Determine the quantity of blocks in your AutoCAD drawing

You may find yourself in a position, such as a cost proposal, where you need to determine the quantity of a certain block within your engineering drawing. AutoCAD provides you with an excellent tool for counting the blocks in a drawing: the Count command.

Simply type the Count command at the command line, then select the objects you wish to count, or the entire drawing. The command opens the AutoCAD Text window and gives you a list of all the blocks in your drawing and their overall quantity.

I believe you are referring to the BCOUNT command. There is no Count command. Also, Bcount is an Express Tool, so if you're running LT or don't have Express Tools installed, you won't have access to the command.

Thanks Cad64, I was just looking for your answer. I knew in the past some lisp program that counted the blocks, I wasn't aware counting blocks now, was part of the autocad commands. BCOUNT is the name of the ticket!

Thank you again

I am using the command "EATTEXT" for counting blocks in drawings.

Found it is very useful..

You can export the output as *.csv

I think we may have noted this already, but just in case....

 

bookmarked for FAQ

That is a very useful tool, Vinod. Thank you. That command does not work on version 2000, That I like to work with (I got used to their icons, and Autocad in every new version changes the icons and that is just a drag for many of us.) But it does work on version 2006, No problem for me then. I will use version 06 to Eat the blocks and save it as a 2000 version. Piece of Cake. Thanks again.

There is also a VBA based solution in Excel that does this. Might be handy to have the list and count directly in a WorkSheet.

 

The code is somewhere on this forum. I'll try and find it (if not found I'll post it).

How do you run Bcount in AutoCAD LT 2007 when the comand doesn't work.

 

Thanks,

Brian

I don't use Autocad LT, therefore I don't know if the screen is similar to Autocad, but here is my question anyway:

You said that "the comand doesn't work"... What it is actually that the program says at the command line (after you type "Bcount" and click Enter)?

Does it said "Unknown command "Bcount"?

or what else happens?

I just read above and Cad64 Super member had this comment: "Bcount is an Express Tool, so if you're running LT or don't have Express Tools installed, you won't have access to the command." then you should verify that you have Express Tools installed in your program.

BTStark is running LT.

Express Tools are not available for LT.

Here is a way I used to count blocks in acad LT

 

First you must create a template in a txt file.

 

You write the following:

 

BL:NAME C008000

BL:NUMBER N008000

 

After that you save the file and go to acad. In the command line you write attext, you choose a file format( cdf for example), you select the objects( you can select the whole drawing), choose the template file and the output file.

 

The result will look like this

'Termosta', 1

'Termosta', 2

'Termosta', 3

'Termosta', 4

'Termosta', 5

'Termosta', 6

 

You can add some attributes if you want too.

 

Hope this is helpfull.

if you dont have express or bcount command or eattext command or if your using older versions of autocad , you can also use the erase command and simply window all the objects....it will give you how many objects that have been chosen.

 

but dont hit the on the keybored

Here is a way I used to count blocks in acad LT

 

First you must create a template in a txt file.

 

You write the following:

 

BL:NAME C008000

BL:NUMBER N008000

 

After that you save the file and go to acad. In the command line you write attext, you choose a file format( cdf for example), you select the objects( you can select the whole drawing), choose the template file and the output file.

 

The result will look like this

'Termosta', 1

'Termosta', 2

'Termosta', 3

'Termosta', 4

'Termosta', 5

'Termosta', 6

 

You can add some attributes if you want too.

 

Hope this is helpfull.

 

Can you please run me through on how to make a txt template file...i tried but I think I did something wrong and I really need to count blocks some other way since I am using the LT version and not able to do BCOUNT

thank you

The method referred to in post #12 requires the user to create an ASCII template file. The procedure for doing this is covered in your AutoCAD Help files under the topic Extract Attribute Block Data (Advanced).

 

"Each field in the template file extracts information from the block references in the drawing."

 

This procedure requires the block to have at least one attribute associated with it and included in the template file.

 

---------------------------------------------

You can find out about another option available to LT users here...http://ltisacad.blogspot.com/2011/05/tweets-this-week-filters-counting-and.html

kdmae3: Did you manage to figure it (template file) out or did you resort to an alternative method?

Perhaps DATA EXTRACTION might be another way to go? MENU BAR > TOOLS > DATA EXTRACTION.

Re: Template file. Should you not specify at least one attribute in your template file this is what the outcome will look like.

 

Command: ATTEXT

 

Select objects: Specify opposite corner: 339 found

 

Select objects:

** No Attribute fields specified.

When I need to count blocks quickly without needing to do a full Data extraction I use the Select Similar command. Its nifty when you have a large building and for instance the boss needs to know how many single plug sockets and double plug sockets there are.

The only snag is you need to be careful with your use of layers as ACAD wont see 2 identical plugs as similar if they are on different layers.

The FILTER command also works well, and doesn't worry about layers, unless you instruct it to.

A really good tool, especially if you save a few filters which you might like to use on subsequent occasions, making it faster still.