Hatch

Alias: H

Fills an enclosed area with a repeating pattern.

Description

The Hatch command fills an enclosed boundary with a hatch pattern. The boundary must be a closed area formed by existing objects. Pick a point inside the area to detect the boundary automatically.

Workflow

Type H and press Space or Enter.
Pick internal point: Click a point inside the closed area you want to hatch.
The boundary is detected automatically and the area is filled with the current hatch pattern.

Note

The area must be fully enclosed. If the boundary has gaps, the hatch may fail or flood outside the intended area.

Tips

Ensure the boundary is fully closed before running the Hatch command.
Use Rectangle or closed Polyline objects for reliable hatch boundaries.
The hatch pattern and scale can be changed via the Properties panel (Ctrl+1) after placing the hatch.

DXF Representation

A hatch is stored as a HATCH entity in the DXF ../dxf BLOCKS section. The entity records the boundary path, fill type, and pattern definition.

0
HATCH
8        ← layer name
0
10       ← elevation point X (always 0 for 2D)
0.0
20       ← elevation point Y (always 0 for 2D)
0.0
2        ← pattern name (e.g. ANSI31, SOLID)
ANSI31
70       ← solid fill flag: 1 = solid, 0 = pattern
0
71       ← associativity flag: 1 = associative
0
91       ← number of boundary paths
1
...

The boundary path section that follows records the edges (lines, arcs, polylines) that form the hatch boundary.