Formatting codes

Text in Minecraft can be formatted with the section sign (§).

Color codes


Messages sent from the server to the client can contain color codes, which allow coloring of text for various purposes.

A section sign (§) followed by a hex digit in the message tells the client to switch colors while displaying text.

It is important to note that a § at the end of a message that is not followed by a hex digit will crash all clients that receive it, so it is a must to sanitize chat messages received from clients.

Also, §k will give a bit of scrolling text, which is used in a Splash and the End Poem.

Also §l §m §n and §o creates bold, striked, underlined and italic text, respectively, while §r resets any set states.

Formatting codes
XD

Text can also be formatted using the § symbol and then a letter.

To make § on most US English keyboards simply hold down ALT + 7 + 8 + 9 then let go of all the keys and § will appear

If a color code is used after a formatting code, the formatting code will be disabled beyond the color code point.

Example §cX§nY (§c X §n Y)

Would be seen as: X Y, where as

§cX§nY (§n X §c Y)

Would be seen as: X Y 

§r can be used to reset all texts format beyond it.

E.g.: §nXXX§rYYY, would be seen as: XXX YYY

Note: The random characters placed after §k will always be the same width as the original character (to stop the width of the text changing).

Example Text
The following text can be pasted into a Book and Quill as an example:

Book Style Operators k Random §k:Text§r l Bold §l:Text§r m Striked §m:Text§r n Underlined §n:Text§r o Italic §o:Text§r §4§l§m§n§o4(Red) Bold Strike Underline Italic§r §0Color: §00§11§22§33§44§55§66§77 §88§99§aa§bb§cc§dd§ee§ff§0.§r §0r Reset

Using codes
Few people use these codes in servers other than the automatic colours provided by the server, one way to use them is as a simple joke, if you type something similar to "&d[server] HI guys,"  (replacing the "-" with spaces), it will seem to other players as though the server console has said that, this is because all those spaces move it to the next line, and the "&d" make the text light pink, (the default server console chat colour) Ben.w