Bow

The bow is a weapon that can be crafted in Indev, Infdev, and Alpha. In Survival the player doesn't need a bow to shoot arrows.

Using the Bow
To use a bow in Indev/Infdev it must be the active item (in your hand) and have arrows in the player's inventory. Then simply right-click to use; the bow will shoot the arrows.

In survival, the player has no bow to hold so the Tab key is used to fire arrows. However, arrows must still be collected to shoot.

Arrows
Arrows can be fired from a distance and in rapid succession. They will fly in a gentle arc and have a range of about 11 blocks when fired straight forward, and a maximum range of around 25 blocks on a plane.

Damage done to mobs is greater than with a melee attack, but less than with a Sword.

Arrows will also stick into objects they come in contact with and remain for a short while before disappearing; the distance from the object and the angle determine how far up the arrow will be. They can bounce off entities like mine carts and will damage the player if hit with them. It is possible for the player to kill themself with arrows if shot directly upwards. When shot directly upwards arrows appear to travel 31 blocks before falling.