# Line Merging (Combine Paths)

Merge lines whose endings and starts overlap or are very close. By default, <cite>linemerge</cite> considers both directions of a stroke. If there is no additional start of a stroke within the provided tolerance, it also checks for ending points of strokes and uses them in reverse. You can use the <cite>--no-flip</cite> to disable this reversing behaviour and preserve the stroke direction from the input. By default, gaps of maximum 0.05mm are considered for merging. Also check out [vpype Free Mode](https://wiki.stadtfabrikanten.org/books/fablab-chemnitz/page/vpype-free-mode) which can do the same and more.

See [https://vpype.readthedocs.io/en/stable/reference.html#linemerge](https://vpype.readthedocs.io/en/stable/reference.html#linemerge)

<p class="callout info">Similar extension to [Chain Paths](https://wiki.stadtfabrikanten.org/books/fablab-chemnitz/page/chain-paths), [Join Paths / Create Tabs And Dimples](https://wiki.stadtfabrikanten.org/books/fablab-chemnitz/page/join-paths-create-tabs-and-dimples), [Close Paths](https://wiki.stadtfabrikanten.org/books/fablab-chemnitz/page/close-paths)</p>

<p class="callout info">Similar to default function "Path → Combine" (CTRL + K)</p>

<p class="callout info">inverted function is [Split All](https://wiki.stadtfabrikanten.org/books/fablab-chemnitz/page/split-all)</p>

<p class="callout warning">Warning: Can mess your paths because it does not delete overlapping duplicate line segments!  
</p>

[![grafik.png](https://wiki.stadtfabrikanten.org/uploads/images/gallery/2025-05/scaled-1680-/Y7eMmtLIsHiCe19s-grafik.png)](https://wiki.stadtfabrikanten.org/uploads/images/gallery/2025-05/Y7eMmtLIsHiCe19s-grafik.png) [![grafik.png](https://wiki.stadtfabrikanten.org/uploads/images/gallery/2025-05/scaled-1680-/U5HGIUrYgxKkoFKY-grafik.png)](https://wiki.stadtfabrikanten.org/uploads/images/gallery/2025-05/U5HGIUrYgxKkoFKY-grafik.png)

## Draw some paths and attach the path node ends with each other

[![grafik.png](https://wiki.stadtfabrikanten.org/uploads/images/gallery/2025-05/scaled-1680-/xPI23PyVu7xrsEtH-grafik.png)](https://wiki.stadtfabrikanten.org/uploads/images/gallery/2025-05/xPI23PyVu7xrsEtH-grafik.png)

## Run the extension and get the result

[![grafik.png](https://wiki.stadtfabrikanten.org/uploads/images/gallery/2025-05/scaled-1680-/nYH4k1yjCIbjYm9b-grafik.png)](https://wiki.stadtfabrikanten.org/uploads/images/gallery/2025-05/nYH4k1yjCIbjYm9b-grafik.png)