When a macro is executed, AutoCAD places a space at the end of the macro before processing the command sequence. AutoCAD processes the following menu macro as though you had entered line SPACEBAR.
line
Sometimes this is undesirable; for example, the TEXT or DIM command must be terminated by ENTER, not by a space. Also, it sometimes takes more than one space (or ENTER) to complete a command, but some text editors don't let you create a line with trailing blanks. Two special conventions get around these problems.
- When a semicolon (;) appears in a macro, AutoCAD substitutes an ENTER.
- If a line ends with a control character, a backslash (\), a plus sign (+), or a semicolon (;), AutoCAD does not add a blank after it.
erase \;
If this item simply ended with the backslash (which indicates user input), it would fail to complete the ERASE operation, because AutoCAD doesn't add a blank after the backslash. Therefore, this macro uses a semicolon (;) to force an ENTER after the user input. Here are more examples:
ucs
ucs ;
text \.4 0 DRAFT Inc;;;Main St.;;;City, State;
Selecting the first macro enters ucs and SPACEBAR on the command line, and the following prompt appears:
Enter an option [New/Move/orthoGraphic/Prev/Restore/Save/Del/Apply/?/World] <World>:
Selecting the second macro enters ucs, SPACEBAR, and semicolon (;) at the command line, which accepts the default value, World. No difference between the first and second item would be evident on the screen; naturally, you wouldn't put both on the same menu.
Selecting the third macro displays a prompt for a starting point and then draws the address on three lines. In the triple-semicolon (;;;), the first semicolon ends the text string, the second causes repetition of the TEXT command, and the third calls for the default placement below the previous line.