Selecting track segments of the active layer only

[Efcis]

Currently, you can select a track by clicking on one of its segments, and use the “U” shortcut (or use the Select / Single Track contextual menu item). But it selects the entire track, by following the vias, and includes the segments which are not on the current layer.

Is there a way to select only the segments of the track on the current layer until a pad or a via is reached ? It would be useful to be able to delete these segments on one go, and re-route them, instead of deleting them one by one.

Application: kicad
Version: (5.1.0-rc2-39-gd2d210117), release build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.0.4
libcurl/7.61.1 OpenSSL/1.1.1 (WinSSL) zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.6 libidn2/2.0.5 libpsl/0.20.2 (+libidn2/2.0.5) nghttp2/1.34.0
Platform: Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1), 32 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
wxWidgets: 3.0.4 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
Boost: 1.68.0
OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.9.1
Curl: 7.61.1
Compiler: GCC 7.3.0 with C++ ABI 1011

Build settings:
USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
USE_WX_OVERLAY=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_PYTHON3=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON_PHOENIX=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
KICAD_USE_OCC=OFF
KICAD_SPICE=ON

[Seth_h]

@Efcis

Currently, you can select a track by clicking on one of its segments, and use the “U” shortcut (or use the Select / Single Track contextual menu item). But it selects the entire track, by following the vias, and includes the segments which are not on the current layer.

You may have your hotkeys configured differently but, by default, ‘U’ selects only the single track on the current layer without T-junctions and not passing pads. ‘I’ selects the whole connected track.

edit: Corrected graph above as noted by @pedro. Thanks! Note that this makes the answer to @Efcis not on point, so the bug listed below will be a wishlist item.

[Efcis]

Thanks @Seth_h but,unfortunately, it doesn’t work like this for me. Check this short screencast:

There are maybe other settings somewhere altering the default behavior you describe ?

[Seth_h]

Not that I’m aware of. You should post this with the video to the bug tracker. See if a Windows dev can reproduce.

[pedro]

@Seth_h

‘U’ selects only the single track on the current layer and not passing pads

‘U’ selects the track from pad to pad no matter if there are vias or not. No matter if the layer after the via is enabled or not.

Tested under kubuntu 5.0.2 and 5.0.1-rc2

Application: kicad
Version: 5.1.0-rc2-unknown-16cbd25~91~ubuntu14.04.1, release build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.0.2
libcurl/7.35.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1f zlib/1.2.8 libidn/1.28 librtmp/2.3
Platform: Linux 3.16.0-77-generic x86_64, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK
Build Info:
wxWidgets: 3.0.2 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8) GTK+ 2.24
Boost: 1.54.0
OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.8.0
Curl: 7.35.0
Compiler: GCC 4.8.4 with C++ ABI 1002

[Seth_h]

Oi! You are right that I was incorrect here. It will select up to a branch but a single track passing through a via will be selected as you correctly point out.

[pedro]

Actually, I didn’t know if you were wrong or it was a bug. I tried to show the behaviour of the ‘U’ hotkey…

[paulvdh]

If you have the Modern Toolst enabled (as you should) then there is probably no need to delete anything by hand yourself, if you enable:

Pcbnew / Route / Interactive Router Settings / Options: [v] Remove redundant tracks.

If you draw an alternative path for a section then the old redundant section gets automatically removed, and even if it does not, then the “u” shortcut only selects copper untill the first pad or T-junction.

If thad does not work, or is not to your liking, you can first delete a single strategic track segment or via, and then use select + u in a secondary operation.

You should also experiment with the global board cleanup:

Pcbnew / Edit / Cleanup Tracks and Vias…