Attribute Extract

Menu: Tools > Extract Attributes

Keyboard: ATTEXT

Alias: AX

Extracts attribute data from a drawing.

Select Entities (E), or extract attributes as: DXF ? SDF ? <CDF>?: To select the entities from which you want to extract attribute data, choose Select Entities. To extract all attribute data in a comma-delimited text format (.out), the default, choose CDF or press Enter. To extract all attribute data in Drawing Interchange Format (.dxf), choose DXF. To extract all attribute data in a space-delimited text format (.out), choose SDF.

To extract attributes in Drawing Interchange Format (DXF)

Choose DXF. The Select Output File dialog box appears.

The attributes are extracted into a modified drawing exchange format that contains only the block reference, attribute, and end of sequence information. The file name is saved with the .dxf file extension.

To extract attributes in space-delimited format (SDF)

The space-delimited format creates one record for each block in the drawing.

Choose SDF. The Select Template File dialog box appears. Select the template file, and then click Save. The program displays the Select Output File dialog box. Type a name, and then click Save.

To extract attributes in comma-delimited format (CDF)

The comma-delimited format creates one record for each block in the drawing.

Choose CDF. The Select Template File dialog box appears. Select the template file, and then click Save. The program displays the Select Output File dialog box. Type a name, and then click Save.

NOTE Before you can use this command with the SDF or CDF options, you must first create a template file. (The DXF option does not use a template file.) The template file specifies which attribute data to extract and the format in which to store the data. A template file is a simple ASCII text file that contains the following format codes:

C     Character (A - Z)

D     Digit (0 - 9)

F     Width of field (000 - 999)

P     Decimal places (.0 - .999)

Each line in the template file is a "record," which extracts one particular attribute from the drawing.

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