Command Alias
A command alias is an abbreviation that you enter at the command prompt instead of entering the entire command name.
For example, you can enter a instead of to start the ARC command. An alias is different from a keyboard shortcut, which is a combination of keystrokes, such as CTRL+N for NEW.
An alias can be defined for any AutoCAD command, device driver command, or external command. The second section of the acad.pgp file defines command aliases. You can change existing aliases or add new ones by editing acad.pgp in an ASCII text editor. To open the PGP file, Click Tools menu - Customize - Edit Program Parameters (acad.pgp). The file can also contain comment lines preceded by a semicolon (;).
Before you edit acad.pgp, it would be a good precaution to create a backup so that you can restore it later, if needed.
To define a command alias, add a line to the command alias section of the acad.pgp file using the following syntax:
abbreviation,*command
where abbreviation is the command alias that you enter at the Command prompt and command is the command being abbreviated. You must enter an asterisk (*) before the command name to identify the line as a command alias definition.
If you can enter a command transparently, you can also enter its alias transparently. When you enter the command alias, the full command name is displayed at the Command prompt and the command is executed.
You can create command aliases that include the special hyphen (-) prefix, that accesses a command that displays a command prompt instead of a dialog box. Exclude the prefix (-) and you see a dialog box when you enter the command alias, surely only for those commands where a dialog box is accessible.
BH, *-BHATCH
BD, *-BOUNDARY
Note: You can't use command aliases in command scripts. It is not recommended to use command aliases in customization files.
If you edit acad.pgp while AutoCAD is running, enter reinit to use the revised file.