Dropper

The dropper is a block that can be used to eject items, or push items into another container.

Obtaining
Droppers can be mined using any type of pickaxe. If mined without a pickaxe, they drop nothing.

Usage
A dropper can be used as a container or as a redstone component to move items.

To place a dropper, use the control. A dropper can be placed so that its output faces in any direction, including up or down. When placed, the dropper's output faces toward the player.

A dropper cannot be moved by pistons, and water and lava flow around a dropper.

Container
A dropper has 9 slots of inventory space.

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

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

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

Redstone component
A dropper can be used to eject items, or push items into another container.


 * Activation


 * A dropper can be activated by:
 * an adjacent active power component (Exceptions: a redstone torch does not turn ON a dropper it is attached to)
 * an adjacent powered opaque block (strongly-powered or weakly-powered)
 * a powered redstone repeater or redstone comparator facing the dropper
 * powered redstone dust configured to point at the dropper, or on top of it, or a directionless "dot" next to it; a dropper is not activated by adjacent powered redstone dust that is configured to point in another direction.


 * In addition to the methods above, droppers can also be activated by quasi-connectivity. A dropper activates if one of the methods above would activate a mechanism component in the block above the dropper, even if there is no mechanism component there (even if the block above the dropper is air or a transparent block), but only when the dropper receives a block update (including a redstone update within two blocks of the dropper).


 * A dropper 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 dropper waits 2 redstone ticks (4 game ticks, or 0.2 seconds barring lag) and then ejects one item from its inventory. The dropper 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 dropper with a clock circuit.


 * 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 dropper is initially activated, thus it is possible to move items into or out of a dropper between its activation and item dispensing.


 * If the dropper is facing a container, the ejected item is transferred into the container. Otherwise, the item is ejected in the direction the dropper is facing, as if a player had used the control. Even items that would be treated differently by a dispenser (such as arrows) are simply ejected by a dropper.


 * A dropper makes a clicking noise (the  sound event) when activated empty or when ejecting items into air, but is silent when it successfully transfers an item into another container.

A dropper is an opaque block, so powering it directly can cause adjacent mechanism components (including other droppers) to activate as well.

A line of droppers, each pushing items into the next dropper, is known as a dropper pipe. A dropper pipe must be clocked to move items, but can be clocked to move items faster than a hopper pipe's transfer rate. When a dropper pipe pushes items upwards, it is known as a droppervator (short for "dropper elevator").

Block data
In Bedrock Edition, a dropper's block data specifies its orientation and activation status:

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