CAD - general - Help for reading MTEXT of DXF file

Help for reading MTEXT of DXF file

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Printed Date: 01.Oct.2026 at 18:00

Topic: Help for reading MTEXT of DXF file

Posted By: Harbin
Subject: Help for reading MTEXT of DXF file
Date Posted: 24.Jan.2011 at 19:57

Can anyone help for reading DXF MTEXT file? When dxf file is opened by notepad, MTEXT block is as following.

MTEXT
5
430
102
{ACAD_XDICTIONARY
360
78D
102
}
330
1F
100
AcDbEntity
8
TEXT
100
AcDbMText
10
5.704296354278894
20
4.855478660749818
30
0.000000000024344
40
0.0625
41
1.0
71
     1
72
     5
1
{\W5.6142; }Starts From \P{\W6.96748; }INDICATOR ABC
73
     1
44
1.0
1001
ACAD
1000
MTEXTBEGIN
1070
    73
1070
     1
1070
    44
1040
1.0
1070
    74
1070
     0
1000
MTEXTEND

Here is the issue:

group code 71, 1 means this MTEXT is aligned at Top Left.

But actually this MTEXT is aligned at Center. When I open this file by AutoCAD, the contents of property start with "\pxqc;". I think it means "align center" and these special characters are not shown when openning by notepad. So, {\W5.6142; } must be related to "\pxqc;".

Can anyone help to find the actual MTEXT starting location by using:

10
5.704296354278894
20
4.855478660749818

1
{\W5.6142; }Starts From \P{\W6.96748; }INDICATOR ABC

Thank you very much, any help is appreciated.

Harbin

Replies:

Posted By: CarlB
Date Posted: 24.Jan.2011 at 22:53

Well 10 & 11 are supposed to be X & Y values of insertion point.

Value of 1 for code 71 is supposed to be Top left justification. So I don't see anything to explain why you found different justification..

Here are some mtext formatting codes that may expalin some things:

Format code        Purpose
\0...\o            Turns overline on and off
\L...\l          Turns underline on and off
\~                        Inserts a nonbreaking space
\\                          Inserts a backslash
\{...\}               Inserts an opening and closing brace
\File name;    Changes to the specified font file
\Hvalue;            Changes to the text height specified in drawing units
\Hvaluex;          Changes the text height to a multiple of the current text height
\S...^...;       Stacks the subsequent text at the \, #, or ^ symbol
\Tvalue;            Adjusts the space between characters, from.75 to 4 times
\Qangle;            Changes obliquing angle
\Wvalue;            Changes width factor to produce wide text
\A                          Sets the alignment value; valid values: 0, 1, 2 (bottom, center, top)

Note: Use curly braces ({ }) to apply a format change only to the text within the braces. You can nest braces up to eight levels deep.

Posted By: Harbin
Date Posted: 25.Jan.2011 at 07:52

Hi CarlB,

Thank you for your reply. Actually I am C# programmer and know only a little about AutoCAD.

Just like you said: Code 71 =1 means Top Left justification. But, do you know what {\w5.6142;} means?

When I open that DXF file in AutoCAD and check the property of that particular MTEXT part:

Contents : \pxqc;Starts From\P and so on.

Justification: Top Left ---- this matches code 71=1

When I click the particular MTEXT ( for modification purpose???, I can modify the MTEXT contents), I found “Align Center ” is selected in the pop-up window(text editing window?). I tried to select “Align left” in that pop-up window. The contents of MTEXT property changed to “\pxql;Starts From\P and so on.”

When I open that DXF by notepad, code 1 contents start with {\w5.6142;}. So, I said {\w5.6142;} was related to \pxqc; . Do you have any idea about it?

MTEXT top left coordinate can be retreived from code 10 and 20. Since the actual justification is top center, the value {\w5.6142;} should be used to move text contents to right a little bit. I tried to add 5.6142 to x coordinate. It was incorrect.

Please forgive me my unprofessional terminology. I hope you can understand what I am trying to explain. Maybe I need to provide some screen shots.

TIA.

Harbin

Posted By: CarlB
Date Posted: 25.Jan.2011 at 08:28

The file://%5C%5CWnnn" rel="nofollow - \Wnnn is format code for adjusting the width factor.

The file://%5C%5Cpxnnn" rel="nofollow - \pxnnn is format code for different paragraph formatting, such as centered, right/left justify, etc.

See this site for some examples:

http://caddiesoftware.com/caddiesoftware/faq/31-general/161-change-the-format-of-text-using-special-characters.html" rel="nofollow - http://caddiesoftware.com/caddiesoftware/faq/31-general/161-change-the-format-of-text-using-special-characters.html

It would be tough to figure actual text location after considering justification (71 code), text reference rectangle width (41 code), then paragraph formatting...

Posted By: Harbin
Date Posted: 25.Jan.2011 at 17:03

Thanks anyway.

Looks like it is hard to calculate the acutual TEXT starting coordinates.

{\w5.6142; }: insert two spaces with width value 5.6142 ? But the reference rectangle width is only 1.0.

Here is my solution:

If contents start with "{\w", change the justification of this TEXT to (Top/Middle/Bottom) Center.

CarlB, do you think it is going to work?

Thanks again,

Harbin