v.to.lines(1)

✨ v.to.lines — the GRASS GIS User's Manual glow-up ✨

okay bestie, welcome to v.to.lines(1), straight out of the GRASS GIS User's Manual 💖 this is the little icon that turns your polygons and points into lines, and honestly? it ate.

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🎀 NAME 🎀

v.to.lines — literally converts vector polygons or points to lines. that's the whole job. no cap.

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🌸 KEYWORDS 🌸

vector, geometry, area, line, point 🦋

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

v.to.lines
v.to.lines --help
v.to.lines input=name output=name  [method=string]   [--overwrite]
[--help]  [--verbose]  [--quiet]  [--ui]

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🚩 Flags

• --overwrite — lets your output files bulldoze whatever's already sitting there with the same name. yes, actually overwrite them. be brave 💅
• --help — prints the usage summary so you're not out here guessing
• --verbose — verbose module output, aka it tells you everything it's doing
• --quiet — quiet module output, aka it says nothing and minds its business 🙈
• --ui — forces the GUI dialog to launch, for when you want the pretty window

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🧚 Parameters

• input=name [required] — name of the input vector map. you can also drop a data source here for direct OGR access 👑
• output=name [required] — the name for your output vector map. pick something cute
• method=string — method used for point interpolation. Options: delaunay. Default: delaunay ⭐

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💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

v.to.lines converts vector polygons (boundaries) to lines, and it also converts vector points to lines via triangulations. two for one, highkey iconic.

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🌈 NOTES 🌈

so v.to.lines can convert point data (via triangulation) and areas to lines (via boundary to line conversion). versatile queen.

this script is a wrapper script for v.category, v.delaunay, and v.edit — it's basically the group chat admin coordinating everybody 🫶

heads up: if you want to convert an ordered list of coordinates (an ASCII table with x,y[,z] coordinates) into vector lines, use v.in.lines instead. different tool, different vibe, iykyk.

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🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

these examples are for the North Carolina sample dataset, as is tradition 🌸

🍓 Area to line conversion

v.to.lines input=boundary_municp output=boundary_municp_lines

🦋 Point to line conversion

v.to.lines input=geodetic_pts output=geodetic_pts_lines

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

v.category, v.delaunay, v.edit, v.in.lines, v.to.points, v.type

go read those too, they're all in the same friend group 💖

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🌟 AUTHOR 🌟

Luca Delucchi, Fondazione Edmund Mach

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💻 SOURCE CODE 💻

Available at: v.to.lines source code (history)

Accessed: Saturday Jan 17 05:41:53 2026

Main index | Vector index | Topics index | Keywords index | Graphical index | Full index

© 2003-2025 GRASS Development Team, GRASS GIS 8.4.2 Reference Manual

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and that's the whole page, bestie 🎀 this was v.to.lines from GRASS 8.4.2, manual dated Saturday Jan 17 05:41:53 2026, brought to you by the GRASS Development Team and the letter 💅 — go make some lines, you got this ✨