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More on what Alfred said....
I would suggest also using the period prefix to the Layer command name, to force it to use the native command instead of any redefinition that may have been made [such as by an overlay program]: _.-LAYER
[The three preceding _.- characters can be used in certain other sequences. I think some of the possible sequences don't work -- I'm not sure which -- but I know that sequence works.]
You can also apply the same option to more than one Layer at a time [but not all if you don't want all], by using Layer names separated by commas. And you can use multiple options, and multiple applications of the same option, within one Layer command.
_.-LAYER
_color 47 LayerA,LayerB,LayerD,LayerH
_color 246 LayerC,LayerF,LayerQ
_lweight 1.5 LayerA,LayerC,LayerM
... etc. ...
The blank line [Alfred's <Enter>] at the end of the .scr file (or prior to invoking the next command, if any) tells the Layer command you're finished applying options.
If your Layer names may include spaces, I think you need to wrap them [or comma-delimited lists of them] in double-quotes -- in your example:
_.-LAYER
_color 1 "layer 0,layer 1,layer 2,layer 3,layer 4,layer 5,layer 6,layer 7"
....
Otherwise, because of the space, I believe it will try to apply color 1 to a Layer called just layer, and presumably won't find one [or if there is one, you may not want color 1 assigned to it].
Kent Cooper, AIA 
@Bratz2 wrote:
do these commands all have to be on a single line?
... will
.-layer
_color 47 S-E-ROAD-HTH-DEMO,
S-E-ROAD-HTH,S-E-BANK-DEMO,S-E-CURB-DEMO
work...? And, what about linetypes, what happens if you're calling one out and it's not in the DWG?
....
That comma-delimited line of Layer names would have to be on one line in a Script. If not, the hard return between portions is an Enter, and the comma just before it won't help you [a string of Layer names like that is allowed to end with a comma]. It could be done this way, though, if it shortens the line enough for you:
.-layer _color 47
S-E-ROAD-HTH-DEMO,S-E-ROAD-HTH,S-E-BANK-DEMO,S-E-CURB-DEMO
Or, you could assign that color to two sets of Layers separately:
.-layer
_color 47 S-E-ROAD-HTH-DEMO,S-E-ROAD-HTH
_color 47 S-E-BANK-DEMO,S-E-CURB-DEMO
[though I admit to wondering what makes the line length so critical].
BUT there's good news on the other question. One terrific thing about using a command-line Layer command like this, rather than the dialog-box-based Layer Manager, is that even if a linetype is not yet loaded in the drawing, if it's in the acad.lin file, it will find it. [This is also true for assigning an override linetype to objects, in a CHPROP command or the Properties option in a CHANGE command.] So for those linetypes, at least, no, you don't have to worry about loading them first. I'm not positive about linetypes in other files, even if they're in a Support File Search Path location, but it may be able to find those, too. [I just put them all into acad.lin, after making a copy of the original under an extended name such as acadORIGINAL.lin, just in case.]
Kent Cooper, AIA
@mc5fan wrote:
This code works fine except my layers with # in the layer name. Is the # being interpreted as a something else? Quotes do not help.
Yes -- it's the wildcard for any numerical character. For example, if you have Layers called abc1, abc2 & abc3, you can do this to assign Cyan color to all of them:
_.-Layer _color 4 abc#
Read about the (wcmatch) AutoLisp function for other wild-card characters that it's best to avoid in things like Layer names.
If you can wangle some code that can insert a reverse apostrophe character [ ` ] before the # to feed to the Layer command, that's the wildcard escape character that means "read the next character literally, not as a wildcard."
Kent Cooper, AIA
@mc5fan wrote:
Here is what is being generated as layers. The # in the name is an established layer standard:
-layer M #8_AWG_GREEN C 3 #8_AWG_GREEN L CONTINUOUS #8_AWG_GREEN LW DEFAULT #8_AWG_GREEN D Mylayer #8_AWG_GREEN plot plot #8_AWG_GREEN
....
The simplest thing would be to change the established Layer standard....
But since those are using the Make option in the Layer command, the Layer that is made becomes current, and therefore becomes the default for assigning color and linetype and so on. Enter accepts the default <current> Layer name for such assignments, so the name doesn't need to be spelled out again. You can put double spaces after the color number and so on, the first to "register" the value and the second to accept the current Layer as the one to assign it to. The one for which you do need to spell out the Layer name is the Description, since the default for that is, for some reason, all Layers <*>.
But you can also shorten these things. Continuous is the default linetype for new Layers, and "Default" is [as one might expect] the default lineweight, and Plotting is the default option, so you don't need to assign those. I think you could do it this way for each Layer, for all except the Description part:
-layer M #8_AWG_GREEN C 3
There are three spaces after that 3, the last one concluding the Layer command. In a command macro, you could use semicolons to make it clearer -- if yours is a SCRIPT, hard returns to new lines will do.
But if the escape ` preceding the # character doesn't work [it did for me manually (not in a Script) trying Layer names in which # was not the first character -- maybe that's the difference], I don't have any better ideas that will let you put a Description on one Layer like that. [If I think of something, I'll write back.]
Kent Cooper, AIA
@mc5fan wrote:
Thanks for your input. The layers still come out to be created WHITE and "by layer."
It worked for me to when I put it in a command macro, called by a Tool Palette button. If yours is a Script file, I think you would have to use hard returns instead of the spaces at the end, because Layer names can have spaces in them, even at the beginning, so the 2nd & 3rd spaces after that 3 could be taken as the beginning of the entry of some Layer name(s), left uncompleted at the end, so the color isn't applied and the command is not concluded.
Explain more about what you mean by layers coming out "by layer" -- that's a property of objects, but not of Layers.
Kent Cooper, AIA
@mc5fan wrote:
.... Apparently # in the layer name is mucking it up. Any further suggestions??
(entmake)
You can find examples of using (entmake) to make Layers with some Searching in these Forums, more likely over in the Customization Forum than here.
Kent Cooper, AIA
![Autodesk Design & Make Report](https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/1350519iCB55845EBFC43016/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999" "Autodesk Design & Make Report")
