How do I remove everything outside of a certain object

[Maxwell2464913305cy]

How do I remove all the roads outside of this shape? I try to use minus back but I just get back wonky lines.

[Jacob Bugge]

Maxwell,

Unless you mean delete, how about just using the shape as a Clipping Mask, presuming it is a single closed path?

The shape path is clearly on top of everything else, so you ought to be able to just select eveything, then hold Ctrl/Cmd and press 7.

But You also ought to be able to use Shpe Builder or Live Paint,

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/creating-shapes-shape-builder-tool.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/atv/cs5-tutorials/creating-complex-art-with-the-shape-builder-to...

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/live-paint-groups.html

[Maxwell2464913305cy]

Sorry I'm pretty new to this. How would I go about doing that. I'm trying to make it so only the roads in between the two red lines show. It should look something like this:

[Jacob Bugge · Accepted solution]

Maxwell,

Sorry, I overlooked the fact that you seem to have an area between an outer and an inner red path, which means that the single closed path has to be the Compound Path formed by the two.

You can:

1) Make sure that the inner path is above the outer path in the stacking order shown in the expanded Layer in the Layers panel (it is not necessary, but reduces the number of possible things to do in 2);

2) Select both the inner and the outer red path, then Ctrl/Cmd+8 (hold Ctrl/Cmd and press 8) to form a Compound Path; if that fails press Ctrl/Cmd+Z, then click Minus front in the Pathfinder panel;

This ought to give you the Compound Path to use for the Clipping Mask;

3) Select everything and Ctrl/Cmd+7.

This ought to form the clipping set where everything outside the area within the Compound Path is hidden.

You can use an Opacity Mask instead of a Clipping Mask, but that requires more steps.

And you can still use the Shape Builder/Live Paint.

[Maxwell2464913305cy]

Thank you Jacob! It worked great. It's exactly what I wanted!

[Jacob Bugge]

You are welcome, Maxwell.

And welcome to this forum which is full of friendly helpers.