The update file is used by the Update Properties tool to determine which objects to change, which of the objects' properties are affected, and what values those properties receive. You can create an update (.UPD) file using any text editor that saves files in ASCII format. The file can include comments; any text to the right of a semicolon is ignored by the Update Properties tool. Strings in the update file (except for comments) must be enclosed in quotation marks and cannot exceed 124 characters. You can use spaces and tab characters to format the update file in rows and columns, as shown in the example below.
The first line of the update file is a header line. It starts with a combined property string that identifies which properties to compare. In the example, only the Net Name property is compared. The other strings on the first line specify which properties to update when a match is found. The rest of the file contains lines for each match string to be compared and the values to be recorded in the updated properties. In the following example, the combined property string is {Net Name}. For every object whose Net Name property value matches one of the strings in the first column, the object's Track Width, Net Spacing, and Routing Priority properties are updated with the corresponding values. For example, every object whose Net Name property is set to VCC will be updated as follows: the Track Width property is set to 0.04, the Net Spacing property to 0.035, and the Routing Priority property to 3.
Example
"{Net Name}" "Track Width" "Net Spacing" "Routing Priority""VCC" "0.04" "0.035" "3" ; Any text to the right
"CLK" "0.01" "0.025" "1" ; of a semicolon is
"CLR" "0.01" "0.025" "3" ; ignored by the
"RESET" "0.01" "0.025" "3" ; Update Properties
"GND" "0.04" "0.035" "2" ; tool.
Do not create an empty string (two consecutive double quotation marks without intervening characters) in the header line. Update Properties reports an empty string as an error.