Selecting specific object data from a drawing

[normad]

Hi,

I am fairly new to autocad and ive been given to modify a set of PnID drawings. I am to replace all butterfly valves in those drawings with gate valves.

But the problem with the drawing is the existing butterfly valves are not Blocks. They are just hand drawn and copy-pasted in each location. Therefore i cannot do a block replace. And the thought of doing it manually makes me want to quit the job I'll have to literally do it thousands of times.

So is there any way that i can automate this process. Ive been searching around for quite some time. And i was wondering if its possible to create an object class for one instance of the copy-pasted butterfly valve and then make it apply to the whole drawing. As in somehow to convert the similar object data into blocks so that i can do a block replace.

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated..

[normad]

ok i have an idea but i donno if its possible.. if it is possible to access the autocad database through lisp would all the wires of the butterfly valve be adjucent because they were created at the same instant(through copy and paste) and can i use that to group them into a block through lisp?

please guys.. any input is much appreciated