A sign is a thin, non-solid block that can display text. It can be crafted using 1 stick and 6 matching wood planks.
Mechanics
Signs are used to display text. They can be placed on the top or side of other blocks. To place one, use a sign item while pointing at the desire block, enter the desired text (possibly none) and click "Done" or press "Escape" on a keyboard. To place one on a block that can be interacted with by the use control (i.e. chests, note blocks, etc.), sneak while placing it.
Signs can face 16 possible different directions when placed on top of a block, depending on where the player was facing.
When a sign is destroyed, the original text is not saved in any way. Only four lines of text can be put on a sign, and there is a width-based limit on how much can be written per line. If a player wants to change the writing on a sign, they must remove the sign and place a new one.
Signs can be used to welcome other players to buildings you create. They are also sometimes used in servers as buttons, so a player can right click on one and be teleported to a specific map.
Signs come in the six different wood variations. The text is more convenient to edit (i.e. it can be edited at any point in the line instead of just the ending of the line), and the text can be dyed.
History
Java Edition
Signs were introduced as entities tested in 0.24 Survival Test where they had preset text and could only be spawned by pressing B; they were removed afterward. On the June 7, 2010 update of Infdev, signs were re-implemented. In Alpha 1.0.1, signs could now be placed on walls. In the full release version 1.3.1, signs were made stackable to 16 and produced 3 instead of 1 when crafted.
In 1.8, support for JSON text was added; and in 1.9, signs would generate in igloo basements.
In 1.14, signs were now in spruce, birch, acacia, jungle, and dark oak variants on top of oak; copy/paste support, free text-editing, and dyeable text were added in the same update.
In 1.16, crimson and warped signs were added and could be crafted using crimson planks and warped planks obtained from the Nether, respectively.
Bedrock Edition
Signs were introduced in Pocket Edition alpha 0.5.0; however, they could not be obtained without inventory editors and could not be written on until Pocket Edition alpha 0.6.0.
The six variants of the Sign were added in Bedrock Edition 1.9.0. Crimson and warped signs were added in 1.16.0.
Multiplayer
Signs can be used to warn people about going into certain places
Signs are used in multiplayer for several reasons. They are normally used for marking property, leaving directions, warning players about any danger, and stating any rules.
Crafting
| Sign | ||
|---|---|---|
| Wood Planks | Wood Planks | Wood Planks |
| Wood Planks | Wood Planks | Wood Planks |
| None | Stick | None |
Trivia
- Signs can be placed on the side of slabs and stairs, unlike torches.
- Because of their wooden texture, signs can be used as decoration, such as an armrest on a chair.
- If players were to write a "curse word" onto a sign, it would be censored out with a "**". However, some curse words are not censored if players replace one or two of the letters with its accented marking variation in place of the vowels. Some words like “XBLive” and "Squidward" are also censored.{Bedrock and Legacy Console Edition only}.
- On the Xbox 360 Edition, the word "Censored" will appear.
- On Bedrock Edition, all curse words will appear as an asterisk for every word.
- Text written in Arabic or Hebrew will appear backward.
- As of the Pocket Edition, emoticons on Apple devices do not appear, except for a select few containing characters from a different language.
- Signs can be used as fuel sources to smelt certain objects, smelting one object per sign.
- Signs are able to stop lava and water from flowing. If a sign is used to stop lava, the lava being stopped cannot burn the sign, even though the sign is made of wood and can be used as fuel for furnaces.
- A player cannot see another player's name tag through a sign, even if the other player is not sneaking.
- Signs can be placed on usable blocks, such as a crafting table, by sneaking.
