About Symbol Naming Conventions

Components - General

Schematic components such as relays, switches, pilot lights, and discrete motor control devices (but not PLC I/O symbols) follow this naming convention:

• 32-character block name maximum, first character is either "H" or "V" for horizontal or vertical wire insertion.
• The next two characters are reserved for family type (for example, PB for push buttons, CR for control relays, LS for limit switches). A zero (0) as the second character of the family type (for example, a 0 in the overall symbol name) means that the symbol does not trigger a wire number change through it. (For example, T0 for terminals, W0 for cable markers, C0 for connectors.)
• The fourth character is generally a 1 or a 2: 2 for child contacts and 1 for everything else (parent or standalone component).
• If the symbol is a contact, then the fifth character is a 1 for normally open, 2 for normally closed.
• The remaining characters are not specified. They are used to keep names unique.

Examples:

Cable Marker Symbols

AutoCAD Electrical cable conductor marker symbols follow this convention:

• The first character is "H" or "V" for horizontal wire or vertical wire insertion.
• The next two characters are "W0." A zero (0) means that the symbol does not trigger a wire number change through it.
• The fourth character is either 1 or 2: "1" for parent marker or "2" for child marker.
• The remaining characters are not specified.

Examples:

Component Location Mark Symbols

AutoCAD Electrical expects the location symbol names to begin with the characters "WDXX."

Configuration and Ladder Master Line Reference Symbols

AutoCAD Electrical expects to find these block inserts:

Note: The ladder line reference block used by AutoCAD Electrical is determined by the ladder reference configuration selected in the Format Referencing section of the Drawing Properties Drawing Format dialog box.

Connector Symbols

• The first character is "H" or "V" for horizontal or vertical orientation.
• The next two characters are "CN" for connector.
• The fourth character is either 1 or 2: 1 for parent or 2 for child.
• The fifth character is "_"
• The sixth character is 1-9 for the style number.
• The seventh character:

  (Combo) specifies the plug or jack ID: P = Plug, J = Jack (Receptacle)

  (Only) specifies the wire direction: 1 = right, 2 = top, 4 = left; and 8 = bottom.

• The eighth character is either "P" or "J": P = Plug, J = Jack (Receptacle)

Examples:

Upon completion of the parametric build connector, a unique new block definition is created. Each connector is labeled with a unique naming convention within the same project.

Hydraulic Symbols

The maximum number of characters for the block name is 32.

• The first character is "H" or "V" for horizontal wire or vertical.
• The next two characters are the first two letters of the family name (for example, FI for filters, CY for cylinders, PM for pumps).
• The fourth character is "1" for hydraulic symbols - stand-alone component.
• Use "_" and enter a meaningful name corresponding to the symbol.

Example:

Inline Wire Marker Symbols

Construct dumb inline wire marker symbols with a tiny piece of "pigtail" line entity at each connection point. It can be small, but it must be present for AutoCAD Electrical to correctly "see" the in-line inserted block as it traces the wire network. Inline wire marker symbols follow this naming convention:

• The first character is "H" or "V" for horizontal wire or vertical wire insertion.
• The next three characters are "T0_"
• The remaining characters are undefined.

Example:

One-line Symbols

One-line symbols follow the same naming convention as schematic parent and child symbols. To make the symbol names unique, the one-line symbol block names have a “1-” suffix. However, the symbol name does not define the symbol as a one-line symbol. A one-line symbol is defined by the existence of a WDTYPE attribute with a value of “1-” on the symbol, or a value of “1-1” for a one-line bus-tap symbol.

The bus-tap symbol can have two functions:

• Provide an anchor point for the one-line circuit representation that begins at this location.
• Break into the one-line bus where the circuit connects.

On a dual circuit one-line template, there are three bus-tap symbols. One at the normal point where the circuit ties into the bus. There is another version of the symbol on each of the two circuit "legs", each marking the point where that part of the dual circuit starts. These bus-tap symbols allow various reports to report accurately on a one-line circuit, whether a single circuit or a dual circuit representation.

The following bus-tap symbols are supplied:

• HDV1_BT_1-.dwg - with “dot” for horizontal one-line circuit
• VDV1_BT_1-.dwg - with “dot” for vertical one-line circuit
• HDV1_BTT_1-.dwg - “tee” connection for dual horizontal circuit
• VDV1_BTT_1-.dwg - “tee” connection for dual vertical circuit
• HDV1_BTL_1-.dwg - “corner” connection for dual horizontal circuit
• VDV1_BTL_1-.dwg - “corner” connection for dual vertical circuit

P&ID Symbols

The maximum number of characters for the block name is 32.

• The first character is "H" or "V" for horizontal wire or vertical.
• The next two characters are the first two letters of the family name (for example, GV for diaphragm valves, IN for instruments, N for nozzles).
• The fourth character is "1" for P&ID symbols - stand-alone component.
• Use "_" and enter a meaningful name corresponding to the symbol.

Example:

Panel Layout Footprint Symbols

There is not a required naming convention to follow, but the name must adhere to the AutoCAD 32-character block name limit.

Parametric Twisted Pair Symbols

A parametrically generated twisted pair representation consists to two instances of the same symbol (there are no parent/child versions). This symbol must carry attribute ACE_FLAG with a value of "3." Parametric twisted pair symbols follow this naming convention:

• The first four characters are "HT0_" or "VT0_" for horizontal or vertical parametric symbols.
• The remaining characters can be anything (default is set to "TW")

Examples:

PLC I/O Parametric Build Symbols

These symbols begin with "HP" or "VP" (horizontal rung versus vertical) followed by a digit 1 through 9. The digit corresponds to the selected PLC module style or look. (1 through 5 are provided in the AutoCAD Electrical library, 6 through 9 can be user-defined).

Plug/Jack Connector Pin Symbols

AutoCAD Electrical connector symbols follow this convention:

• The first character is "H" or "V" for horizontal wire or vertical wire insertion.
• The next two characters are "C0" if the connector does not trigger a wire number change through it. (The "0" means that the wire number does not change, or "CN" if the connector DOES trigger a wire number change.)
• The fourth character is either 1 or 2: 1 for parent marker or a 2 for child marker.
• The remaining characters are not specified.

Splice Symbols

Splices follow this naming convention:

• The first four characters are "HSP1" or "VSP1" for horizontal or vertical splices.
• The fifth through seventh characters are "001", "002", "003," and so on.

Examples:

Source/Destination Wire Signal Arrow Symbols

AutoCAD Electrical wire signal arrow symbols follow this convention:

• The first four characters of these symbol names are either "HA?S" for source signal arrows or "HA?D" for destination symbol arrows. The "?" character is the arrow style digit (1 through 4 are provided in the AutoCAD Electrical library and 5 through 9 can be user-defined).
• Characters 5 through 11 can be user-defined.

You can create your own arrow styles using these unused digits (for example, HA5S... and HA5D...). For example, copy Autodesk\Acade {version}\Libs\jic1\ha1s*.dwg to ha5s*.dwg and Autodesk\Acade {version}\Libs\jic1\ha1d*.dwg to ha5d*.dwg. Access each copied arrow symbols in AutoCAD and edit to suit. Then, to access your new arrow style, set the default arrow style to "5" in the Drawing Properties Styles dialog box.

Standalone Cross-reference Symbols:

Same naming convention as the Source/Destination Signal symbols (that is, HA?S* and HA?D*) but without a WIRENO attribute present on the symbol.

Stand-alone PLC I/O Point Symbols

These symbols begin with "PLCIO" and can be up to 32 characters long. There is no naming convention referenced by AutoCAD Electrical other than the "PLCIO" prefix.

Examples:

Standalone Terminal Symbols

Stand-alone terminals follow this naming convention:

• The first two characters are "HT."
• The third character is "0" if the wire number does not change through the terminal, "1" if the terminal symbol should trigger a wire number change.
• The fourth character is an underscore (_) if the terminal carries no attributes for AutoCAD Electrical to process (such as a dumb, unannotated terminal symbol). Otherwise, the fourth through eighth character positions of the symbol file name are user-defined.

Examples:

User-defined Symbols

AutoCAD Electrical user-defined symbols follow this convention:

• The first character is "H" or "V" for horizontal wire or vertical wire insertion.
• The next two characters are "ZA" through "ZZ."
• The remaining characters can be user-defined.

Wire Dot Symbols

AutoCAD Electrical expects this symbol name to be "WDDOT.dwg."

Wire Number Symbols

An AutoCAD Electrical wire number is a block insert consisting of a single wire number attribute. The origin of the block insert lies on its wire with the wire number attribute floating above, below, or off to the side of the insertion point of the block.

Examples:

AutoCAD Electrical also supports inline wire numbers that follow the value of the main wire number. An inline wire marker has a block name that follows that of a terminal symbol that does not trigger a wire number change.

Examples:

Family type

The second and third characters of the symbol name are reserved for family type (for example, PB for push buttons, CR for control relays, LS for limit switches). The family type can be used to determine the catalog lookup table name and the tag name for a component. The library symbols supplied with AutoCAD Electrical use the following family types.