Minecraft:Piston

Template:For Template:Earth hatnote Template:Infobox block A piston is a Minecraft:block capable of pushing most Minecraft:entities and blocks when given a Minecraft:redstone signal.

Some blocks cannot be moved, break when pushed or have other interactions with pistons. A piston can move up to twelve blocks at once.

Obtaining

Breaking

A piston can be broken using any Minecraft:tool with equal efficiency, and always drops itself. It is faster to break them with a Minecraft:pickaxe. The pickaxe is also the preferred tool for breaking the head when extended.<ref>Template:Bug</ref> Template:Breaking row

Usage

Redstone component

Pistons are always placed facing toward the player. When powered, the piston's wooden surface (the "head") tries to start extending after a start delay. The extension takes Template:Convert to finish. When it extends, it pushes at most 12 blocks. The piston makes a sound that can be heard within a 31×31×31 cube centered on the activating piston. Any entities in the path of an extending piston (or any block it might be moving) are pushed along, when possible. If the entities cannot be moved, the block is pushed inside them, suffocating Minecraft:mobs when pushed into their Minecraft:eye height (assuming said block is solid).

When a piston loses power, its head retracts. Like the extension, the retraction starts after a start delay and takes Template:Convert to finish.

Template:IN, a piston that is de-powered during the extension process aborts its extension and starts to retract (assuming it can detect the signal change). Any block which was being pushed by that piston continues to move as if the piston was still pushing it.

A piston that pushes a Minecraft:slime block bounces any entity that it displaces in the direction the piston is facing. Entities on top of a moving Minecraft:honey block, or any other moving block,Template:Only will also move with it. In addition, when a slime block or a honey block is moved by a piston, any movable block adjacent (not diagonally) to it also moves. See § Sticky blocks for more details.

Template:IN, blocks that require a support (such as levers) can be placed on the back or sides of a piston without being destroyed when that piston extends. Template:IN, on the other hand, the majority of blocks that require a support are only safe to place on the back of pistons.

Template:IN, comparators can read the fullness of containers through pistons, despite them not being Minecraft:conductive.

Powering pistons

File:Stacked pistons powered by one redstone line.png

Pistons powered by one line of redstone.

Pistons can be activated from any side, excluding from the head.

Template:IN, redstone dust gets automatically redirected toward pistons if placed next to them (except for the head's side).

Start delay

A piston won't extend or retract immediately when it is activated: this phenomenon is known as "start delay".

Edition	Start delay	Notes
Java	0 or 1 game tick	0 ticks if powered during the scheduled tick, random tick or block event phase; 1 tick if powered during the entity or block entity phase, or during player input handling.
Bedrock	Fixed 2 game ticks	Activation occurs only on a consume tick (Minecraft:C-tick).

Template:IN, the start delay can be 0 (activation in the same tick) or Template:Convert (activation in the next tick) depending on the game process in which the piston is powered:

• If the piston is powered and updated in the scheduled tick phase, Minecraft:random tick phase or block event phase, the piston activates in this game tick's block event phase, which means the start delay in this case is 0.
• If the piston is powered and updated during the Minecraft:entity phase or the Minecraft:block entity phase, or by player actions, the piston activates in the next game tick's block event phase, which means the start delay in this case is 1 tick. Notably, because blocks pushed by pistons arrive during the block entity phase (except when dropped by a sticky piston), in a chain of pistons each pushing a redstone block to activate the next, successive activations will happen 3 ticks apart.

Template:IN, the start delay is fixed at Template:Convert, meaning that the piston starts to extend or retract 2 game ticks after it is activated. Pistons can only activate on the input/consumer redstone tick (Minecraft:C-tick).

Quasi-Connectivity

Template:See also Template:Exclusive Template:Schematic Pistons can be powered from one block above compared to most redstone components: this property is called Minecraft:quasi-connectivity (QC). With quasi-connectivity, a piston facing up can also be powered from the head's direction, which is otherwise impossible. Due to quasi-connectivity, a piston facing up that has a Minecraft:block of redstone on top of itself can extend but not retract: this happens because after the piston extends, it keeps receiving power from the redstone block.

Quasi-connectivity can be used to make a BUD switch, taking advantage of the fact that a piston powered through QC doesn't always get immediately updated.

Soft inversion

Template:See also Template:Exclusive Template:Schematic When a piston that has a Minecraft:redstone torch attached to it is powered, the redstone torch turns off, and when said piston is depowered, the redstone torch turns back on: this property is called Minecraft:soft inversion.<ref>Template:Bug</ref><ref>"Explaining soft inversion: the Minecraft Bedrock Redstone bug that won't get fixed" – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUgKXTsLOA0</ref> Since soft inversion works even if the piston is being powered indirectly through a block, it can be used to toggle the state of a redstone torch from farther away compared to other powering methods. It's still possible to take advantage of soft inversion even if the piston cannot extend or retract.

Sticky blocks

Template:Schematic Slime and honey blocks are sticky: when either block is moved by a piston, adjacent (non-diagonal) blocks stick to and move with it.Template:Note For example, a slime block sitting on the ground attempts to move the ground block underneath itself, which in turn has to push additional ground blocks in the direction of motion just as if they were being pushed directly by a piston. The same occurs when a sticky block is moved by another adjacent sticky block of the same kind. For example, a 2×2×2 cube of honey blocks may be pushed as a single unit by a piston acting on any of the blocks in the cube. Any block that cannot be moved or can be broken by a piston does not stick to sticky blocks. However, if an adjacent block could be moved but is prevented from being moved by the presence of an immovable block, the sticky block is prevented from moving as well, and the piston does not extend.

Slime and honey blocks do not stick to each other. This allows redstone contraptions to use alternating slime and honey blocks side by side without interfering with each other.

Slime and honey blocks' stickiness is unilateral. They can't be pulled by a non-Minecraft:sticky piston, and they are not moved if an adjacent (non-sticky) block is moved by a piston. The maximum of 12 blocks moved by a piston still applies. For example, a 2×2×3 structure of slime blocks may be pushed by a piston as long as no other movable block is adjacent to it. A piston cannot move itself via a "hook" constructed of sticky blocks, but Minecraft:flying machines can be created with multiple pistons.

Minecraft:Glazed terracotta and the Minecraft:heavy coreTemplate:Only do not stick to adjacent slime or honey blocks, even though they can be pushed by pistons.

Sculk detection

Pistons emit vibrations detectable by Minecraft:sculk sensors. A Minecraft:calibrated sculk sensor tuned to signal strength 10 detects piston retraction; strength 11 detects extension; strength 12 detects a block broken by a piston.

Limitations

Pistons cannot push:

• Blocks listed as such in the table below.
• Blocks into the Minecraft:void or above the Minecraft:build limit.
• More than 12 blocks at once.
• Template:IN, blocks beyond the Minecraft:world border.

If the requirements for a block to be pushed are not met, the piston will not extend.

Piston/Table

Technical components

Template:Main Pistons have 2 technical blocks that cannot be obtained. These include the piston head and moving piston blocks.

Sounds

Generic

Template:Edition: Template:Sound table/Block/Stone/JE Template:Edition (piston): Template:Sound table/Block/Stone/BE Template:Edition (arm): Template:Sound table/Block/Normal/BE

Unique

Piston/Sounds

Data values

ID

Template:Edition: Template:ID table

Template:Edition: Template:ID table Template:ID table

Block states

Template:See also The piston block uses following block states:

<section begin="block states"/>Template:El: Template:Bst Template:Bst

Template:El: Template:Bst<section end="block states"/>

Block data

Template:Exclusive Template:IN, a piston has a Minecraft:block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

See Minecraft:Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.

History

Trivia

• Mojang stated that the 12-block push limit for pistons would not be changed, because "the current limitations are by design".<ref>

Template:Cite </ref>

• Carpets can be placed on top of moving blocks.

Gallery

Screenshots

• Fundamental logic gates, implemented purely with pistons and Minecraft:redstone repeaters, clockwise from upper left: AND, OR, XOR, and NOT
  Fundamental logic gates, implemented purely with pistons and Minecraft:redstone repeaters, clockwise from upper left: AND, OR, XOR, and NOT
• Slow clock generator with pistons and redstone
  Slow clock generator with pistons and redstone
• An example of a piston-controlled waterflow
  An example of a piston-controlled waterflow

Mojang screenshots

• First screenshot of pistons
  First screenshot of pistons
• Another screenshot of in-development pistons
  Another screenshot of in-development pistons
• Light shining through an extended piston
  Light shining through an extended piston
• Redstone connecting to pistons in Bedrock Edition
  Redstone connecting to pistons in Bedrock Edition
• A piston being crafted with a fish. This is a joke about the piston sounds heard in Java Edition 24w20a, which have been said to sound wet.
  A piston being crafted with a fish. This is a joke about the piston sounds heard in Java Edition 24w20a, which have been said to sound wet.
• "Minecraft:Makena tinkering with a Redstone contraption made up of Pistons pushing a Lime Wool block"<ref>Template:Mcnet</ref>
  "Minecraft:Makena tinkering with a Redstone contraption made up of Pistons pushing a Lime Wool block"<ref>Template:Mcnet</ref>

Concept artwork

• Notch's explanation on how the rod (a full block long when extended) fits into the piston box (whose depth is a block minus the face's thickness)<ref>Template:Tweet</ref>
  Notch's explanation on how the rod (a full block long when extended) fits into the piston box (whose depth is a block minus the face's thickness)<ref>Template:Tweet</ref>

In other media

• Artwork of an incorrectly-rotated piston connected to a Minecraft:lever via Minecraft:redstone dust
  Artwork of an incorrectly-rotated piston connected to a Minecraft:lever via Minecraft:redstone dust
• Pistons as they appear in Minecraft: Shape Your World
  Pistons as they appear in Minecraft: Shape Your World
• Pistons as they appear in Template:AMCM.
  Pistons as they appear in Template:AMCM.
• A duo dressed as a piston and Minecraft:End crystal
  A duo dressed as a piston and Minecraft:End crystal

See also

• Minecraft:Slime block
• Minecraft:Redstone
• Minecraft:Tutorial:Piston uses
• Minecraft:Tutorial:Headless pistons
• Minecraft:Mechanics/Redstone/Piston circuits

External links

• Template:Mcnet