Description Key Code Reference

Use the code property of a description key to specify which raw descriptions match the description key.

A description key consists of a code and a set of additional properties. When the code is matched, the other properties specified in the description key are applied to the point when it is created.

The following are sample description key codes:

You can either specify a simple string for a description key code or use wild card characters, such as an asterisk (*), to expand the matching capabilities of description keys.

For example, all your benchmark points might have the BM prefix in their raw descriptions, such as BM-1 and BM-2. When you add benchmark points to a drawing in Autodesk Civil 3D, you might want them all to be created with the same point style, point label style, and description. To do this, you can create a description key with a code of BM*. (The asterisk means that the code will match all raw descriptions that begin with BM.) Then, all points with a raw description that begins with BM are created using the properties specified in that description key.

The following table shows wild card characters you can use in a description key code:

Character	Function in Description Key Code
# (pound)	Matches any single numeric digit.
@ (at)	Matches any alphabetic character.
. (period)	Matches any non-alphanumeric character.
* (asterisk)	Matches any string and can be used anywhere in the search string.
? (question mark)	Matches any single character, for example, ?BC matches ABC and 3BC.
~ (tilde)	Matches anything but the pattern, for example, ~*AB* matches all strings that don't contain AB.
[...] (brackets)	Matches any one of the characters enclosed, for example, [AB]C matches AC and BC.
[~...]	Matches any character not enclosed, for example, [~AB]C matches XC but not AC.
- (hyphen)	Inside brackets, specifies a range for a single character, for example [A-G]C matches AC, BC, through GC, but not HC.
' (reverse quote)	Reads the next characters exactly, for example, '*AB matches *AB.

The following table shows examples of description key codes containing commonly used wild card characters:

Description Key Code	Function
T#	Matches descriptions that consist of T followed by one digit, such as T1, T2, through T9.
STA#	Matches descriptions that consist of STA followed by one digit, such as STA1, STA2, through STA9. It does not match the description STA, since STA is not followed by a digit.
T##	Matches descriptions that consist of T followed by 2 digits, such as T01 through T99.
1@	Matches descriptions that consist of 1 followed by an alphabetic character, such as 1A, 1B, and 1C. It does not match the description 1, since 1 is not followed by an alphabetic character.
T.	Matches descriptions that consist of T followed by a single non-alphanumeric character, such as T- and T+.
T*	Matches descriptions that consist of T followed by any number of characters, such as T1, TOPO, T-2, and TREE.

Note: Description key matching is case-sensitive, which means that an upper case letter does not match a lower case occurrence of the same letter. For example, the raw description “TREE” would match the description key code “TREE.” It would not match “Tree” or “tree.”