Launcher¶

The command line script ezdxf launches various sub-commands:

`pp`	DXF pretty printer, replacement for the previous dxfpp command
`audit`	Audit and repair DXF files
`draw`	Draw and convert DXF files by the Matplotlib backend
`view`	PyQt DXF file viewer
`pillow`	Draw and convert DXF files by the Pillow backend
`browse`	PyQt DXF structure browser for DXF debugging and curious people
`browse-acis`	PyQt ACIS entity content browser for SAT/SAB debugging
`strip`	Strip comments and THUMBNAILIMAGE section from DXF files
`config`	Manage config files
`info`	Show information and optional stats of DXF files as loaded by ezdxf

The help option -h is supported by the main script and all sub-commands:

C:\> ezdxf -h
usage: ezdxf [-h] [-V] [-v] [--config CONFIG] [--log LOG]
             {pp,audit,draw,view,browse,browse-acis,strip,config} ...

Command launcher for the Python package "ezdxf":
https://pypi.org/project/ezdxf/

positional arguments:
  {pp,audit,draw,view,browse,strip}
    pp                  pretty print DXF files as HTML file
    audit               audit and repair DXF files
    draw                draw and convert DXF files by Matplotlib
    view                view DXF files by the PyQt viewer
    pillow              draw and convert DXF files by Pillow
    browse              browse DXF file structure
    browse-acis         browse ACIS structures in DXF files
    strip               strip comments from DXF files
    config              manage config files
    info                show information and optional stats of DXF files loaded by ezdxf,
                        this may not represent the original content of the file, use the
                        browse command to see the original content

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -V, --version         show version and exit
  -v, --verbose         give more output
  --config CONFIG       path to a config file
  --log LOG             path to a verbose appending log

Note

The ezdxf script is the only executable script installed on the user system.

Pretty Printer¶

Pretty print the DXF text content as HTML file and open the file in the default web browser:

C:\> ezdxf pp -o gear.dxf

Print help:

C:\> ezdxf pp -h
usage: ezdxf pp [-h] [-o] [-r] [-x] [-l] [-s SECTIONS] FILE [FILE ...]

positional arguments:
  FILE                  DXF files pretty print

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -o, --open            open generated HTML file by the default web browser
  -r, --raw             raw mode, no DXF structure interpretation
  -x, --nocompile       don't compile points coordinates into single tags (only in raw mode)
  -l, --legacy          legacy mode, reorder DXF point coordinates
  -s SECTIONS, --sections SECTIONS
                        choose sections to include and their order, h=HEADER, c=CLASSES,
                        t=TABLES, b=BLOCKS, e=ENTITIES, o=OBJECTS

Audit¶

Audit and recover the DXF file “gear.dxf” and save the recovered version as “gear.rec.dxf”:

C:\> ezdxf audit -s gear.dxf

auditing file: gear.dxf
No errors found.
Saved recovered file as: gear.rec.dxf

Print help:

C:\> ezdxf audit -h
usage: ezdxf audit [-h] [-s] FILE [FILE ...]

positional arguments:
  FILE        audit DXF files

optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit
  -s, --save  save recovered files with extension ".rec.dxf"

Draw¶

Convert the DXF file “gear.dxf” into a SVG file by the Matplotlib backend:

C:\> ezdxf draw -o gear.svg gear.dxf

The “gear.svg” created by the Matplotlib backend:

Show all output formats supported by the Matplotlib backend on your system. This output may vary:

C:\> ezdxf draw --formats
eps: Encapsulated Postscript
jpg: Joint Photographic Experts Group
jpeg: Joint Photographic Experts Group
pdf: Portable Document Format
pgf: PGF code for LaTeX
png: Portable Network Graphics
ps: Postscript
raw: Raw RGBA bitmap
rgba: Raw RGBA bitmap
svg: Scalable Vector Graphics
svgz: Scalable Vector Graphics
tif: Tagged Image File Format
tiff: Tagged Image File Format

Print help:

C:\> ezdxf draw -h
usage: ezdxf draw [-h] [--formats] [-l LAYOUT] [--all-layers-visible]
                  [--all-entities-visible] [-o OUT] [--dpi DPI] [-v]
                  [FILE]

positional arguments:
  FILE                  DXF file to view or convert

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --formats             show all supported export formats and exit
  -l LAYOUT, --layout LAYOUT
                        select the layout to draw, default is "Model"
  --all-layers-visible  draw all layers including the ones marked as invisible
  --all-entities-visible
                        draw all entities including the ones marked as
                        invisible (some entities are individually marked as
                        invisible even if the layer is visible)
  -o OUT, --out OUT     output filename for export
  --dpi DPI             target render resolution, default is 300
  -v, --verbose         give more output

View¶

View the DXF file “gear.dxf” by the PyQt backend:

C:\> ezdxf view gear.dxf

Print help:

C:\> ezdxf view -h
usage: ezdxf view [-h] [-l LAYOUT] [--lwscale LWSCALE] [FILE]

positional arguments:
  FILE                  DXF file to view

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -l LAYOUT, --layout LAYOUT
                        select the layout to draw, default is "Model"
  --lwscale LWSCALE     set custom line weight scaling, default is 0 to
                        disable line weights at all

Pillow¶

Convert the DXF file “gear.dxf” into a PNG file by the Pillow backend:

C:\> ezdxf pillow -o gear.png gear.dxf

Advantage over the Draw command is the speed and much less memory usage, disadvantage is the lower text rendering quality. The speed advantages is lost for the text modes OUTLINE and FILLED, because the text-path rendering is done by Matplotlib, but the advantage of the lower memory consumption remains.

Print help:

C:\> ezdxf pillow -h
usage: ezdxf pillow [-h] [-o OUT] [-l LAYOUT] [-i IMAGE_SIZE] [-b BACKGROUND]
                    [-r OVERSAMPLING] [-m MARGIN] [-t {0,1,2,3}] [--dpi DPI] [-v]
                    [FILE]

positional arguments:
  FILE                  DXF file to draw

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -o OUT, --out OUT     output filename, the filename extension defines the image format
                        (.png, .jpg, .tif, .bmp, ...)
  -l LAYOUT, --layout LAYOUT
                        name of the layout to draw, default is "Model"
  -i IMAGE_SIZE, --image_size IMAGE_SIZE
                        image size in pixels as "width,height", default is "1920,1080",
                        supports also "x" as delimiter like "1920x1080". A single
                        integer is used for both directions e.g. "2000" defines an image
                        size of 2000x2000. The image is centered for the smaller DXF
                        drawing extent.
  -b BACKGROUND, --background BACKGROUND
                        override background color in hex format "RRGGBB" or "RRGGBBAA",
                        e.g. use "FFFFFF00" to get a white transparent background and a
                        black foreground color (ACI=7), because a light background gets
                        a black foreground color or vice versa "00000000" for a black
                        transparent background and a white foreground color.
  -r OVERSAMPLING, --oversampling OVERSAMPLING
                        oversampling factor, default is 2, use 0 or 1 to disable
                        oversampling
  -m MARGIN, --margin MARGIN
                        minimal margin around the image in pixels, default is 10
  -t {0,1,2,3}, --text-mode {0,1,2,3}
                        text mode: 0=ignore, 1=placeholder, 2=outline, 3=filled, default
                        is 2
  --dpi DPI             output resolution in pixels/inch which is significant for the
                        linewidth, default is 300
  -v, --verbose         give more output

Browse¶

Browse the internal structure of a DXF file like a file system:

C:\> ezdxf browse gear.dxf

C:\> ezdxf browse -h
usage: ezdxf browse [-h] [-l LINE] [-g HANDLE] [FILE]

positional arguments:
  FILE                  DXF file to browse

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -l LINE, --line LINE  go to line number
  -g HANDLE, --handle HANDLE
                        go to entity by HANDLE, HANDLE has to be a hex value without
                        any prefix like 'fefe'

The browse command stores options in the config file, e.g. for the Notepad++ on Windows:

[browse-command]

text_editor = "C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe" "{filename}" -n{num}
icon_size = 32

text_editor is a simple format string: text_editor.format(filename="test.dxf", num=100)

Quote commands including spaces and always quote the filename argument!

For xed on Linux Mint use (note: absolute path to executable):

[browse-command]

text_editor = /usr/bin/xed "{filename}" +{num}
icon_size = 32

For gedit on Linux use (untested):

[browse-command]

text_editor = /usr/bin/gedit +{num} "{filename}"
icon_size = 32

The browse command opens a DXF structure browser to investigate the internals of a DXF file without interpreting the content. The functionality of the DXF browser is similar to the DXF Pretty Printer (pp command), but without the disadvantage of creating giant HTML files. The intended usage is debugging invalid DXF files, which can not be loaded by the ezdxf.readfile() or the ezdxf.recover.readfile() functions.

Line Numbers¶

The low level tag loader ignores DXF comments (group code 999). If there are comments in the DXF file the line numbers displayed in the DXF browser are not synchronized, use the strip command beforehand to remove all comments from the DXF file in order to keep the line numbers synchronized.

GUI Features¶

The tree view on the left shows the outline of the DXF file. The number in round brackets on the right side of each item shows the count of structure entities within the structure layer, the value in angle brackets on the left side is the entity handle.

The right list view shows the entity content as DXF tags. Structure tags (data type <ctrl>) are shown in blue, a double click on a reference handle (datatype <ref>) jumps to the referenced entity, reference handles of non-existent targets are shown in red.

Clicking on the first structure tag in the list opens the DXF reference provided by Autodesk in the standard web browser.

Auto Reload¶

The browser automatically displays a dialog for reloading DXF files if they have been modified by an external application.

Menus and Shortcuts¶

File Menu
- Open DXF file… Ctrl+O
- Reload DXF file Ctrl+R
- Open in Text Editor Ctrl+T, open the DXF file in the associated text editor at the current location
- Export DXF Entity… Ctrl+E, export the current DXF entity shown in the list view as text file
- Copy selected DXF Tags to Clipboard Ctrl+C, copy the current selected DXF tags into the clipboard
- Copy DXF Entity to Clipboard Ctrl+Shift+C, copy all DXF tags of the current DXF entity shown in the list view into the clipboard
- Quit Ctrl+Q
Navigate Menu
- Go to Handle… Ctrl+G
- Go to Line… Ctrl+L
- Find Text… Ctrl+F, opens the find text dialog
- Next Entity Ctrl+Right, go to the next entity in the DXF structure
- Previous Entity Ctrl+Right, go to the previous entity in the DXF structure
- Show Entity in TreeView Ctrl+Down, expand the left tree view to the currently displayed entity in the list view - this does not happen automatically for performance reasons
- Entity History Back Alt+Left
- Entity History Forward Alt+Right
- Go to HEADERS Section Shift+H
- Go to BLOCKS Section Shift+B
- Go to ENTITIES Section Shift+E
- Go to OBJECTS Section Shift+O
Bookmarks Menu
- Store Bookmark… Ctrl+Shift+B, store current location as named bookmark
- Go to Bookmark… Ctrl+B, go to stored location

Browse-ACIS¶

Show and export the SAT or SAB content of ACIS entities:

C:\> ezdxf browse-acis 3dsolid.dxf

The DXF format stores modern solid geometry as SAT data for DXF R2000 - R2010 and as SAB data for DXF R2013 and later. This command shows the content of this entities and also let you export the raw data for further processing.

Entity View¶

The entity view is a read-only text editor, it’s possible to select and copy parts of the text into the clipboard. To improve the readability all ACIS entities get automatically an id because AutoCAD and BricsCAD use relative references for ACIS data export and do not assign entity ids. The id is shown as decimal number in parenthesis after the entity name. The ~ character is a shortcut for a null-pointer.

C:\>ezdxf browse-acis -h
usage: ezdxf browse-acis [-h] [-g HANDLE] [FILE]

positional arguments:
  FILE                  DXF file to browse

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -g HANDLE, --handle HANDLE
                        go to entity by HANDLE, HANDLE has to be a hex value
                        without any prefix like 'fefe'

Menus and Shortcuts¶

File Menu
- Open DXF file… Ctrl+O
- Reload DXF file Ctrl+R
- Export Current Entity View… Ctrl+E, Export the parsed content of the entity view as text file
- Export Raw SAT/SAB Data… Ctrl+W, export the raw SAT data as text file and the raw SAB data as a binary file for further processing
- Quit Ctrl+Q

Strip¶

Strip comment tags (group code 999) from ASCII DXF files and can remove the THUMBNAILIMAGE section. Binary DXF files are not supported.

C:\> ezdxf strip -h
usage: ezdxf strip [-h] [-b] [-v] FILE [FILE ...]

positional arguments:
  FILE           DXF file to process, wildcards "*" and "?" are supported

optional arguments:
  -h, --help       show this help message and exit
  -b, --backup     make a backup copy with extension ".bak" from the DXF file,
                   overwrites existing backup files
  -t, --thumbnail  strip THUMBNAILIMAGE section
  -v, --verbose    give more output

Config¶

Manage config files.

C:\> ezdxf config -h
usage: ezdxf config [-h] [-p] [-w FILE] [--home] [--reset]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help   show this help message and exit
  -p, --print  print configuration
  -w FILE, --write FILE
               write configuration
  --home       create config file 'ezdxf.ini' in the user home directory
               '~/.config/ezdxf', $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is supported if set

  --reset      factory reset, delete default config files 'ezdxf.ini'

Info¶

Show information and optional stats of DXF files as loaded by ezdxf, this may not represent the original content of the file, use the browse command to see the original content. The upgrade is necessary for very old DXF versions prior to R12 and for the “special” versions R13 and R14. The -s option shows some statistics about the DXF content like entity count or table count. Use the -v option show more of everything.

C:\> ezdxf info -h
usage: ezdxf info [-h] [-v] [-s] FILE [FILE ...]

positional arguments:
  FILE           DXF file to process, wildcards "*" and "?" are supported

options:
  -h, --help     show this help message and exit
  -v, --verbose  give more output
  -s, --stats    show content stats

This is the verbose output for an old DXF R10 file and shows that the loading process created some required structures which do not exist in DXF R10 files, like the BLOCK_RECORD table or the OBJECTS section:

C:\> ezdxf info -v -s test_R10.dxf

Filename: "test_R10.dxf"
Loaded content was upgraded from DXF Version AC1006 (R10)
Release: R12
DXF Version: AC1009
Maintenance Version: <undefined>
Codepage: ANSI_1252
Encoding: cp1252
Unit system: Imperial
Modelspace units: Unitless
$LASTSAVEDBY: <undefined>
$HANDSEED: 0
$FINGERPRINTGUID: {9EADDC7C-5982-4C68-B770-8A62378C2B90}
$VERSIONGUID: {49336E63-D99B-45EC-803C-4D2BD03A7DE0}
$USERI1=0
$USERI2=0
$USERI3=0
$USERI4=0
$USERI5=0
$USERR1=0.0
$USERR2=0.0
$USERR3=0.0
$USERR4=0.0
$USERR5=0.0
File was not created by ezdxf >= 0.16.4
File was not written by ezdxf >= 0.16.4
Content stats:
LAYER table entries: 18
  0
  Defpoints
  LYR_00
  LYR_01
  LYR_02
  LYR_03
  LYR_04
  LYR_05
  LYR_06
  LYR_07
  LYR_08
  LYR_09
  LYR_10
  LYR_11
  LYR_12
  LYR_13
  LYR_14
  LYR_15
LTYPE table entries: 13
  BORDER
  ByBlock
  ByLayer
  CENTER
  CONTINUOUS
  CUTTING
  DASHDOT
  DASHED
  DIVIDE
  DOT
  HIDDEN
  PHANTOM
  STITCH
STYLE table entries: 1
  STANDARD
DIMSTYLE table entries: 1
  Standard
APPID table entries: 1
  ACAD
UCS table entries: 0
VIEW table entries: 0
VPORT table entries: 1
  *Active
BLOCK_RECORD table entries: 2
  *Model_Space
  *Paper_Space
Entities in modelspace: 78
  ARC (2)
  CIRCLE (2)
  LINE (74)
Entities in OBJECTS section: 20
  ACDBDICTIONARYWDFLT (1)
  ACDBPLACEHOLDER (1)
  DICTIONARY (11)
  LAYOUT (2)
  MATERIAL (3)
  MLEADERSTYLE (1)
  MLINESTYLE (1)

Show Version & Configuration¶

Show the ezdxf version and configuration:

C:\> ezdxf -Vv

ezdxf v0.16.5b0 @ d:\source\ezdxf.git\src\ezdxf
Python version: 3.9.6 (tags/v3.9.6:db3ff76, Jun 28 2021, 15:26:21) [MSC v.1929 64 bit (AMD64)]
using C-extensions: yes
using Matplotlib: yes

Configuration:
[core]
default_dimension_text_style = OpenSansCondensed-Light
test_files = D:\Source\dxftest
font_cache_directory =
load_proxy_graphics = true
store_proxy_graphics = true
log_unprocessed_tags = false
filter_invalid_xdata_group_codes = true
write_fixed_meta_data_for_testing = false
disable_c_ext = false

[browse-command]
text_editor = "C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe" "{filename}" -n{num}


Environment Variables:
EZDXF_DISABLE_C_EXT=
EZDXF_TEST_FILES=D:\Source\dxftest
EZDXF_CONFIG_FILE=

Existing Configuration Files:
C:\Users\manfred\.config\ezdxf\ezdxf.ini