Minecraft:Sign

A sign is a non-solid Minecraft:block that can display text, and can be placed on the top or side of other blocks. The text of signs can be customized with Minecraft:dyes and Minecraft:glow ink sacs, and they can be Minecraft:waxed to prevent its text from being edited by any player.

Obtaining

Breaking

Signs can be broken with any tool or without a tool, but an Minecraft:axe is fastest. Template:Breaking row

A sign also breaks and drops itself as an Minecraft:item if the block the sign is attached to is moved, removed or destroyed.

Natural generation

An oak sign can be found in Minecraft:igloo basements. Spruce signs can be found in taiga Minecraft:village houses, as part of a chair but the sign says nothing.

Usage

Signs can be used to display text; they can be used to label storage, display information to other players or note areas of interest. Signs are also not destroyed by Minecraft:water or Minecraft:lava and therefore may be used to control the flow of these fluids.

Placement

Signs may be placed on the top or side of other Minecraft:blocks (including semi-solid and non-solid blocks such as Minecraft:fences, Minecraft:trapdoors and other signs). To place a sign, Template:Control a sign Minecraft:item while pointing at the block the sign should be attached to, enter the desired text (or none), and click the "Done" button,Template:Only press anywhere outside the sign texture,Template:Only, press "escape" on a keyboard, or Template:Xbtn on an Xbox controller, Template:Psbtn on a PlayStation controller, or Template:Nsbutton on a Nintendo Switch controller. Closing the virtual keyboard on a mobile device also exits the typing menu. To place a sign on a block that can be interacted with by the Template:Control control (for example, Minecraft:chests, Minecraft:note blocks, etc.), Template:Control while placing the sign.

Signs on the top of a block stand on a short post and face toward the player who placed it, in any of 16 different directions. Signs placed on the side of a block simply float there, even if the block doesn't make contact with the sign.

For more information about the blocks signs can be placed on, see Minecraft:Opacity/Placement.

Text

File:Oak Sign GUI.png

Sign GUI Template:In

File:Sign GUI BE.png

Sign GUI Template:In

Placing a sign opens an editor interface resembling a magnified view of the sign. Up to four lines of text can then be entered using a keyboard (hardware or on-screen). The editor supports limited editing, including moving the cursor and inserting and deleting characters. Template:IN, Minecraft:formatting codes with § can also be used to apply decorative effects such as color, bold, italic and obfuscated to various bits of the text.

Text can be added to the back side of a sign by interacting with that side of the sign after placing it and editing the front.

Signs can be waxed by Template:Control a Minecraft:honeycomb on it. Once waxed, a sign cannot be unwaxed or edited without being broken and placed down again or by using commands like /data.

After placing and affixing text on a sign, a player can change the text color by Template:Control a Minecraft:dye on it. When colored with dye, the text color may differ from any color specified by formatting codes. These values are hard-coded in the game's code, each dye color maps to one of these. The dye color on the sign's face is applied to all 4 lines of text. Any text that has been colored with Minecraft:text component format overwrites this color, effectively making the 'dye' color be used as a base color for any unstyled text.

File:Glow Ink Sign with Orange Dye JE2.png

Oak sign with glow ink and orange dye applied in Template:JE.

A player can Template:Control a Minecraft:glow ink sac on a sign to make its text glow and have an outline. The glowing text is not affected by lighting. The player can use a regular black Minecraft:ink sac on the sign to remove the glowing effect. If the text has been colored with Minecraft:text component format the glow outline still shows the default white or the color of underlying dye that was used on the sign.

In Minecraft:Creative mode, the combination Template:Key + Template:Control on Windows/Linux, or Template:Key + Template:Control on macOS, can be used to copy an already-placed sign, including its text (with decorations), into the player's inventory.

A dyed sign facing east or west has text that appears more saturated and bright than a sign facing north or south. However, it is actually the sign that is dimmer, because Minecraft's lighting engine uses side lighting to make the world appear less flat, but the text on signs is not affected by this.

Template:IN and on Java Minecraft:Realms, inappropriate words or phrases in a sign's text are displayed as hashtags if the "Filter Profanity" setting is enabled.

Template:IN, signs can be created with Minecraft:text components, which allows complex formatting (colors, bold, italic, etc.), hover and click events, localized translation (for Minecraft technical terms, like "Redstone Repeater", otherwise translations must be provided in language files in resource packs), and the incorporation of scoreboard values into text. Use the Template:Cmd command to create or alter text component-based signs.

Example: Template:Cmd

Signs can post the success count of text hover and click events to Minecraft:scoreboard objectives. The objectives to be used can be specified by running the Template:Cmd command or by modifying the sign's NBT data directly with the Template:Cmd command.

Interaction

Signs can be edited after being placed by Template:Control them, which opens the edit sign message GUI.

Signs are destroyed and drop as an item when pushed by a Minecraft:piston.Template:Only

Signs are non-solid and have no collision, so Minecraft:items and Minecraft:mobs can move through sign blocks. Other Minecraft:blocks (including other signs) can be placed on any edge of a sign.

Minecraft:Water and Minecraft:lava flow around signs. Lava can create Minecraft:fire in Minecraft:air blocks next to signs as if the signs were flammable, but the signs do not burn (and cannot be burned by other methods either, except Template:In).

Fuel

Overworld signs can be used as a fuel in Minecraft:furnaces, smelting an Minecraft:item per sign. Nether signs (crimson and warped), cannot be used as fuel in a furnace.

Sounds

Unique

Template:Edition: Template:SoundTable

Data values

ID

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

Template:Edition: Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table2 Template:ID table Template:ID table Template:ID table Template:ID table Template:ID table Template:ID table Template:ID table Template:ID table Template:ID table Template:ID table Template:ID table Template:ID table Template:ID table

Block states

Template:See also Template:El:

Standing

Wall

Template:El:

Standing

Wall

Block data

A sign has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

Template:El: Template:See also

<section begin="block data" />

• Template:Nbt Block entity data
  • Template:Nbt inherit/blockentity
  • Template:Nbt: 1 or 0 (Template:Cd/Template:Cd), defaults to Template:Cd. Template:Cd if the text is locked with Minecraft:honeycomb. Represents the Template:DCLTemplate:Upcoming component.
  • Template:Nbt:Template:Upcoming 1 or 0 (Template:Cd/Template:Cd), defaults to Template:Cd. If Template:Cd, the sign will execute Template:Cd, Template:Cd, and Template:Cd click events from Template:Nbt or Template:Nbt when the relevant side of the sign is Template:Control. Only events on the root component of each line will be executed; click events in nested text components are ignored. Unlike the normal behavior of Template:Cd, commands are not limited by chat restrictions. Commands run with Minecraft:permission level 2 (like Minecraft:command blocks), at the center of the sign block, and as the player who clicked.
  • Template:Nbt: A compound that describes front text. Represents the Template:DCLTemplate:Upcoming component.
    • Template:Nbt inherit/sign text object
  • Template:Nbt: A compound that describes back text. Represents the Template:DCLTemplate:Upcoming component.
    • Template:Nbt inherit/sign text object

• Template:Nbt Block entity data
  • Template:Nbt inherit/blockentity
  • Template:Nbt: 1 or 0 (true/false) - true if the sign has been dyed with a Minecraft:glow ink sac.
  • Template:Nbt: The color that has been used to dye the sign. The default value is "black". One of "white", "orange", "magenta", "light_blue", "yellow", "lime", "pink", "gray", "light_gray", "cyan", "purple", "blue", "brown", "green", "red", or "black".
  • Template:Nbt: First row of text.
  • Template:Nbt: Second row of text.
  • Template:Nbt: Third row of text.
  • Template:Nbt: Fourth row of text.

Template:Collapse<section end="block data" />

Template:El:

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

History

Gallery

Screenshots

• All signs and hanging signs
  All signs and hanging signs
• Test of signs in early Minecraft:Java Edition Classic (Minecraft:0.24 SURVIVAL TEST 03)
  Test of signs in early Minecraft:Java Edition Classic (Minecraft:0.24 SURVIVAL TEST 03)
• Oak sign with glow ink in the dark in Minecraft:Java Edition 21w03a
  Oak sign with glow ink in the dark in Minecraft:Java Edition 21w03a
• Difference in visibility of a lime text, from left to right, in a lit birch sign, unlit birch sign, lit dark oak sign, and unlit dark oak sign
  Difference in visibility of a lime text, from left to right, in a lit birch sign, unlit birch sign, lit dark oak sign, and unlit dark oak sign
• The comparison between glow text and non-glow text
  The comparison between glow text and non-glow text
• Shading differences
  Signs being different shades depending on orientation
• All sixteen colors of glow text
  All sixteen colors of glow text
• Showcase of different ways to style a sign using a dye and a glow ink, text formatting, and a set of Unicode characters to use as an alternative font
  Showcase of different ways to style a sign using a dye and a glow ink, text formatting, and a set of Unicode characters to use as an alternative font

Mojang screenshots

• Test of signs in early Classic (Minecraft:0.24)
  Test of signs in early Classic (Minecraft:0.24)
• First image of sign blocks during Infdev
  First image of sign blocks during Infdev
• First image of signs on Minecraft:Pocket Edition (v0.6.0 alpha)
  First image of signs on Minecraft:Pocket Edition (v0.6.0 alpha)
• Ditto, with only a sign in hand
  Ditto, with only a sign in hand
• First image of text editing on Pocket Edition, iOS version
  First image of text editing on Pocket Edition, iOS version
• First image of text editing on Pocket Edition, Android version
  First image of text editing on Pocket Edition, Android version
• A sign placed on a door, tweeted by Minecraft:Jens Bergensten (Jeb) as an apparent response image on April 5, 2013
  A sign placed on a door, tweeted by Minecraft:Jens Bergensten (Jeb) as an apparent response image on April 5, 2013
• Minecraft:Searge testing blockdata on a sign to dynamically change its labeling (January 10, 2014)
  Minecraft:Searge testing blockdata on a sign to dynamically change its labeling (January 10, 2014)
• First image of a sign using JSON text, posted by Searge on June 9, 2014
  First image of a sign using JSON text, posted by Searge on June 9, 2014
• First image of a sign using width based character limits, posted by Searge on June 14, 2014
  First image of a sign using width based character limits, posted by Searge on June 14, 2014
• A sign being broken in a "Breaking news!" tweet by Minecraft:Ryan Holtz (TheMogMiner) on July 16, 2014
  A sign being broken in a "Breaking news!" tweet by Minecraft:Ryan Holtz (TheMogMiner) on July 16, 2014
• Visibility test on a dark oak sign with black text, tweeted by Minecraft:Dinnerbone on October 15, 2018
  Visibility test on a dark oak sign with black text, tweeted by Minecraft:Dinnerbone on October 15, 2018
• Ditto, but with a white text on a dark oak sign (which appears like "an ugly grey" due to lighting)
  Ditto, but with a white text on a dark oak sign (which appears like "an ugly grey" due to lighting)
• Minecraft blog header of a sign pointing to a creeper in "Taking Inventory: Sign" (January 9, 2020)
  Minecraft blog header of a sign pointing to a creeper in "Taking Inventory: Sign" (January 9, 2020)
• Screenshot of the crafting recipe for a sign in "Taking Inventory: Sign"
  Screenshot of the crafting recipe for a sign in "Taking Inventory: Sign"
• Minecraft:Kingbdogz showing off signs with glowing ink in several colors (May 27, 2021)
  Minecraft:Kingbdogz showing off signs with glowing ink in several colors (May 27, 2021)
• Minecraft:Cory Scheviak (Cojomax) showing off more signs with glowing ink (May 27, 2021)
  Minecraft:Cory Scheviak (Cojomax) showing off more signs with glowing ink (May 27, 2021)
• A bamboo sign with a "bamboo shrek shitpost" by Minecraft 2D/UI artist Nekofresa, which appeared at Minecraft:Minecraft Live 2022
  A bamboo sign with a "bamboo shrek shitpost" by Minecraft 2D/UI artist Nekofresa, which appeared at Minecraft:Minecraft Live 2022
• "This is a post of a post that says this is a post", promotional screenshot on the Minecraft X (Twitter) posted on February 6, 2025
  "This is a post of a post that says this is a post", promotional screenshot on the Minecraft X (Twitter) posted on February 6, 2025

In other media

• A sign in Template:Amcm
  A sign in Template:Amcm
• A Minecraft:copper golem holding up a sign promoting Minecraft:Minecraft LIVE – September 2025
  A Minecraft:copper golem holding up a sign promoting Minecraft:Minecraft LIVE – September 2025

See also

• Minecraft:Chalkboard
• Minecraft:Hanging Sign

External links

• Template:Mcnet