Rectangle

The rectangle command draws an axis-aligned rectangle defined by two opposite corner clicks. The result is stored as a closed LWPOLYLINE with four vertices — one at each corner. There is no dedicated rectangle entity type: after creation the shape behaves exactly like any other Polyline and every polyline edit applies to it.

Drawing a rectangle

1. Type rectangle in the terminal or click the Rectangle toolbar button.
2. Click the first corner, or type X,Y and press Enter for an exact coordinate.
3. Click the opposite corner — the rectangle is placed instantly and the command exits. Coordinate entry works here too.

  ● (first click)────────────┐
  |                          |
  |   live preview follows   |
  |   cursor after step 2    |
  └──────────────────────────● (second click)

The two clicks can be any pair of diagonally opposite corners — top-left + bottom-right, or bottom-left + top-right, etc. The order does not matter.

Coordinate entry

At either corner step you can type an exact position:

1. Type the X value.
2. Press , — the terminal shows [X], [Y{cursor}].
3. Type the Y value.
4. Press Enter to place the corner.

Keyboard reference

Key	Action
0–9, ., -	Start X coordinate entry
,	Lock X and move to Y entry
Enter	Confirm typed coordinate
Escape	Cancel

The sides are always horizontal and vertical — there is no angle locking for the rectangle command.

Grip editing — reshaping after creation

A selected rectangle shows grips at every vertex and at the midpoint of each side:

Grip	Position	What it does
Corner	Each of the 4 vertices	Drag to move that vertex; the two adjacent sides stretch to follow — the opposite corner stays fixed
Side midpoint	Centre of each of the 4 sides	Drag to translate both endpoints of that side together, keeping the side's length and angle

Dragging a corner grip turns the rectangle into a non-rectangular quadrilateral. If you only need a rectangle that is a different size, drag a corner while keeping the sides roughly orthogonal, or delete it and draw a new one.

Selecting rectangles

Because the rectangle is a polyline, selection works the same way:

Method	Behaviour
Click	Selects if the click lands on any of the four sides
Drag right (strict)	All four vertices must lie inside the selection box
Drag left (crossing)	Any side that crosses the box boundary selects the whole rectangle

Supported edit commands

All polyline edit commands apply. Trim and Extend are Line-only and do not work on rectangles:

Command	What happens to the rectangle
Move	Translates all four vertices by the same displacement
Copy	Creates an identical rectangle at a new position
Rotate	Rotates all four vertices around the chosen base point
Mirror	Reflects all four vertices across the mirror axis
Scale	Scales all four vertices uniformly from the base point
Offset	Creates a parallel (inset or outset) rectangle at a fixed distance
Delete	Removes the rectangle from the drawing

Properties

When a rectangle is selected the properties panel shows the same fields as any polyline:

General

Property	Default	Meaning
Color	256 (ByLayer)	ACI color index
Layer	0	Layer assignment
Linetype	ByLayer	Named linetype pattern
Linetype Scale	1	Scale factor on the linetype pattern
Thickness	0	Extrusion thickness

Geometry

Property	Meaning
Closed	Always true for a rectangle
Vertex Count	Always 4 for an unmodified rectangle
Vertices	Coordinates of all four corners

Rectangle vs Polyline vs Line

	Rectangle	Polyline	Line
How to draw	2 clicks (corners)	Click each vertex	Click each endpoint
Entity type	Closed LWPOLYLINE	Open or closed LWPOLYLINE	LINE per segment
Sides always orthogonal	Yes (at creation)	No	No
Trim / Extend	No	No	Yes
Best for	Boxes, frames, rectangular areas	Arbitrary outlines and paths	Individual segments, construction lines

DXF — LWPOLYLINE entity

Rectangles are saved as closed LWPOLYLINE entities with four vertices. All properties — vertex coordinates, color, layer, linetype, linetype scale, and thickness — round-trip without loss.

There is no dedicated RECTANGLE type in DXF. When a file is reopened, the shape appears as a closed four-vertex polyline rather than a rectangle. Any DXF viewer or editor that supports LWPOLYLINE (AutoCAD, LibreCAD, etc.) will display it correctly.