Rotate

The rotate command rotates selected entities around a base point. You specify the rotation angle either by typing a number in degrees or by clicking — the angle is computed from the direction between the base point and the click position.

Two ways to start

Pre-select, then rotate — select entities first, then activate:

Select one or more entities on the canvas.
Type rotate in the terminal or click the Rotate toolbar button.
Click the base point — the center of rotation. Or type X,Y and press Enter for an exact coordinate.
Type an angle and press Enter, or click to set the angle from the cursor direction.

Activate, then select — start the command with nothing selected:

Type rotate or click the toolbar button.
Select objects — click to toggle, or drag to select by area.
Press Enter or Space to confirm the selection.
Click the base point (coordinate entry available), then set the angle.

  Before:            After (90° rotation around ●):
                        ╔══╗
  ●  [entity]    →   ● ║    ║
                        ╚══╝

A live ghost preview of the rotated entities follows the cursor angle after the base point is set.

Setting the angle

Typed angle — type a number (in degrees) at any time after the base point is placed. The preview snaps to the typed angle while you continue to adjust before pressing Enter.

Click angle — if no typed value is present, clicking sets the angle equal to atan2(cursorY − baseY, cursorX − baseX) — the direction from base point to click, in degrees.

Key	Action
`0`–`9`, `.`	Append digit to the angle value
`-`	Negative angle (first character only)
`C`	Toggle Copy mode (before typing any digits)
`Backspace`	Delete the last typed character
`Enter`	Apply rotation at the typed angle

Rotating a copy

Press C at the angle prompt — before typing any digits — to toggle Copy mode, the same inline-option pattern Polyline’s Arc toggle uses. The prompt shows the current state as [Copy=true] / [Copy=false], and pressing C again flips it back.

With Copy on, applying the rotation leaves the original selection untouched in place and adds new, rotated copies of each selected entity instead. With Copy off (the default), the selection rotates in place as usual.

Angle direction

Angles follow the DXF convention:

Positive values rotate counter-clockwise in drawing coordinates (Y-up).
On screen, where the Y-axis is inverted (Y-down), positive angles appear clockwise.

Common values: 90 = quarter turn, 180 = half turn, -90 = opposite quarter turn.

Keyboard reference

Key	Action
`Enter` / `Space`	Confirm selection
`0`–`9`, `.`, `-`	Start X coordinate entry (base-point phase), or angle value (angle phase)
`,`	Lock X and move to Y entry (base-point phase)
`C`	Toggle Copy mode (angle phase, before typing any digits)
`Backspace`	Delete last typed character
`Enter`	Confirm coordinate or apply rotation
`Escape`	Cancel and reset

Selection during the command

Method	Behaviour
Click	Toggles the entity under the cursor
Drag right (strict)	Adds entities fully inside the box
Drag left (crossing)	Adds entities that intersect the box
Enter / Space	Confirms the selection

Supported entities

Rotate works on every entity type. Each entity’s geometry is rotated around the base point — for example, a Circle moves its center while the radius stays the same; an Arc moves its center and shifts its start and end angles by the rotation amount; a Text entity moves its anchor point and adds the angle to its Rotation Degree property.