HEADER Section Group Codes
 
 
 

The following table lists the variables that are represented in the HEADER section of a DXFâ„¢ file. For information about abbreviations and formatting used in this table, see Formatting Conventions in This Reference.

DXF header variables

Variable

Group code

Description

$ACADMAINTVER

70

Maintenance version number (should be ignored)

$ACADVER

1

The AutoCAD drawing database version number:

AC1006 = R10; AC1009 = R11 and R12;

AC1012 = R13; AC1014 = R14; AC1015 = AutoCAD 2000;

AC1018 = AutoCAD 2004

$ANGBASE

50

Angle 0 direction

$ANGDIR

70

1 = Clockwise angles

0 = Counterclockwise angles

$ATTMODE

70

Attribute visibility:

0 = None

1 = Normal

2 = All

$AUNITS

70

Units format for angles

$AUPREC

70

Units precision for angles

$CECOLOR

62

Current entity color number:

0 = BYBLOCK; 256 = BYLAYER

$CELTSCALE

40

Current entity linetype scale

$CELTYPE

6

Entity linetype name, or BYBLOCK or BYLAYER

$CELWEIGHT

370

Lineweight of new objects

$CEPSNID

390

Plotstyle handle of new objects; if CEPSNTYPE is 3, then this value indicates the handle

$CEPSNTYPE

380

Plot style type of new objects:

0 = Plot style by layer

1 = Plot style by block

2 = Plot style by dictionary default

3 = Plot style by object ID/handle

$CHAMFERA

40

First chamfer distance

$CHAMFERB

40

Second chamfer distance

$CHAMFERC

40

Chamfer length

$CHAMFERD

40

Chamfer angle

$CLAYER

8

Current layer name

$CMLJUST

70

Current multiline justification:

0 = Top; 1 = Middle; 2 = Bottom

$CMLSCALE

40

Current multiline scale

$CMLSTYLE

2

Current multiline style name

$CSHADOW

280

Shadow mode for a 3D object:

0 = Casts and receives shadows

1 = Casts shadows

2 = Receives shadows

3 = Ignores shadows

$DIMADEC

70

Number of precision places displayed in angular dimensions

$DIMALT

70

Alternate unit dimensioning performed if nonzero

$DIMALTD

70

Alternate unit decimal places

$DIMALTF

40

Alternate unit scale factor

$DIMALTRND

40

Determines rounding of alternate units

$DIMALTTD

70

Number of decimal places for tolerance values of an alternate units dimension

$DIMALTTZ

70

Controls suppression of zeros for alternate tolerance values:

0 = Suppresses zero feet and precisely zero inches

1 = Includes zero feet and precisely zero inches

2 = Includes zero feet and suppresses zero inches

3 = Includes zero inches and suppresses zero feet

$DIMALTU

70

Units format for alternate units of all dimension style family members except angular:

1 = Scientific; 2 = Decimal; 3 =Engineering;

4 = Architectural (stacked); 5 = Fractional (stacked);

6 = Architectural; 7 = Fractional

$DIMALTZ

70

Controls suppression of zeros for alternate unit dimension values:

0 = Suppresses zero feet and precisely zero inches

1 = Includes zero feet and precisely zero inches

2 = Includes zero feet and suppresses zero inches

3 = Includes zero inches and suppresses zero feet

$DIMAPOST

1

Alternate dimensioning suffix

$DIMASO

70

1 = Create associative dimensioning

0 = Draw individual entities

$DIMASSOC

280

Controls the associativity of dimension objects

0 = Creates exploded dimensions; there is no association between elements of the dimension, and the lines, arcs, arrowheads, and text of a dimension are drawn as separate objects

1 = Creates non-associative dimension objects; the elements of the dimension are formed into a single object, and if the definition point on the object moves, then the dimension value is updated

2 = Creates associative dimension objects; the elements of the dimension are formed into a single object and one or more definition points of the dimension are coupled with association points on geometric objects

$DIMASZ

40

Dimensioning arrow size

$DIMATFIT

70

Controls dimension text and arrow placement when space is not sufficient to place both within the extension lines:

0 = Places both text and arrows outside extension lines

1 = Moves arrows first, then text

2 = Moves text first, then arrows

3 = Moves either text or arrows, whichever fits best

AutoCAD adds a leader to moved dimension text when DIMTMOVE is set to 1

$DIMAUNIT

70

Angle format for angular dimensions:

0 = Decimal degrees; 1 =Degrees/minutes/seconds;

2 = Gradians; 3 = Radians; 4 = Surveyor's units

$DIMAZIN

70

Controls suppression of zeros for angular dimensions:

0 = Displays all leading and trailing zeros

1 = Suppresses leading zeros in decimal dimensions

2 = Suppresses trailing zeros in decimal dimensions

3 = Suppresses leading and trailing zeros

$DIMBLK

1

Arrow block name

$DIMBLK1

1

First arrow block name

$DIMBLK2

1

Second arrow block name

$DIMCEN

40

Size of center mark/lines

$DIMCLRD

70

Dimension line color:

range is 0 = BYBLOCK; 256 = BYLAYER

$DIMCLRE

70

Dimension extension line color:

range is 0 = BYBLOCK; 256 = BYLAYER

$DIMCLRT

70

Dimension text color:

range is 0 = BYBLOCK; 256 = BYLAYER

$DIMDEC

70

Number of decimal places for the tolerance values of a primary units dimension

$DIMDLE

40

Dimension line extension

$DIMDLI

40

Dimension line increment

$DIMDSEP

70

Single-character decimal separator used when creating dimensions whose unit format is decimal

$DIMEXE

40

Extension line extension

$DIMEXO

40

Extension line offset

$DIMFAC

40

Scale factor used to calculate the height of text for dimension fractions and tolerances. AutoCAD multiplies DIMTXT by DIMTFAC to set the fractional or tolerance text height

$DIMGAP

40

Dimension line gap

$DIMJUST

70

Horizontal dimension text position:

0 = Above dimension line and center-justified between extension lines

1 = Above dimension line and next to first extension line

2 = Above dimension line and next to second extension line

3 = Above and center-justified to first extension line

4 = Above and center-justified to second extension line

$DIMLDRBLK

1

Arrow block name for leaders

$DIMLFAC

40

Linear measurements scale factor

$DIMLIM

70

Dimension limits generated if nonzero

$DIMLUNIT

70

Sets units for all dimension types except Angular:

1 = Scientific; 2 = Decimal; 3 =Engineering;

4 = Architectural; 5 = Fractional; 6 =Windows desktop

$DIMLWD

70

Dimension line lineweight:

-3 = Standard

-2 = ByLayer

-1 = ByBlock

0-211 = an integer representing 100th of mm

$DIMLWE

70

Extension line lineweight:

-3 = Standard

-2 = ByLayer

-1 = ByBlock

0-211 = an integer representing 100th of mm

$DIMPOST

1

General dimensioning suffix

$DIMRND

40

Rounding value for dimension distances

$DIMSAH

70

Use separate arrow blocks if nonzero

$DIMSCALE

40

Overall dimensioning scale factor

$DIMSD1

70

Suppression of first extension line:

0 = Not suppressed; 1 = Suppressed

$DIMSD2

70

Suppression of second extension line:

0 = Not suppressed; 1 = Suppressed

$DIMSE1

70

First extension line suppressed if nonzero

$DIMSE2

70

Second extension line suppressed if nonzero

$DIMSHO

70

1 = Recompute dimensions while dragging

0 = Drag original image

$DIMSOXD

70

Suppress outside-extensions dimension lines if nonzero

$DIMSTYLE

2

Dimension style name

$DIMTAD

70

Text above dimension line if nonzero

$DIMTDEC

70

Number of decimal places to display the tolerance values

$DIMTFAC

40

Dimension tolerance display scale factor

$DIMTIH

70

Text inside horizontal if nonzero

$DIMTIX

70

Force text inside extensions if nonzero

$DIMTM

40

Minus tolerance

$DIMTMOVE

70

Dimension text movement rules:

0 = Moves the dimension line with dimension text

1 = Adds a leader when dimension text is moved

2 = Allows text to be moved freely without a leader

$DIMTOFL

70

If text is outside extensions, force line extensions between extensions if nonzero

$DIMTOH

70

Text outside horizontal if nonzero

$DIMTOL

70

Dimension tolerances generated if nonzero

$DIMTOLJ

70

Vertical justification for tolerance values:

0 = Top; 1 = Middle; 2 = Bottom

$DIMTP

40

Plus tolerance

$DIMTSZ

40

Dimensioning tick size:

0 = No ticks

$DIMTVP

40

Text vertical position

$DIMTXSTY

7

Dimension text style

$DIMTXT

40

Dimensioning text height

$DIMTZIN

70

Controls suppression of zeros for tolerance values:

0 = Suppresses zero feet and precisely zero inches

1 = Includes zero feet and precisely zero inches

2 = Includes zero feet and suppresses zero inches

3 = Includes zero inches and suppresses zero feet

$DIMUPT

70

Cursor functionality for user-positioned text:

0 = Controls only the dimension line location

1 = Controls the text position as well as the dimension line location

$DIMZIN

70

Controls suppression of zeros for primary unit values:

0 = Suppresses zero feet and precisely zero inches

1 = Includes zero feet and precisely zero inches

2 = Includes zero feet and suppresses zero inches

3 = Includes zero inches and suppresses zero feet

$DISPSILH

70

Controls the display of silhouette curves of body objects in Wireframe mode:

0 = Off; 1 = On

$DRAGVS

349

Hard-pointer ID to visual style while creating 3D solid primitives. The defualt value is NULL

$DWGCODEPAGE

3

Drawing code page; set to the system code page when a new drawing is created, but not otherwise maintained by AutoCAD

$ELEVATION

40

Current elevation set by ELEV command

$ENDCAPS

280

Lineweight endcaps setting for new objects:

0 = none; 1 = round; 2 = angle; 3 =square

$EXTMAX

10, 20, 30

X, Y, and Z drawing extents upper-right corner (in WCS)

$EXTMIN

10, 20, 30

X, Y, and Z drawing extents lower-left corner (in WCS)

$EXTNAMES

290

Controls symbol table naming:

0 = Release 14 compatibility. Limits names to 31 characters in length. Names can include the letters A to Z, the numerals 0 to 9, and the special characters dollar sign ($), underscore (_), and hyphen (-).

1 = AutoCAD 2000. Names can be up to 255 characters in length, and can include the letters A to Z, the numerals 0 to 9, spaces, and any special characters not used for other purposes by Microsoft Windows and AutoCAD

$FILLETRAD

40

Fillet radius

$FILLMODE

70

Fill mode on if nonzero

$FINGERPRINTGUID

2

Set at creation time, uniquely identifies a particular drawing

$HALOGAP

280

Specifies a gap to be displayed where an object is hidden by another object; the value is specified as a percent of one unit and is independent of the zoom level. A haloed line is shortened at the point where it is hidden when HIDE or the Hidden option of SHADEMODE is used

$HANDSEED

5

Next available handle

$HIDETEXT

290

Specifies HIDETEXT system variable:

0 = HIDE ignores text objects when producing the hidden view

1 = HIDE does not ignore text objects

$HYPERLINKBASE

1

Path for all relative hyperlinks in the drawing. If null, the drawing path is used

$INDEXCTL

280

Controls whether layer and spatial indexes are created and saved in drawing files:

0 = No indexes are created

1 = Layer index is created

2 = Spatial index is created

3 = Layer and spatial indexes are created

$INSBASE

10, 20, 30

Insertion base set by BASE command (in WCS)

$INSUNITS

70

Default drawing units for AutoCAD DesignCenter blocks:

0 = Unitless; 1 = Inches; 2 = Feet; 3 =Miles; 4 = Millimeters;

5 = Centimeters; 6 = Meters; 7 = Kilometers; 8 = Microinches;

9 = Mils; 10 = Yards; 11 = Angstroms; 12 =Nanometers;

13 = Microns; 14 = Decimeters; 15 =Decameters;

16 = Hectometers; 17 = Gigameters; 18 =Astronomical units;

19 = Light years; 20 = Parsecs

$INTERFERECOLOR

62

Represents the ACI color index of the "interference objects" created during the interfere command.Default value is 1

$INTERFEREOBJVS

345

Hard-pointer ID to the visual style for interference objects. Default visual style is Conceptual.

$INTERFEREVPVS

346

Hard-pointer ID to the visual style for the viewport during interference checking. Default visual style is 3d Wireframe.

$INTERSECTIONCOLOR

70

Specifies the entity color of intersection polylines:

Values 1-255 designate an AutoCAD color index (ACI)

0 = Color BYBLOCK

256 = Color BYLAYER

257 = Color BYENTITY

$INTERSECTIONDISPLAY

290

Specifies the display of intersection polylines:

0 = Turns off the display of intersection polylines

1 = Turns on the display of intersection polylines

$JOINSTYLE

280

Lineweight joint setting for new objects:

0=none; 1= round; 2 = angle; 3 = flat

$LIMCHECK

70

Nonzero if limits checking is on

$LIMMAX

10, 20

XY drawing limits upper-right corner (in WCS)

$LIMMIN

10, 20

XY drawing limits lower-left corner (in WCS)

$LTSCALE

40

Global linetype scale

$LUNITS

70

Units format for coordinates and distances

$LUPREC

70

Units precision for coordinates and distances

$LWDISPLAY

290

Controls the display of lineweights on the Model or Layout tab:

0 = Lineweight is not displayed

1 = Lineweight is displayed

$MAXACTVP

70

Sets maximum number of viewports to be regenerated

$MEASUREMENT

70

Sets drawing units: 0 = English; 1 =Metric

$MENU

1

Name of menu file

$MIRRTEXT

70

Mirror text if nonzero

$OBSCOLOR

70

Specifies the color of obscured lines. An obscured line is a hidden line made visible by changing its color and linetype and is visible only when the HIDE or SHADEMODE command is used. The OBSCUREDCOLOR setting is visible only if the OBSCUREDLTYPE is turned ON by setting it to a value other than 0.

0 and 256 = Entity color

1-255 = An AutoCAD color index (ACI)

$OBSLTYPE

280

Specifies the linetype of obscured lines. Obscured linetypes are independent of zoom level, unlike regular AutoCAD linetypes. Value 0 turns off display of obscured lines and is the default. Linetype values are defined as follows:

0 = Off

1 = Solid

2 = Dashed

3 = Dotted

4 = Short Dash

5 = Medium Dash

6 = Long Dash

7 = Double Short Dash

8 = Double Medium Dash

9 = Double Long Dash

10 = Medium Long Dash

11 = Sparse Dot

$ORTHOMODE

70

Ortho mode on if nonzero

$PDMODE

70

Point display mode

$PDSIZE

40

Point display size

$PELEVATION

40

Current paper space elevation

$PEXTMAX

10, 20, 30

Maximum X, Y, and Z extents for paper space

$PEXTMIN

10, 20, 30

Minimum X, Y, and Z extents for paper space

$PINSBASE

10, 20, 30

Paper space insertion base point

$PLIMCHECK

70

Limits checking in paper space when nonzero

$PLIMMAX

10, 20

Maximum X and Y limits in paper space

$PLIMMIN

10, 20

Minimum X and Y limits in paper space

$PLINEGEN

70

Governs the generation of linetype patterns around the vertices of a 2D polyline:

1 = Linetype is generated in a continuous pattern around vertices of the polyline

0 = Each segment of the polyline starts and ends with a dash

$PLINEWID

40

Default polyline width

$PROJECTNAME

1

Assigns a project name to the current drawing. Used when an external reference or image is not found on its original path. The project name points to a section in the registry that can contain one or more search paths for each project name defined. Project names and their search directories are created from the Files tab of the Options dialog box

$PROXYGRAPHICS

70

Controls the saving of proxy object images

$PSLTSCALE

70

Controls paper space linetype scaling:

1 = No special linetype scaling

0 = Viewport scaling governs linetype scaling

$PSTYLEMODE

290

Indicates whether the current drawing is in a Color-Dependent or Named Plot Style mode:

0 = Uses named plot style tables in the current drawing

1 = Uses color-dependent plot style tables in the current drawing

$PSVPSCALE

40

View scale factor for new viewports:

0 = Scaled to fit

>0 = Scale factor (a positive real value)

$PUCSBASE

2

Name of the UCS that defines the origin and orientation of orthographic UCS settings (paper space only)

$PUCSNAME

2

Current paper space UCS name

$PUCSORG

10, 20, 30

Current paper space UCS origin

$PUCSORGBACK

10, 20, 30

Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing paper space UCS to BACK when PUCSBASE is set to WORLD

$PUCSORGBOTTOM

10, 20, 30

Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing paper space UCS to BOTTOM when PUCSBASE is set to WORLD

$PUCSORGFRONT

10, 20, 30

Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing paper space UCS to FRONT when PUCSBASE is set to WORLD

$PUCSORGLEFT

10, 20, 30

Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing paper space UCS to LEFT when PUCSBASE is set to WORLD

$PUCSORGRIGHT

10, 20, 30

Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing paper space UCS to RIGHT when PUCSBASE is set to WORLD

$PUCSORGTOP

10, 20, 30

Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing paper space UCS to TOP when PUCSBASE is set to WORLD

$PUCSORTHOREF

2

If paper space UCS is orthographic (PUCSORTHOVIEW not equal to 0), this is the name of the UCS that the orthographic UCS is relative to. If blank, UCS is relative to WORLD

$PUCSORTHOVIEW

70

Orthographic view type of paper space UCS:

0 = UCS is not orthographic;

1 = Top; 2 = Bottom;

3 = Front; 4 = Back;

5 = Left; 6 = Right

$PUCSXDIR

10, 20, 30

Current paper space UCS X axis

$PUCSYDIR

10, 20, 30

Current paper space UCS Y axis

$QTEXTMODE

70

Quick Text mode on if nonzero

$REGENMODE

70

REGENAUTO mode on if nonzero

$SHADEDGE

70

0 = Faces shaded, edges not highlighted

1 = Faces shaded, edges highlighted in black

2 = Faces not filled, edges in entity color

3 = Faces in entity color, edges in black

$SHADEDIF

70

Percent ambient/diffuse light; range 1-100; default 70

$SHADOWPLANELOCATION

40

Location of the ground shadow plane. This is a Z axis ordinate.

$SKETCHINC

40

Sketch record increment

$SKPOLY

70

0 = Sketch lines; 1 = Sketch polylines

$SORTENTS

280

Controls the object sorting methods; accessible from the Options dialog box User Preferences tab. SORTENTS uses the following bitcodes:

0 = Disables SORTENTS

1 = Sorts for object selection

2 = Sorts for object snap

4 = Sorts for redraws

8 = Sorts for MSLIDE command slide creation

16 = Sorts for REGEN commands

32 = Sorts for plotting

64 = Sorts for PostScript output

$SPLFRAME

70

Spline control polygon display: 1 = On; 0 =Off

$SPLINESEGS

70

Number of line segments per spline patch

$SPLINETYPE

70

Spline curve type for PEDIT Spline

$SURFTAB1

70

Number of mesh tabulations in first direction

$SURFTAB2

70

Number of mesh tabulations in second direction

$SURFTYPE

70

Surface type for PEDIT Smooth

$SURFU

70

Surface density (for PEDIT Smooth) in M direction

$SURFV

70

Surface density (for PEDIT Smooth) in N direction

$TDCREATE

40

Local date/time of drawing creation (see Special Handling of Date/Time Variables)

$TDINDWG

40

Cumulative editing time for this drawing (see Special Handling of Date/Time Variables)

$TDUCREATE

40

Universal date/time the drawing was created (see Special Handling of Date/Time Variables)

$TDUPDATE

40

Local date/time of last drawing update (see Special Handling of Date/Time Variables)

$TDUSRTIMER

40

User-elapsed timer

$TDUUPDATE

40

Universal date/time of the last update/save (see Special Handling of Date/Time Variables)

$TEXTSIZE

40

Default text height

$TEXTSTYLE

7

Current text style name

$THICKNESS

40

Current thickness set by ELEV command

$TILEMODE

70

1 for previous release compatibility mode; 0 otherwise

$TRACEWID

40

Default trace width

$TREEDEPTH

70

Specifies the maximum depth of the spatial index

$UCSBASE

2

Name of the UCS that defines the origin and orientation of orthographic UCS settings

$UCSNAME

2

Name of current UCS

$UCSORG

10, 20, 30

Origin of current UCS (in WCS)

$UCSORGBACK

10, 20, 30

Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing model space UCS to BACK when UCSBASE is set to WORLD

$UCSORGBOTTOM

10, 20, 30

Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing model space UCS to BOTTOM when UCSBASE is set to WORLD

$UCSORGFRONT

10, 20, 30

Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing model space UCS to FRONT when UCSBASE is set to WORLD

$UCSORGLEFT

10, 20, 30

Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing model space UCS to LEFT when UCSBASE is set to WORLD

$UCSORGRIGHT

10, 20, 30

Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing model space UCS to RIGHT when UCSBASE is set to WORLD

$UCSORGTOP

10, 20, 30

Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing model space UCS to TOP when UCSBASE is set to WORLD

$UCSORTHOREF

2

If model space UCS is orthographic (UCSORTHOVIEW not equal to 0), this is the name of the UCS that the orthographic UCS is relative to. If blank, UCS is relative to WORLD

$UCSORTHOVIEW

70

Orthographic view type of model space UCS:

0 = UCS is not orthographic;

1 = Top; 2 = Bottom;

3 = Front; 4 = Back;

5 = Left; 6 = Right

$UCSXDIR

10, 20, 30

Direction of the current UCS X axis (in WCS)

$UCSYDIR

10, 20, 30

Direction of the current UCS Y axis (in WCS)

$UNITMODE

70

Low bit set = Display fractions, feet-and-inches, and surveyor's angles in input format

$USERI1 - 5

70

Five integer variables intended for use by third-party developers

$USERR1 - 5

40

Five real variables intended for use by third-party developers

$USRTIMER

70

0 = Timer off; 1 = Timer on

$VERSIONGUID

2

Uniquely identifies a particular version of a drawing. Updated when the drawing is modified

$VISRETAIN

70

0 = Don't retain xref-dependent visibility settings

1 = Retain xref-dependent visibility settings

$WORLDVIEW

70

1 = Set UCS to WCS during DVIEW/VPOINT

0 = Don't change UCS

$XCLIPFRAME

290

Controls the visibility of xref clipping boundaries:

0 = Clipping boundary is not visible

1 = Clipping boundary is visible

$XEDIT

290

Controls whether the current drawing can be edited in-place when being referenced by another drawing.

0 = Can't use in-place reference editing

1 = Can use in-place reference editing