Last updated July 28, 2026
This sets the current layer, and if the layer you name does not exist it offers to make it for you — asking for a colour and linetype as it goes. That second half is what lifts it above a plain layer-setting shortcut: you can name a layer you have not created yet and keep drawing, instead of stopping to open the layer manager.
It is by Craig Carr of Superior Designs, written in 1994, and the header notes it was a winner in Cadalyst. He is also the author of CHT and the ADD calculator on this site.
Two ways in, three ways out
The opening prompt does double duty. Type a layer name and it goes straight for that layer; press Enter instead and it switches to asking you to pick an object, then reads the layer off whatever you clicked. Miss, and it says so and asks again rather than dropping out.
What happens next depends on whether the layer exists.
- It exists — it becomes current. Done.
- It does not exist, and you choose Create — you are asked for a colour, defaulting to white, and a linetype, defaulting to continuous. The layer is made with those properties and set current.
- It does not exist, and you choose Search — it lists the drawing’s layers on screen so you can find the one you actually meant, then asks you to type its name.
The Search branch is the thoughtful bit. A layer name that does not exist is usually a typo rather than a new layer, and being shown the real list at that moment is more useful than being told you were wrong.
The command is LS
Not LLS, which is what the file and the download are called. Two letters, and a fairly obvious two letters at that, so check it against your own aliases before loading — LS is exactly the sort of shortcut people assign themselves.
One code note for anyone reading the file: the error handler is written in a way that would itself fail if it ever ran, because it is defined to take no message but then tries to use one. In normal use it never fires. If you cancel out of the routine partway through you may find command echo left switched off, in which case set CMDECHO back to 1.
How to load it
Unzip LLS.zip and load LLS.lsp with APPLOAD, or put it in the Startup Suite — a layer shortcut is only a shortcut if it is always available. No support files. Our AutoLISP guide covers loading.
Step-by-step usage
- Type LS.
- Either type the layer name, or press Enter and click an object on the layer you want.
- If the layer does not exist you are told so, and asked whether to Create or Search.
- Choosing Create asks for colour and linetype — press Enter at either to accept white and continuous.
- The layer becomes current.
Compatibility notes
1994, so written-for rather than tested-on. It drives the command-line form of the LAYER command with a fixed sequence of responses, which is the part most likely to age badly — if any of those prompts have shifted in your release, the answers land in the wrong places. Test the Create branch on a scratch drawing before relying on it.
Plain AutoLISP with no dialog boxes and no Express Tools calls, so nothing requires the full product; LT users on LT 2024 or later, the release that brought AutoLISP to LT, should be able to run it. See what runs on AutoCAD LT. It creates layers but does not touch geometry.
Download
| Name: | Layer Set |
| Description: | Lisp routine for setting layers. |
| Type: | AutoCAD AutoLISP Routine |
| Author: | Craig Carr |
| File Size: | 1 Kb |
| Cost: | Free |
| Worked on: | AutoCAD |
| Download File: | LLS.zip |
Related routines
- LayerMatch — the same job by picking only, and it reads inside blocks.
- Delete Layer — the other end of layer housekeeping.
- CHT — the same author’s text standardiser.