Talk:Formatting codes

This helped me :D ---Darkus Relling of SDP 04:02, 25 June 2012 (UTC)

I am on the legacy Nintendo switch edition I am making a sign using item frames since it doesn't let me type § on signs. The item is renamed to §kA§rText, which if I'm not mistaken should look like this (using # to represent the obfuscated text because I can't type it) #Text but instead it's just #####, with the different letters being delayed. I tried adding spaces even though I don't think that matters, still will not work. QwertyuiopLkjhgfdsa7 (talk) 16:29, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

I just tried getting "§" ingame (book & quill, chat, sign, all in single- and multiplayer) on 1.18.1 and 1.18.2 Java Edition. It's still not possible, not via normal keyboard function nor via copying text. I guess this is intentional, as bug reports get closed. The newest one I could find is MC-222375. Shouldn't that be updated on the wiki page? - 89.249.65.69 16:42, 23 March 2022 (UTC)

It's fully intentional that they don't work in many areas on Java edition, you can see the developer comment on the original report (the one that's linked to on the duplicate you sent). You can find another developer comment on the situation in this bug report as well: MC-190605. The page should also already appropriately label which editions each use case for the section sign applies to (or no mention if it applies to both). If it still lists certain use cases as applying to Java edition when it no longer does, then edits to those sections would be needed. Stranded at sea (talk) 22:31, 23 March 2022 (UTC)

Currently, the article seems to use these symbols (& and §) interchangeably. Can someone who's familiar with it confirm which one is correct, or if both can be used equivalently in-game? -- Orthotope 05:27, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

I think the guys who created this (Pbfy0) confused the two symbols. It should be the section sign (§). - Asterick^{6 (talk)} 20:55, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

You are correct, it should be the section sign. I just undid the changes of someone who changed the sections signs to ampersands, and changed the remaining ampersands to section signs as well. Hopefully whoever did that will leave it alone now. 83.87.133.123 16:34, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

I believe the reason some editors have made this mistake is because many bukkit servers run plugins that can change the "&" to "§" without the user even knowing, making it very easy to become confused. -- maxpowa 01:12, 15 July 2012 (UTC)

The section mark (§) is correct, but the Ampersand (&) is used in Bukkit. --10meisterbaelle (talk) 18:08, 1 April 2020 (UTC)

I can't seem to paste it on to a sign... is there a keyboard shortcut?

It's only a key on the keyboards of people in Europe... I've tried pasting AND doing the keyboard shortcut but neither of them work in minecraft (they do work in word processor programs and other text things like search engines). Anyone know how we cam make this work?

I switched to a layout that has the section sign and can still not type it, nor paste it. 166.248.64.81 03:58, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

Pasting it in works for me in Book & Quill, but not in Talk. PhilHibbs 22:28, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

There is a plugin/mod that replaces the selection sign (§) to (&).

You can type it by holding Alt, pressing number pad 2, pressing number pad 1, then releasing Alt. 12 Me 21 (talk) 19:17, 9 February 2014 (UTC)

For Mac, hold alt then hit 6. 107.130.102.163 05:09, 11 February 2015 (UTC) Whatever works for you will work for the colour coding.

From an european user with the § sign on the keyboard: Using it directly in the chat also doesn't work, like pasting. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by 90.96.128.171 (talk) at 09:19, November 30, 2016 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

As of October 26, 2019, I've gotten the § sign by holding Alt(doesn't matter which side you hold) and pressing Numpad 0, Numpad 1, Numpad 6, Numpad 7 in sequence then releasing the Alt key.--Inshomothal (talk) 16:24, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

Java edition. I don't have a numpad and none of the methods work. 96.41.17.113 10:28, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

If you're on laptop or PC, then you can look up 'section symbol', or if you're on mobile, hold in the ampersand in symbols and it should pop up with a menu at the top, as it does when you hold in most letters, the section symbol will appear in that menu. If you're on the Nintendo Switch you should go into the globe and scroll to the very bottom of the languages, go into 'Symbol', and go into section 2 (left-side menu), and in the bottom row you'll find the section symbol. 110.174.92.107 23:33, 25 May 2020 (UTC)

Java 1.18.2 and 1.12.2; Nothing works. Not pasting the §, not typing the § (both alt0167 and alt21), not pasting the entire text. Doesn't work both in books and signs, or anywhere, minecraft just ignores the § symbol specifically. What's up with that? – Unsigned comment added by 109.252.100.254 (talk) at 15:53, 14 May 2022 (UTC). Sign comments with ~~~~

Because it's being phased out slowly over time and can't be used/copied over/typed out in many areas anymore. On java edition if you want to format text in those areas you'll need to use commands and json components. Stranded at sea (talk) 18:13, 15 May 2022 (UTC)

Since Scoreboard, textcolors now have official ingame names.
(when you use /scoreboard teams option someteamname color and press TAB, you can see them) Maybe we should add it to the table like so?

217.123.123.177 19:09, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Sample	Code	Common Name	Scoreboard Name	Foreground Color				Background Color
				R	G	B	HEX	R	G	B	HEX
§0	Black	black	0	0	0	#000000	0	0	0	#000000
§1	Dark Blue	dark_blue	0	0	170	#0000AA	0	0	42	#00002A
§2	Dark Green	dark_green	0	170	0	#00AA00	0	42	0	#002A00
§3	Dark Aqua	dark_aqua	0	170	170	#00AAAA	0	42	42	#002A2A
§4	Dark Red	dark_red	170	0	0	#AA0000	42	0	0	#2A0000
§5	Purple	dark_purple	170	0	170	#AA00AA	42	0	42	#2A002A
§6	Gold	gold	255	170	0	#FFAA00	42	42	0	#2A2A00
§7	Gray	gray	170	170	170	#AAAAAA	42	42	42	#2A2A2A
§8	Dark Gray	dark_gray	85	85	85	#555555	21	21	21	#151515
§9	Indigo	blue	85	85	255	#5555FF	21	21	63	#15153F
§a	Bright Green	green	85	255	85	#55FF55	21	63	21	#153F15
§b	Aqua	aqua	85	255	255	#55FFFF	21	63	63	#153F3F
§c	Red	red	255	85	85	#FF5555	63	21	21	#3F1515
§d	Pink	light_purple	255	85	255	#FF55FF	63	21	63	#3F153F
§e	Yellow	yellow	255	255	85	#FFFF55	63	63	21	#3F3F15
§f	White	white	255	255	255	#FFFFFF	63	63	63	#3F3F3F

Since the table in the page was... griefed, I took the liberty to replace it with this one. Gotta be bold. Okay, nevermind - page reverted before I could save changes. I vote to use this table though.--186.47.176.212 00:32, 2 February 2013 (UTC)

Ah I see someone removed the common name column and made Official Name, based on the color_names in Scoreboard but written like Color Names. That's even better than my idea. 217.123.123.177 20:29, 5 February 2013 (UTC)

The color codes wont work at all for Minecraft!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WHY!75.70.47.30 00:56, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

No idea, use MCEdit, and if you want to use so many exclamation points, you should include some ones. Pokechu22 22:08, 14 February 2013 (UTC)

The Color Codes work now for Bedrock Edition. I've used them in Chat, Book & Quill, and Sign Posts.--Inshomothal (talk) 16:27, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

At the moment, entering "Color codes" redirects to this page, while "Colour codes" (which is the British way of spelling "color") does not. I think a fix would be quite useful. 87.174.225.191 15:53, 2 April 2013 (UTC)Signature

Done. Colour codes --whizzer0 16:21, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, Minecraft Wiki makers. This really helps me in my mod that I have to edit my Book and Quill. I hope this page helps most people as much as it did me! I edited it so that they could realize that you could chat in color with &[number]! --24.124.116.62 22:54, 11 April 2013 (UTC)

That's not a vanilla Minecraft function. The ampersand (&) is on modified servers. —Kanegasi ☺C 23:02, 11 April 2013 (UTC)

Euyup good but hard

192.168.98.65 02:46, 12 April 2013 (UTC) I need minecraft school

I somehow got to write in the error code writing but I can't do the color writing!

192.168.98.65 02:49, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

Hiya. I was wondering what the type of code used for the server.properties file is for formatting codes, as I'm trying to figure out how to input characters such as the em dash (—) and others into my multiplayer MOTD. Or, better yet, if you know how to do that specifically, even better. Thanks! --64.187.231.76 01:02, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

When I use alt code in Minecraft, the numpad acts as arrow keys instead of numbers. I can use it outside Minecraft, but not in Minecraft. --13sparx13 10:57, 13 September 2013 (UTC)

Make sure you have your NumLock turned on, otherwise it doesn't work (in a book and quill that is). C4an7 (talk) 17:09, 23 December 2013 (UTC)

Apparently, Mojang is slowly moving away from supporting § as a formatting symbol, as stated here by Dinnerbone: https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MC-33145?focusedCommentId=111521&page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel#comment-111521

Should we mention this in the article?

—Hartspoon (talk) 18:15, 15 December 2013 (UTC)

In 2019 Mojang still is supporting the § symbol.--Inshomothal (talk) 16:29, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

I'm just wondering; how can I edit the Minecraft files so that I can add more colors? I'm very confused. -Jack –Preceding unsigned comment was added by 99.29.6.139 (talk) at 22:21, 22 August 2014 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

No, you cannot. LB^(T|C) 06:42, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

The table currently reads that the Gold background color is 42,42,0 - however, looking at the pattern with the rest of the table, should it not be 127,42,0? LB^(T|C) 06:43, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

No, the table actually is correct as it is. There's a line of code that specifically brightens the red component of color 6, making it gold instead of olive (#AAAA00). The corresponding background is color 22, so it isn't changed and follows the pattern of the other background colors. Take a look at the class initializer of FontRenderer.java if you want to see the details of how the colors are calculated. -- Orthotope^talk 21:27, 18 September 2014 (UTC)

The wiki says it does. I tested multiple times. Latest as of 1.8

Nmoleo64 (talk) 19:10, 7 December 2015 (UTC)

Works just fine in the latest version. If you're using mods, that's likely the issue. Otherwise double-check that you're using resource packs correctly. Skylinerw (talk) 19:26, 7 December 2015 (UTC)

No mods. it just doesn't work. Nmoleo64 (talk) 22:35, 7 December 2015 (UTC)

you are not able to use § in minecraft 1.9.4. but you are able to use & so it is more useful if the table up there was using & not § –Preceding unsigned comment was added by Bbraun02 (talk • contribs) at 22:23, 06 June 2016 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

You are not in vanilla. Skylinerw (talk) 22:29, 6 June 2016 (UTC)

Minor changes made by --10meisterbaelle (talk) 18:10, 1 April 2020 (UTC)

As of right now, it is possible to use § in commands without the use of external editors. If you place a sign with a click event, with the unicode combination \u00A7, you can use § in basically any command, allowing for uses such as coloured entity names and scoreboard objective names. Should the page be updated to reflect this (or is it just a bug that should be reported)? ~ CreepaShadowz (talk) 06:18, 10 August 2017 (UTC)

Does this page only apply to the Java Edition or can these formatting codes also be applied in the Bedrock Edition? –Goandgoo ᐸ Talk
Contribs 11:14, 1 October 2017 (UTC)

They're used in Bedrock Edition and can be used everywhere freely without the use of external editors. This page should probably be updated to reflect that. --Pepijn (talk) 07:49, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

I want to know what a code to put player name to show in a book

Thx :) – Unsigned comment added by 124.122.147.247 (talk) at 15:37, 8 December 2017‎ (UTC). Sign comments with ~~~~

Note that the & symbol can and will substitute the § symbol. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by 73.208.148.54 (talk) at 22:41, 03 May 2018 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

As noted in several places on this talk page, that only works on modded servers. -- Orthotope^talk 22:46, 3 May 2018 (UTC)

I tried lots of times entering the § symbol, and I made sure Num Lock was on, I tried on a book and quill, and all I got was a 7 and 0 constantly switching between each other. Please tell me why this won't work.–Preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.175.37.107 (talk) at 1:09, 25 January 2019 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

it doesn't work --10meisterbaelle (talk) 18:11, 1 April 2020 (UTC)

The article makes it seem like formatting book text can still be done in Java edition 1.14 but that does not seem to be the case anymore. The article should be updated to reflect that fact. Polartwins (talk) 04:46, 28 June 2019 (UTC)

It's no longer available in-game in Java; it's only available in text files like pack.mcmeta or server.properties. – Nixinova 👁 Image
 👁 Image
05:20, 28 June 2019 (UTC)

For some reason §m and §n just, don't work, they'll be grayed-out (like working section sign formatting) but will just display normal text. 172.58.143.134 18:34, 3 January 2020 (UTC)

Because it may be in Bedrock Edition. Android 1123581321 (talk) 09:14, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

What are all the characters that §k can be? It definitely uses more than just ASCII.  Nixinova  T  C  06:12, 1 February 2020 (UTC)

I don't know about that, but this may still related to '§k' symbol.

If I type '§k§∆', then it converted to just a dot, eg: '§k§∆exp' shown as '...'. ImakerB (talk) 12:11, 1 February 2020 (UTC)

Hey FYI bedrock has an additional color: §g. It looks like this: https://web.archive.org/web/20230508183014/https://i.imgur.com/BTUnOZr.png Add this to the page if you want - tryashtar (talk) 21:32, 4 February 2020 (UTC)

The string name is "minecoin_gold". Not entirely sure when this was added. Hex code for the colour is #DDD605 Suprememortal (talk) 22:52, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

The issue is that Bedrock appears to not have the background colors. It's a question of how we want to deal with that. Rs mind (talk) 19:45, 22 July 2020 (UTC)

Both can be used i think. ampersand is for server – Unsigned comment added by 219.94.47.57 (talk) at 07:01, 29 February 2020‎ (UTC). Sign comments with ~~~~

Ampersand is not used in vanilla, which is what this wiki concerns. Skylinerw (talk) 22:18, 7 March 2020 (UTC)

Hi, I would like some help as I am making an SMP server and want to use coloured signs, but it won't work! Please help!

Info: PC, Java Edition, 3rd party server (owned by me), snapshot 21w19a.

Derpguy41 (talk) 01:51, 15 May 2021 (UTC)

That's probably because the section sign is being phased out: MC-190605

You will instead need to use json text formatting to add things like color, obfuscation, etc. to signs/books/etc. (if using commands to make them). If not using commands, then the only option is clicking on signs with dyes, although that colors all text rather than allowing multicolored text. Stranded at sea (talk) 20:12, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

Can anyone add information about the use of hex colors added in 1.16? I've seen smooth gradients on servers.

While looking very closely at screenshots of formatted text, I noticed that there is a very small color difference between the Wiki's colors and colors from screenshots of Minecraft (Java Edition). Does anyone know why this is happening?

• dark_blue - Wiki:
   #0000AA; Screenshot:
   #0000A8
• dark_green - Wiki:
   #00AA00; Screenshot:
   #00A800
• dark_aqua - Wiki:
   #00AAAA; Screenshot:
   #00A8A8
• dark_red - Wiki:
   #AA0000; Screenshot:
   #A80000
• dark_purple - Wiki:
   #AA00AA; Screenshot:
   #A800A8
• gold - Wiki:
   #FFAA00; Screenshot:
   #FCA800
• gray - Wiki:
   #AAAAAA; Screenshot:
   #A8A8A8
• dark_gray - Wiki:
   #555555; Screenshot:
   #545454
• blue - Wiki:
   #5555FF; Screenshot:
   #545454FC
• green - Wiki:
   #55FF55; Screenshot:
   #54FC54
• aqua - Wiki:
   #55FFFF; Screenshot:
   #54FCFC
• red - Wiki:
   #FF5555; Screenshot:
   #FC5454
• light_purple - Wiki:
   #FF55FF; Screenshot:
   #FC54FC
• yellow - Wiki:
   #FFFF55; Screenshot:
   #FCFC54
• white - Wiki:
   #FFFFFF; Screenshot:
   #FCFCFC

This does not happen with any other UI elements. - CrowdingFaun624 (talk) 08:21, 28 January 2023 (UTC)

On Preview 1.20.0.25, the /title command is a place where the text has a background to it. I tested this with the new material-based colors, and noticed that they had backgrounds as well.

I think these are the background colors for the material colors:

Formatting code	Color name	Hex color of background
§h	material_quartz	#383534
§i	material_iron	#333232
§j	material_netherite	#110e0e
§m	material_redstone	#250501
§n	material_copper	#2d1a13
§p	material_gold	#372c0b
§q	material_emerald	#04280d
§s	material_diamond	#0b2e2a
§t	material_lapis	#08121e
§u	material_amethyst	#261731

Can somebody verify these in Bedrock edition to make sure? -Bry10022 (Contribs) 19:42, 19 May 2023 (UTC)

Yeah, It works! :D ItsDrCat (talk) 00:07, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

Basically as above. External programmes aren't needed to add formatting to everything that Bedrock Edition can do; the section sign (§) followed by a code still does it, the section sign just appears as invisible when you're typing. You'll know the section sign is in there when the code you type afterwards also appears as invisible. Have no idea how long this has been the case, but it's operational in both 1.19 and 1.20 from my testing.

--HypnoBlaze (talk) 01:02, 1 August 2023 (UTC)

This is on a Fabric server!

I wanted to add colours to the motd of a server i sometimes host.

i used the escape code, but it looks like the game changed the server.properties file to use section signs.

That kinda tells me it can handle section signs just fine now. This was on a 1.20.1 FABRIC server JAR.

Can someone look more into this

Spudpiggy (talk) 14:00, 1 October 2023 (UTC)

In the latest version of Pocket Edition, these formatting codes only work on the "(world name) saved" window. Please change it so there's a reference that says that. 108.30.93.34 05:07, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

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