Control Codes and Special Characters Reference

You can overscore text, underscore text, or insert a special character by including control information in the text string.

Use two percent signs (%%) to introduce each control sequence. You can use this control code with standard AutoCAD text fonts (SHX) and Adobe PostScript fonts.

A sample drawing, TrueType.dwg, showing each font is provided with the online sample drawings. To find the online sample drawings, click the Application button , and choose Open Sample Files Online Sample Files.

Note: Not all control codes work in multiline text. Use the Text Editor contextual tab or Text Formatting toolbar to change formatting or insert special characters.

List of Control Codes

The following control codes are available.

%% nnn

Draws character number nnn where nnn is the decimal value for the Unicode character.

%%o

Toggles overscoring on and off.

%%u

Toggles underscoring on and off.

Note: Overscoring and underscoring can be in effect at the same time. Both turn off automatically at the end of the text string.

%%d

Draws degrees symbol.

%%p

Draws plus/minus tolerance symbol.

%%c

Draws circle diameter dimensioning symbol.

%%%

Draws a single percent sign.

The Euro Symbol

You can use the euro symbol with SHX fonts and their TrueType equivalent fonts shipped with AutoCAD 2000 and later releases. If your keyboard does not contain a euro symbol, hold down the Alt key and enter 0128 on the numeric keypad.