Is there a particular reason why a component name like
DEF CAPACITOR C 0 10 N Y 1 F N
changes to
DEF ~CAPACITOR C 0 10 N Y 1 F N
? After doing some editing in a library KiCad prepends a tilde to some component names. Why ?
Tilde has about 3 different uses, but in this case I believe it indicates the value has “hidden” attribute.
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I don’t think so. The value is to be hidden by the “invisible” check.
The tilde in front of a name/value/refid usually places an overscore above the text. The tilde can also be used on it’s own as a place holder to render the field hidden.
I can’t explain how you might have ended up with tilde characters in the names.
Regardless of what you think, it is true. A couple of minutes with KiCad or google what verify that.
I always wonder why people ask for help, if they don’t believe the answers. It certainly doesn’t incline me to spend several minutes researching and verifying answers before helping people. I guess it is an ego thing, people are embarrassed to have to ask for help because it admits their ignorance, I guess by dismissing those with the correct answers it makes them feel better to pretend that others don’t know more than they do.
As the only person who had bothered to try to help you, a “thanks for your help” would seem to be in order, rather “no you’re wrong”. Anyway, “you’re welcome”.
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I made two components to test this.
One with the value field shown, one with it hidden. The ~ indeed determines that the value field is hidden.
test.lib (214 Bytes)
test_hidden_value.lib (215 Bytes)
So yes @bobc has the correct answer.
Yes, strange but true. The “Show” checkbox is indeed toggled by the tilde prefix. Once the symbol has been read into the schematic adding a tilde adds an overscore to the text.[quote=“Rene_Poschl, post:6, topic:8263”]
So yes @bobc has the correct answer.
[/quote]
Yes he does, and his time spent testing and answering is appreciated, but he could chill just a little. He too has a little bit of that “ego thing” he refers to. 
@bobc usually is correct as he often puts in the effort to test things and even post examples, such as his recent illustration of what it takes to get a zone to fill. In my previous post I was not trying to correct him but rather list the uses I know of for the tilde. Although it did come as a surprise that the tilde prefix is treated differently when read from the library. Thank you @bobc!
In any case, does this help the op explain why he now has tildes in his library?
ok, guys thanks for your help. The issue should be regarded as “solved”. So this is another strange/hidden feature of KiCad.
@bobc : I’m sorry. Usually it takes some days for me to reply. Since this tilde-thing seemed so strange to me, I waited for other answers. Usually I’m humbled and open minded for answers…
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