Changing the Multiple options of AutoCAD commands (or sometimes you feel like a multiple option, sometimes you don’t)

AutoCAD 2005 changed the COPY command so that it defaults to a multiple option, continuing to prompt you for more locations for your selected objects. On the other hand, the FILLET and CHAMFER commands now have a multiple option, but it isn’t the default. Would you like to change the COPY command back to its single version? Or, if you have an earlier version of AutoCAD, would you like to have the multiple option as your default? Would you like the FILLET and CHAMFER commands to default to the multiple option? Here’s how:

The COPY Command

You can change the COPY command back to its original way of functioning in two ways:

1. Redefine the COPY command. It turns out that AutoCAD has remembered the old functioning as its core definition. You can put the following in acaddoc.lsp (which you can create if you don’t have one), making sure that acaddoc.lsp is in your search path:

“.undefine” “copy”) (defun c:copy() (command “.copy”)

The period before the copy command retrieves the core definition.

2. You can also create a new toolbar button and add the following macro to it:

^C^C_select;\_copy;_previous;;\\;

Note: The current toolbar macro comes with some DIESEL code that lets COPY work with grips, so just replace the last part of the macro. (Don’t delete the final closing parenthesis.) The total macro would look like this:

$M=$(if,$(eq,$(substr,$(getvar,cmdnames),1,4),grip),_copy,^C^C_select;
\_copy _previous;;\\;)

This method doesn’t redefine the COPY command, so if you use the shortcut menu or the drop-down menu, you’ll get the multiple version of the command.

If you have 2004 or earlier and want to redefine the COPY command so that it uses the multiple version, add the following to acaddoc.lsp:

(command “.undefine” “copy”) (defun c:copy() (command “.copy” (ssget) “” “m”))

If you just want to create a multiple COPY toolbar button, you can use the following macro:
C^C_select;\copy;previous;;m

Again, just replace the last part of the macro and leave in the final closing parenthesis.

The FILLET and CHAMFER Commands

To change the FILLET and CHAMFER commands to default to the multiple option, change your toolbar button to read as follows:

^C^C_fillet;u;

or

^C^C_chamfer;u;

(The Multiple option is “u”.)

Thanks to Lee Ambrosius for the AutoLISP redefining the COPY command.