: Cutting out a part of a field of lines in Illustrator I made a field of lines evenly spaced in illustrator. They are grouped together. I want to cut out and paste a segment of this group.

@Murray976

The long-winded method one which will allow you to only copy trapezoidal shapes.

To reduce art to standard shapes only


Copy lines to new layer
Hide visibility of old layer
Select lines, Object > Expand
Draw rectangle of area you want to retain.
Select lines and rectangle
click Crop button on the Pathfinder Panel
Draw a no-fill, no stroke, rectangle
Choose Select > Same > Fill & Stroke
Hit the Delete key.
Select the lines (which are now trapezoidal shapes)
Copy
Paste wherever you want.
Possible Problem with this method is the lines are not easily edited now. So should you need to alter the angle, you'll have to repeat the steps above. Any non-proportional scaling will change all angles of the lines, including the ends. In addition, reuse of this artwork will increase overall file size.


A second method....

Mask the lines rather than editing them.


Draw a rectangle on top of the lines for the area you want to retain.
Select the lines and rectangle
Choose Object > Clipping Mask > Make
Possible problems with this method is the need to edit clipping mask contents should you need to edit the internal lines. Not a huge hurdle, but depending upon the artwork, it can be time-consuming. In addition, reuse of this artwork will increase overall file size.


A third (preferred here) method....

Simply use a pattern and rotate the pattern.


Create a straight horizontal or vertical line pattern by simply dragging a series of strokes or shapes to the Swatches Panel - Be certain to double-check the odd/even rules so the pattern repeats correctly.
Fill any shape with the pattern
Choose Object > Transform > Rotate and uncheck the "Transform Objects' option - which will check the "Transform Patterns" option - and then enter the amount of pattern rotation you desire. This results in angled pattern lines within the shape.
Benefits to this method are pattern angles can be changed at any future point for reuse and ease of editing and non-proportional scaling of the pattern object will not result in angles being altered (or if the angles are altered, then can be reset with a click). And file size is not increased when the same pattern is applied to multiple objects (even if the pattern angles are different).

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