Dispenser

"Fill one with arrows and it becomes a deadly trap. Fill one with water buckets and it becomes an irrigation system. Fill one with boats and it becomes a drydock. Position a dispenser just so, and you can use it to barf out a pumpkin onto a T-shaped stack of iron, and so create a golem (or, if you fancy a challenge, have it deposit a wither skeleton skull onto a pile of soul sand)."

- Duncan Geere

A dispenser is a solid block used as a redstone component to dispense items.

Natural generation
Two dispensers are naturally generated in every jungle temple.

Obtaining
A dispenser can be mined using any pickaxe. If mined without a pickaxe, it drops nothing.

Usage
A dispenser can be used as a container and as a redstone component which dispenses items when activated, with results varying on the item dispensed.

To place a dispenser, it while pointing at a surface adjacent to the space it should occupy. A dispenser can be placed so that its output faces in any direction, including up or down. When placed, a dispenser always faces towards the player placing it.

A dispenser cannot be moved by pistons, or water. Lava flows around a dispenser.

Container


A dispenser has 9 slots of inventory space.

To open the dispenser GUI, use the control. To move items between the dispenser inventory and the player inventory or hotbar while the dispenser GUI is open, drag or shift-click the items. To exit the dispenser GUI, use the control.

By default, the GUI of a dispenser is labeled "Dispenser". A dispenser's GUI label can be changed by naming the dispenser in an anvil before placing it, or by using the data command. For example, to label a dispenser at (0,64,0) "Alice's Dispenser", use.

A dispenser can be "locked" by setting the dispenser's  tag. If a dispenser's  tag is not blank, the dispenser cannot be accessed except by players holding an item with the same name as the   tag's text. A dispenser's  tag can be set or unset with the data command. For example, to lock a dispenser at (0,64,0) so that only players holding an item named "Alice's Key" can access the dispenser, use.

Redstone component
A dispenser can be used to dispense its contents randomly.


 * Activation

A dispenser is a redstone mechanism and can be activated by:
 * an adjacent active power component: for example, a redstone torch (except that a redstone torch does not activate a dispenser it is attached to), a block of redstone, a daylight sensor, etc.
 * an adjacent powered opaque block (for example, a block with an active redstone torch under it)
 * a powered redstone repeater or redstone comparator facing the dispenser
 * powered redstone dust configured to point at the dispenser, or on top of it, or a directionless "dot" next to it; a dispenser is not activated by adjacent powered redstone dust which is configured to point in another direction.

Some of these methods can activate a dispenser (in the sense of triggering an action) without actually powering the dispenser (in the sense of whether the dispenser can power adjacent redstone dust, etc.).

In addition to the methods above, a dispenser can also be activated by quasi-connectivity. A dispenser becomes activated if one of the methods above would activate a mechanism component in the block above the dispenser, even if there is no mechanism component there (even if the block above the dispenser is air or a transparent block), but only when the dispenser receives a block update (including a redstone update within two blocks of the dispenser). A dispenser does not activate if it has been less than 1 redstone tick (2 game ticks, or 0.1 seconds barring lag) since its last activation ended.


 * Behavior

When activated, a dispenser waits 2 redstone ticks (4 game ticks, or 0.2 seconds barring lag) and then ejects one item. The dispenser does not continue to eject items while activated; ejection occurs only on the initial activation (the rising edge of an input signal). To eject multiple items, repeatedly activate the dispenser with a clock circuit. If the clock runs at faster than 5 hertz (more than 5 redstone pulses a second), the dispenser fires once and then locks in the "on" position.

If multiple slots are occupied by items, a random occupied slot is chosen for ejection. The slot is chosen when an item is ejected, not when the dispenser is initially activated, thus it is possible to move items into or out of a dispenser between its activation and item dispensing.

The effects of being activated vary with the type of ejected item. Most items are thrown in the direction the dispenser is facing, as if a player had used the control. (Unlike a dropper, a dispenser can't feed another container.) Other items behave differently when dispensed:

When a dispenser dispenses an item, it emits a clicking sound (unless the item is a projectile or a spawn egg) and a smoke particle. If it is empty when activated, it emits a slightly higher-pitched click. The noise of a dispenser can be heard up to 16 blocks away.

A dispenser is a full solid opaque block, so powering it directly can cause adjacent mechanism components (including other dispensers) to activate as well.

Block data
In Bedrock Edition, a dispenser uses its block data field to store its orientation and activation status:

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

Trivia

 * A dispenser was shown inside a minecart in one of the 1.5 teaser images, although this was never added to the game.