Quickly Find Files in Support File Search Path

AutoCAD places your support files in all sorts of hard to find places, such as:

C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application
Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2008\R17.1\enu\support\

Moreover, you can have many folders in your support file search path, including those that you add yourself. (To add a folder to the search path, choose Tools>Options and click the File tab of the Options dialog box. Open the Support File Search Path item and click the Add button. Then click Browse. Navigate to the folder you want, choose it, and click OK. Click OK again to close the Options dialog box.)

To quickly find any file in the support file search path, enter the following on the command line:

(findfile “filename.ext”)

where filename.ext is the name of the file.

Arnold Williams submitted the following AutoLISP expression:

(defun c:FF ( / )
(findfile (getstring “\nEnter Name & Extension of file for Filefind: “))
)

He explains: “Just type in ff and follow the prompt and a path and file name are returned if found, nil if not found.”

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Ellen Finkelstein

Ellen Finkelstein is the author of the best-selling AutoCAD & AutoCAD LT Bible, which started with R14. Ellen has written extensively on AutoCAD, including articles for Autodesk’s website and features for AutoCAD’s Help system. Ellen’s first book was AutoCAD For Dummies Quick Reference.

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