Minecraft – How to change sign text color in Minecraft

minecraft-commandsminecraft-java-edition

I have gone through every single website and video to try to make a sign with colored text, but nothing works. Can anyone help me to get a sign to say:

Place Block(dark blue and bold text)

I really want this for a map I am making and I need help.

Best Answer

What to use

It is common to use /blockdata for changing placed sign data. So, we will use it for now. The syntax of /blockdata is /blockdata [x] [y] [z] [dataInJSON]. Note that we use JSON formatting for text.

Basic for sign

To input a text with /blockdata, we will use Text1 tag. To write "Hello World" into the first line of the sign, simply just do /blockdata [x] [y] [z] {Text1:"{\"text\":\"Hello World\"}"}. The quotes is there for JSON formatting. If you need multiple line to display, use either Text2, Text3 or Text4.

Coloring

There is a way to change color of the sign using the color sub tag. There is a lot selection of color. Here is all of the available one:

gold
red
dark_red
yellow
dark_purple
light_purple
aqua
dark_aqua
black
white
green
dark_green
blue
dark_blue

For writing "Hello World" in aqua, you write

/blockdata [x] [y] [z] {Text1:"{\"text\":\"Hello World\",\"color\":\"aqua\"}"}

into a command block. It will change the sign with the first line saying "Hello World" on aqua.

Bold

For bold text, you use bold sub-tag. This sub-tag is a boolean, meaning the value can be only true or false for example:

/blockdata [x] [y] [z] {Text1:"{\"text\":\"Hello World\",\"bold\":true}"}

will give you a sign with text "Hello World" with bold.

The real answer

Type this into a command block changing [x], [y], and [z] into the coords of the sign:

/blockdata [x] [y] [z] {Text1:"{\"text\":\"Place Block\",\"color\":\"dark_blue\",\"bold\":true}"}

Full list for Raw JSON tags

Disclaimer

The section symbol is deprecated. You should avoid using it as much as possible and be aware that it will not work in the future. It is being replaced by the JSON text component, which is already supported by chat (accessible with /tellraw), book pages, sign text, and the /title command.

In-game with signs

Because sign text supports the text component, it also supports unicode characters (declared as \u####). The character for the section symbol is \u00A7.

You would use the sign to run a clickEvent that provides you with a command block that uses the section symbol at the appropriate location in its syntax. You'd then place the command block where needed.

Note that this will only work for signs because it's the sign running the command, rather than the player being forced the run the command in the chat like with /tellraw or book pages. The player would otherwise be kicked for trying to type the section symbol.

Example command:

/setblock ~ ~1 ~ minecraft:standing_sign 0 replace {Text1:"[\"\"]",Text2:"[\"\"]",Text3:"[\"\"]",Text4:"{\"text\":\"Click\",\"clickEvent\":{\"action\":\"run_command\",\"value\":\"/give @p minecraft:command_block 1 0 {BlockEntityTag:{Command:/summon Item ~ ~1 ~ {Item:{id:\\\"minecraft:stone\\\",Count:1b,tag:{display:{Name:\\\"\u00A71Custom Name\\\"}}}}}}\"}}"}

Using loot tables

A custom loot table can be created to provide you with a command block containing the section symbol, which can be pasted into the JSON file directly.

For example, the following would provide the necessary command block that you'd place where desired:

{
    "pools": [
        {
            "rolls": 1,
            "entries": [
                {
                    "type": "item",
                    "name": "minecraft:command_block",
                    "weight": 1,
                    "functions": [
                        {
                            "function": "minecraft:set_nbt",
                            "tag": "{BlockEntityTag:{Command:/summon Item ~ ~1 ~ {Item:{id:\"minecraft:stone\",Count:1b,tag:{display:{Name:\"§1Custom Name\"}}}}}}"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

The command to place the chest containing the command block (assuming filepath world_name/data/loot_tables/custom/cmd.json):

/setblock ~ ~1 ~ minecraft:chest 0 replace {LootTable:"custom:cmd"}

Third-party tools (MCEdit, NBTExplorer)

You can modify the command block that contains the /summon command using either of these programs to contain the section symbol at the desired spot in its syntax.

Using MCEdit, you'd locate the command block, double-click it, and paste the section symbol and color code within the command itself.

With NBTExplorer, you would need to locate the command block first by copy/pasting into the program's Search tool. You would then double-click the Command value and paste the section symbol at the appropriate location.

Minecraft – getting an ‘unexpected token’ error with this Minecraft /give command

You need to add more escape characters to deeper-nested quotation marks. You open the Text1 tag with a ", thus the very next " character closes it. You open the value tag for the click event with \", meaning the next \" you use will close it, which occurs in your nested /give command's NBT data (specifically just after the Name tag). That it what's causing your issue.

The formula to determine the number of backslashes required is: 2n+1, where n is the number of current backslashes. For the nested NBT data, you need 3 backslashes per quotation mark (\\\").

Fixed command:

/give @p sign 1 0 {BlockEntityTag:{Text1:"{\"text\":\"[Sell]\",\"color\":\"dark_purple\",\"bold\":true,\"clickEvent\":{\"action\":\"run_command\",\"value\":\"clear @p[name=rainbowlack,r=3] cactus 0 2304\"}}",Text2:"{\"text\":\"2304 Cacti\",\"color\":\"red\",\"clickEvent\":{\"action\":\"run_command\",\"value\":\"give @p[name=rainbowlack,r=3] minecraft:cookie 18 0 {display:{Name:\\\"$100 Cookie\\\",Lore:[$100]}}\"}}",Text3:"{\"text\":\"iIiIiIi\",\"color\":\"light_purple\",\"strikethrough\":true,\"obfuscated\":true}",Text4:"{\"text\":\"[Sell]\",\"color\":\"dark_purple\",\"bold\":true}"},display:{Name:"Custom Sign"}}