens a drawing containing custom objects created using an application that is not loaded: 0 = no warning; 1 = warning displayed.
Proxyshow	NA	Registry	Specifies whether and how proxy objects are displayed: 0 = no display; 1 = graphic display of all proxy objects; 2 = only bounding box shown.
Proxywebsearch	Options	Registry	Controls whether AutoCAD searches the Web for Object Enablers: 0 = pre- vent search; 1 = search Web for Object Enablers if there is an Internet con- nection; 2 = specify the number of attempts to find Object Enablers.
Psltscale	Pspace	With drawing	Controls Paper Space line-type scaling.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Psquality	Psin	Registry	Controls how images are generated in AutoCAD with the Psin command. Value is an integer: 0 = only bounding box is drawn; >0 = number of pixels per AutoCAD drawing unit; <0 = out- line with no fills, and absolute value of setting determines pixels per draw- ing units.
Pstylemode	Options	Drawing	Determines the type of plot styles used in new or imported drawings: 0 = color plot styles; 1 = named plot styles.
Pstylepolicy	NA	Registry	Determines whether object colors are associated with its plot style: 0 = no association; 1 = association.
Psvpscale	Vports	NA	Sets the default view scale factor for new viewports in paper space. The value is a ratio between the model space scale and the paper space scale. Values must be positive real: 0 = scale to fit.
Pucsbase	Ucsman	With drawing	Stores the name of a UCS that you want to use as the base for orthographic UCS settings. Paper Space only.
Qtextmode	Qtext	With drawing	Controls the quick text mode: 0 = off; 1 = on.
Rasterdpi**	Plot	Registry	Controls the conversion from mil- limeters or inches to dots per inch when working with dimensionless output such as the raster plotter option. Acceptable value range is 100 to 32,767dpi.
Rasterpreview	Save	Registry	Controls whether raster preview images are saved with the drawing and sets the format type: 0 = no pre- view image created; 1 = BMP preview image.
Refeditname (read-only)		Refedit	NA Displays the current reference- editing state of a drawing.
Regenmode	Regenauto	With drawing	Controls Regenauto mode: 0 = off; 1 = on.
Re-init	Reinit	NA	Reinitializes I/O ports, digitizers, dis- play, plotter, and ACAD.PGP : 1 = digi- tizer port; 2 = plotter port; 4 = digitizer ; 8 = display; 16 = PGP file reload.
Rememberfolders	NA	Registry	Controls the default folder displayed in file dialog boxes. 0 = use Start In Path specification from AutoCAD icon; 1 = last used path.
Reporterror*	NA	Registry	Controls whether errors can be reported to Autodesk as they occur: 0 = no error report; 1 = error report mes- sage is displayed with option to send error report to Autodesk.
Roamableroot- prefix (read-only)*	NA	Registry	Displays the full path name for cus- tomizable support files for roaming profiles.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Rtdisplay	Rtpan, Rtzoom	Registry	Controls display of raster images dur- ing real-time Pan and Zoom.
Pucsbase	Ucsman	With drawing	Stores the name of a UCS that you want to use as the base for orthographic UCS settings. Paper Space only.
Savefile (read-only)	Autosave	Registry	Displays filename that is autosaved.
Savefilepath	NA	Registry	Specifies the folder location for auto- matic save files.
Savename (read-only)		Save	NA Displays user filename under which file is saved.
Savetime	Autosave	Registry	Controls time interval between auto- matic saves, in minutes: 0 = disable automatic save.
Screenboxes (read-only)	Menu	Registry	Displays number of slots or boxes available in side menu.
Screenmode (read-only)	NA	Registry	Displays current display mode: 0 = text; 1 = graphics; 2 = dual screen.
Screensize (read-only)	NA	NA	Displays current viewport size in pixels.
SDI	NA	Registry	Determines whether AutoCAD allows multiple documents or limits user to single document editing: 0 = multiple documents; 1 = single document; 2 = single documents because loaded third-party application does not sup- port multiple documents (read-only); 3 = same as 2 with SDI set to 1 by user.
Shadedge	Shade	With drawing	Controls how drawing is shaded: 0 = faces shaded, no edge highlighting; 1 = faces shaded, edge highlighting; 2 = faces not filled, edges in object color; 3 = faces in object color, edges in back- ground color.
Shadedif	Shade	With drawing	Sets difference between diffuse reflec- tive and ambient light. Value repre- sents percentage of diffuse reflective light.
Shortcutmenu	Right-click	Registry	Controls the Default, Edit, and Com- mand mode shortcut menus. For mul- tiple options, use the sum of option values: 0 = restore R14 behavior; 1 = Default mode shortcut enabled; 2 = Edit mode shortcut enabled; 4 = Com- mand mode shortcut enabled; 8 = Command mode shortcut enabled only when options are shown in com- mand line.
Shpname	Shape	NA	Controls default shape name.
Sigwarn*	Sigvalidate	Registry	Controls whether the digital signature warning message is displayed when a file containing a digital signature is opened: 0 = warning appears only if a digital signature is present and is not valid; 1 = warning appears if digital signature is present.
Sketchinc	Sketch	With drawing	Controls sketch record increment.
Skpoly	Sketch	With drawing	Controls whether the Sketch com- mand uses regular lines or polylines: 0 = line; 1 = polyline.
Snapang	Snap	With drawing	Controls snap and grid angle.
Snapbase	Snap	With drawing	Controls snap, grid, and hatch pattern origin.
Snapisopair	Snap	With drawing	Controls isometric plane: 0 = left; 1 = top; 2 = right.
Snapmode	F9, Snap	With drawing	Controls snap toggle: 0 = off; 1 = on.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Snapstyl	Snap	With drawing	Controls snap style: 0 = standard; 1 = isometric.
Snaptype	Snap	Registry	Controls whether polar or grid snap is current: 0 = grid snap; 1 = polar snap.
Snapunit	Snap	With drawing	Controls snap spacing given in x and y values.
Solidcheck	Solidedit	NA	Controls solid validation for 3D solids in current session: 0 = off; 1 = on.
Sortents	NA	Registry	Controls whether objects are sorted based on their order in database: 0 = disabled; 1 = sort for object selection; 2 = sort for object snap; 4 = sort for redraws; 8 = sort for Mslide; 16 = sort for regen; 32 = sort for plot; 64 = sort for Psout.
Splframe		With drawing	Controls display of spline vertices, defining mesh of a surface-fit mesh, and display of invisible edges of 3D Faces: 0 = no display of spline vertices, display only fit surface of a smoothed 3D Mesh, and no display of invisible edges of 3D Face; 1 = spline vertices are displayed, only defining mesh of a smoothed 3D Mesh is displayed, invisible edges of 3D Face are dis- played.
Splinesegs	Pline, Pedit	With drawing	Controls number of line segments used for each spline patch.
Splinetype	Pline, Pedit	With drawing	Controls type of spline curve gener- ated by Pedit spline: 5 = quadratic B- spline; 6 = cubic B-spline.
Ssfound** (read only)	Sheet Set Manager	NA	Displays the location of a sheet set after a search for sheet sets.
Sslocate**	Sheet Set Manager	User settings	Controls whether sheet sets are auto- matically located and opened when a drawing associated with a sheet set is opened: 0 = do not open sheet set; 1 = open sheet set. Ssmautoopen must also be set to 1.
Ssmautoopen**	Sheet Set Manager	User settings	Controls whether the Sheet Set Man- ager is opened when a drawing associ- ated with a sheet set is opened: 0 = do not open sheet set; 1 = open sheet set. Sslocate must also be set to 1.
Ssmstate** (Read only)	Sheet Set Manager	NA	Shows whether the Sheet Set Manager is open: 0 = not open; 1 = open.
Standardsviolations*	Standards	Registry	Controls whether user is notified when a file contains standards viola- tions: 0 = no notification; 1 = notifica- tion when standards violations occur; 2 = notification via icon in status bar.
Startup*	New/Qnew	Registry	Controls whether the Startup dialog box appears when AutoCAD is first opened. Also controls whether the Create New Drawing dialog box appears when a new document is created by choosing File   New. 0 = displays Select Template dialog box for File   New, opens AutoCAD with no Startup dialog box; 1 = displays Create New Drawing or Startup dialog box.
Surftab1		With drawing	Controls number of facets in the m direction of meshes.
Surftab2	ERevsurf, Edgesurf	With drawing	Controls number of facets in the n direction of meshes.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Surftype	Pedit	With drawing	Controls type of surface fitting used by the Pedit option: 5 = quadratic B-spline surface; 6 = cubic B- spline surface; 8 = Bezier surface.
Surfu	3Dmesh	With drawing	Controls surface density in the m direction.
Surfv	3Dmesh	With drawing	Controls surface density in the n direction.
Syscodepage (read-only)	NA	NA	Displays system code page specified in Acad.xmx .
Tabmode	Tablet	NA	Controls tablet mode: 0 = off; 1 = on.
Target (read-only)	Dview	With drawing	Displays coordinate of perspective target point.
Tbcustomize**	Customize	Registry	Controls whether toolbars can be cus- tomized: 0 = customize disabled for toolbars ; 1 = customize enabled.
Tdcreate (read-only)	Time	With drawing	Displays time and date of file creation in Julian format.
Tdindwg (read-only)	Time	With drawing	Displays total editing time in days and decimal days.
Tducreate (read-only)	Time	With drawing	Displays the time and date that a drawing was created.
Tdupdate (read-only)	Time	With drawing	Displays time and date of last file update in Julian format.
Tdusrtimer (read-only)	Time	With drawing	Displays user-controlled elapsed time in days and decimal days.
Tduupdate (read-only)	Time	With drawing	Displays the time and date of last update or save.
STempprefix (read-only)	NA	NA	Displays location for temporary files.
Texteval	NA	NA	Controls interpretation of text input: 0 = AutoCAD takes all text input liter- ally; 1 = AutoCAD interprets ( and ! as part of an AutoLISP expression, unless either the Text or Dtext com- mand is active.
Textfill	Text	Registry	Controls display of Bitstream, True- Type, and PostScript Type 1 fonts: 0 = outlines; 1 = filled.
Textqlty	Text	With drawing	Controls resolution of Bitstream, TrueType, and PostScript Type 1 fonts: values from 1.0 to 100.0. The lower the value, the lower the output resolu- tion. Higher resolutions improve font quality but decrease display and plot speeds.
Textsize	Text, Dtext	With drawing	Controls default text height.
Textstyle	Text, Dtext	With drawing	Controls default text style.
Thickness	Elev	With drawing	Controls default 3D thickness of object being drawn.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Tilemode	Mspace, Pspace	With drawing	Controls Paper Space and viewport access: 0 = Paper Space and viewport objects enabled; 1 = strictly Model Space.
Tooltips	Icon tool palettes	Registry	Controls display of tool tips: 0 = off; 1 = on.
Tpstate (read-only)*	Toolpalettes	NA	Tells whether the Tool Palettes win- dow is active. 0 = not active, 1 = active
Tracewid	Trace	With drawing	Controls trace width.
Trackpath	Options	Registry	Controls the display of the tracking vector: 0 = full screen; 1 = only between alignment points; 2 = no Polar Tracking vector; 3 = no Polar or Object Snap Tracking vector.
Trayicons*	NA	Registry	Controls the display of the AutoCAD tray icons in the lower-right corner of the AutoCAD window: 0 = no display; 1 = display.
Traynotify*	NA	Registry	Controls the display of service notifi- cations in the AutoCAD tray: 0 = no notification; 1 = notification.
Traytimeout*	NA	Registry	Controls how long tray notifications are displayed. Values from 0 to 10 are valid.
Treedepth	Treestat	With drawing	Controls depth of tree-structured Spa- tial index affecting speed of AutoCAD database search. First two digits are for Model Space nodes; second two digits are for Paper Space nodes. Use positive integers for 3D drawings and negative integers for 2D drawings. Negative values can improve speed of 2D operation.
Treemax	Regen, Treedepth	Registry	Limits memory use during regens by limiting maximum number of nodes in Spatial index created with the Treedepth command.
Trimmode	Chamfer, Fillet	Registry	Controls whether lines are trimmed during the Chamfer and Fillet com- mands: 0 = no trim; 1 = trim (as with pre-Release-13 versions of AutoCAD).
Tspacefac	Mtext	NA	Sets multiline text line spacing as a percentage of text height. Valid range is between 0.25 and 4.0.
Tspacetype	Mtext	NA	Controls multiline text line spacing quality: 1 = use tallest letter for basis of line spacing; 2 = use text height specification as basis of line spacing.
Tstackalign	Mtext	With drawing	Controls text alignment for stacked text: 0 = bottom; 1 = center; 2 = top.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Tstacksize	Mtext	With drawing	Sets stacked fraction text height as percent of normal text height. Valid range is 1 to 127.
Ucsaxisang	Ucs	Registry	Sets the default rotation angle for x-, y-, or z-axis option of UCS command.
Ucsbase	Ucs	With drawing	Sets the name of the UCS used as a basis for orthographic UCS options.
Ucsfollow	Ucs	With drawing	Controls whether AutoCAD automati- cally changes to Plan view of UCS while in Model Space: 0 = UCS change does not affect view; 1 = UCS change causes view to change with UCS.
Ucsicon	Ucsicon	With drawing	Controls UCS icon: 1 = on; 2 = UCS icon appears at origin.
Ucsname (read-only)	Ucs	With drawing	Displays name of current UCS.
Ucsorg (read-only)	Ucs	With drawing	Displays origin coordinate for cur- rent UCS relative to World Coordi- nate System.
Ucsortho	Ucs	With drawing	Controls whether the UCS follows orthographic views: 0 = does not fol- low; 1 = follows orthographic view.
Ucsview	View	With drawing	Controls whether a UCS is saved with a named view: 0 = not saved; 1 = saved.
Ucsvp	Vport	With drawing	Controls whether the UCS follows the orientation of a new viewport: 0 = cur- rent UCS; 1 = follow orientation of viewport view.
Ucsxdir (read-only)	Ucs	With drawing	Displays x direction of current UCS relative to World Coordinate System.
Ucsydir (read-only)	Ucs	With drawing	Displays y direction of current UCS relative to World Coordinate System.
Undoctl (read-only)	Undo	NA	Displays current state of Undo fea- ture: 1 = Undo enabled; 2 = only one command can be undone; 4 = Auto- group mode enabled; 8 = group is cur- rently active.
Undomarks (read-only)	Undo	NA	Displays number of marks placed by Undo command.
Unitmode	Units	With drawing	Controls how AutoCAD displays frac- tional, foot -and-inch, and angles: 0 = industry standard; 1 = AutoCAD input format.
Updatethumbnail**	Sheet Set Manager	With drawing	Controls the display of the Sheet Set Manager preview thumbnail: 0 = no updates; 1 = update model view thumbnail; 2 = update sheet view thumbnail; 4 = update sheet thumb- nail; 8 = update thumbnails when sheets are edited or created; 16 = update when drawing is saved.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Useri1 “Useri5	Autolisp, Diesel	With drawing	Indicates five user variables capable of storing integer values.
Userr1 “Userr5	Autolisp, Diesel	With drawing	Indicates five user variables capable of storing real values.
Users1 “Users5	Autolisp, Diesel	With drawing	Indicates five user variables capable of storing string values.
Viewctr (read-only)	NA	With drawing	Displays center of current view in coordinates.
Viewdir (read-only)	Dview	With drawing	Displays camera-viewing direction in coordinates.
Viewmode (read-only)		Dview	With drawingDisplays view- related settings for current viewport: 1 = per- spective on; 2 = front clipping on; 4 = back clipping on; 8 = UCS follow on; 16 = front clip not at a point directly in front of the
Viewsize (read-only)	NA	With drawing	Displays height of current view in drawing units.
Viewtwist (read-only)		Dview	With drawingDisplays twist angle for current viewport.
Visretain	Layer	With drawing	Controls whether layer setting for Xrefs is retained: 0 = current layer color, line-type, and visibility settings retained when drawing is closed; 1 = layer settings of Xref drawing always renewed when file is opened.
UVpmaximized- state** (read-only)	Vpmax	NA	Indicates whether a viewport is maxi- mized: 0 = not maximized; 1 = maxi- mized.
Vsmax (read-only)	NA	With drawing	Displays coordinates of upper-right corner of virtual screen.
Vsmin (read-only)	NA	With drawing	Displays coordinates of lower-left cor- ner of virtual screen.
Whiparc	NA	Registry	Controls the tessellation of circles and arcs: 0 = tessellated; 1 = not tessellated.
Wmfbkgnd	Export, Cut	NA	Sets the way backgrounds and borders are generated in exported Windows metafiles: 0 = transparent back- grounds, no borders; 1 = background same as AutoCAD background, border is reverse color of background.
Wmfforeground	Options	NA	Controls the appearance of Windowsmetafile export from Auto- CAD: 0 = ensures foreground color is darker than background; 1 = ensures background color is darker than fore- ground. This feature takes effect only if Wmfgkgrnd is set to 0.
Worlducs (read-only)	UCS	NA	Displays status of WCS: 0 = current UCS is not WCS; 1 = current UCS is WCS.
Worldview	Dview, Vpoint	With drawing	Controls whether the Dview and Vpoint commands operate relative to UCS or WCS: 0 = current UCS is used; 1 = WCS is used.
Variable Name	Associated Command	Where Saved	Use
Writestat (read-only)	NA	NA	Displays the current read/write status: 0 = read-only; 1 = drawing can be written to.
Xclipframe	Xref	With drawing	Controls visibility of Xref clipping boundaries: 0 = clipping boundary is not visible; 1 = boundary is visible.
Xedit	Options	With drawing	Controls Refedit availability of cur- rent drawing: 0 = not available for in- place Xref editing; 1 = available for in-place Xref editing.
Xfadectl	Options	NA	Controls fading intensity in percent value for objects not selected while using Refedit (in-place Xref editing). Valid range is 0 to 90.
Xloadctl	Xref, Xclip	Registry	Controls Xref demand loading, and creation of copies of original Xref: 0 = no demand loading allowed, entire Xref drawing is loaded; 1 = demand loading allowed, and original Xref file is kept open; 2 = demand loading allowed, using a copy of Xref file stored in AutoCAD temp files folder.
Xloadpath	Xref	Registry	Creates a path for storing temporary copies of demand-loaded Xref files.
Xrefctl	Xref	Registry	Controls whether Xref log files are written: 0 = no log files; 1 = log files written.
Xrefnotify*	Xref	Registry	Determines whether notification appears in the AutoCAD tray for updated or missing Xrefs: 0 = no noti- fication; 1 = notification that current drawing contains Xrefs (if Xrefs are missing, a yellow alert icon is dis- played); 2 = same as 1 notification and includes a balloon message.
Xreftype**	Time	Registry	Controls whether the default Xref type is Attach or Overlay: 0 = Attach; 1 = Overlay.
Zoomfactor	Mouse wheel	Registry	Controls the amount of zoom applied to a drawing when the mouse wheel is turned. Valid range is between 3 and 100. Default is 10.