Extract text from dxf that is not TEXT or MTEXT entity using ezdxf

Question

I am trying to get numbers from a specific dxf file using ezdxf.

However, a query on the modelspace for msp.query('TEXT') or msp.query('MTEXT') yields no results, if I iterate over all entities, I can see they are all of type INSERT.

In the dxf file, I can see numbers next to a contour for every insert, and I can copy one insert into a new file, which results in the contour and the number being copied. However, I can not figure out where the information on the number is stored. This is what the dxf file looks like viewed in LibreCAD:

Link to dxf file on google drive

Does anyone know where in the INSERT type entity the number might be stored? It is not in the entity.dxf.name, which yields a completely different string.

Answer 1

This is an unusual way to implement block reference attributes and does not use the ATTIB entity:

Use the ezdxf browse <file.dxf> command line tool to examine the DXF content.

going to the block definitions, each block reference has it's own block definition:

This script extracts the TEXT entities from the block definitions:

import ezdxf

doc = ezdxf.readfile("auflager.dxf")
msp = doc.modelspace()
for insert in msp.query("INSERT"):
    print(str(insert))
    for attrib in insert.attribs:
        # there are no ATTRIB entities:
        print("  ATTRIB: " + str(attrib.dxf.text))
    # each block reference has it's own block definition
    block = insert.block()
    if block is None:
        continue

    text = block.query("TEXT").first
    if text:
        print("  TEXT: " + str(text.dxf.text))

Output:

INSERT(#14E)
  TEXT: 1
INSERT(#14F)
  TEXT: 1
INSERT(#150)
  TEXT: 2
INSERT(#151)
  TEXT: 3
INSERT(#152)
  TEXT: 4
...

EDIT:

This is another tool to examine DXF files: https://alek-tron.com/DxfExplorer/

It runs in the browser and doesn't need Python nor ezdxf. The processing is done locally on your computer - no upload to a cloud service.