WorldEdit Documentation

WorldEdit is an easy-to-use in-game Minecraft map editor. Through a combination of commands and “brushes,” you can sculpt your world or simply perform numerous terraforming tasks.

  • Quickly create, replace or delete thousands of blocks in seconds
  • No longer waste time doing mundane activities like fix badly flowing water!
  • Quickly create basic shapes like spheres, cylinders, and so on
  • Copy areas, paste them, load them, and save them as .schematics
  • Do cool things like input mathematical expressions to generate terrain
  • Use “brush tools” to carve out mountains, ravines, and so on
  • Use your compass to quickly teleport to areas by left clicking or using /jumpto
  • Choose an area and have it instantly restored from backups
  • Open source, and one of the oldest Minecraft projects (since Minecraft Alpha!)

Documentation

Installation

Requirements

WorldEdit runs on a variety of Minecraft platforms which support plugins or mods. The officially supported platforms are Bukkit, Forge, Fabric, and Sponge. You will need one of these platforms to run WorldEdit.

For single-player use, you’ll need to download and install either Minecraft Forge or Fabric, depending on what other mods you plan on using.

If you plan on running WorldEdit on a “vanilla” server, we recommend using a Bukkit implementation such as Paper or optionally Spigot. (Paper is a fork of the Spigot project which adds many improvements that WorldEdit can take advantage of.)

If you plan on running WorldEdit on a modded server, you can once again use Forge, or use Sponge, which is generally compatible with Forge mods, and also supports a wide variety of other plugins.

Note that there are unofficial implementations of WorldEdit for other platforms.

Installation

Bukkit

Once you’ve set up your Bukkit server (instructions can be found on the respective Paper/Spigot sites), download WorldEdit from the Bukkit dev site. Make sure you get the right WorldEdit download for your Minecraft version.

  1. In your server folder, create a “plugins” folder if one does not yet exist. (It should be created when you first run the server).
  2. Copy the WorldEdit .jar file into the plugins folder.
  3. Start your server.

Check your server log for errors. If you encounter errors, see the FAQ page.

Forge Single-Player

First, you’ll have to install Minecraft Forge. There are many third-party launchers designed to easily install modpacks. If you’re using one of those, you can add WorldEdit as a mod through the launcher interface. Otherwise, Forge will install a profile available through the official Minecraft Launcher. After installing Forge one way or the other, download WorldEdit from the CurseForge site. Make sure you get the right WorldEdit download for your Minecraft version and platform (Fabric builds are also there - make sure you grab the right one).

  1. If you’ve installed Forge as a profile in the official Minecraft launcher, follow Mojang’s instructions for finding where your “.minecraft” folder is. If you’re using a third-party launcher, this might be in a different location (consult the launcher’s docs).
  2. Create a “mods” folder inside the “.minecraft” folder if it doesn’t yet exist (it should be created if you’ve run Forge once already).
  3. Place the WorldEdit .jar file inside the mods folder. Start Forge from your launcher. WorldEdit should show up in the mods list.

If you encounter any errors, see the FAQ page.

Fabric Single-Player or Server

First, you’ll have to install Fabric. They have instructions on their website depending on how you’d like to install. The MultiMC instructions are recommended for single-player.

Then, download WorldEdit from the CurseForge site. Make sure you get the right WorldEdit download for your Minecraft version and platform (Forge builds are also there - make sure you grab the right one).

You’ll also need the Fabric API mod and add that and the WorldEdit .jar to the “loader mods” section of your MultiMC instance and check to enable them, or add the jars to your mods folder (see Forge instructions above) if you’re installing in the official Mojang launcher.

Forge Server / Sponge

First, you’ll have to install your server software of choice. For Forge, you can download the installer and run java -jar forge-installer.jar --installServer from a terminal or command prompt (search online for more comprehensive instructions). Sponge has documentation on setting up a server. After installing your server software, download WorldEdit from Curseforge, if using Forge or Ore, if using Sponge. If you are using SpongeForge, either version of WorldEdit will work (but don’t use both) - the Forge version may perform better in some cases.

  1. Create a “mods” folder if it doesn’t exist (it will be created automatically after running the server once).
  2. Add the WorldEdit .jar file to the mods folder.
  3. Start the server.

Check your server log for errors. If you encounter errors, see the FAQ page.

Want to see selection lines?

To see lines that show what you have selected, then you need to install WorldEditCUI, a client-side mod. Note that the mod requires Fabric, so you will need to install that first.

Note

If you would like to use an older version of Minecraft (1.12 or before), in addition to downloading an older WorldEdit (version 6), you will also need the older WorldEditCUI mod by Mumfrey. Note that this version requires LiteLoader (installation instructions on that page) instead of Fabric.

Tip

Don’t want to install client mods? You can access a limited version of the selection outlines server-side via the //drawsel command. It only works for cuboid selections less than 32x32x32 in size, and you must be in creative mode. These restrictions are due to how structure blocks work in Minecraft.

Quick Start

First things first

  • If you are using Bukkit, then you need to have permissions to use WorldEdit. You can give yourself op (/op yourname) to give yourself permissions. Sponge servers will also need to use permissions, though Sponge does not use op to grant all permissions.
  • If you are using Forge/Fabric and playing single player, then WorldEdit is only enabled if your world has cheats enabled.
  • If you are using Forge/Fabric server, then only ops can use WorldEdit.

Tip

For Forge/Fabric, you can:

  • Turn on “cheat-mode” in WorldEdit’s settings (see Configuration) file to let you use WorldEdit even in survival (and on a server, everyone is allowed)
  • Or instead, turn on “use-in-creative” to let yourself use WorldEdit when you have creative mode (and on a server, when someone has creative)
Want to see selection lines?

To see lines that show what you have selected, then you need to install WorldEditCUI, a client-side mod. Note that the mod requires Fabric, so you will need to install that first.

Note

If you would like to use an older version of Minecraft (1.12 or before), in addition to downloading an older WorldEdit (version 6), you will also need the older WorldEditCUI mod by Mumfrey. Note that this version requires LiteLoader (installation instructions on that page) instead of Fabric.

Tip

Don’t want to install client mods? You can access a limited version of the selection outlines server-side via the //drawsel command. It only works for cuboid selections less than 32x32x32 in size, and you must be in creative mode. These restrictions are due to how structure blocks work in Minecraft.

The selection lines mod works regardless of how you may have installed WorldEdit (on a Bukkit server, on singleplayer, etc).

Getting Around

First, let’s figure out how you can get around quickly.

  1. Look at a block not too far away and type /jumpto
  2. Stand under a tree and type /ascend
  3. While on top of the tree, type /descend
  4. Stand behind a tree trunk, look straight ahead, make sure there’s room on the other side, and type /thru

Or whip out your compass (or type //wand -n), look at a nearby block, and left click. Want to go through walls? Right click on a wall.

Making Selections

A cuboid is like 3D rectangle. In WorldEdit, you select the region that you want by setting two points of a cuboid.

_images/cuboid.png

How do you choose the two points? You can either:

  • Left and right click blocks while holding a wooden axe (use //wand to get a wooden axe)
  • Stand somewhere and type //pos1 and //pos2
  • Look at a block and type //hpos1 and //hpos2

Tutorial: Make an approximate selection of a 15x15x15 area to test with and go to the next section.

Doing things with the selection

  1. Set the entire thing to bedrock: //set minecraft:bedrock (minecraft is implicit. If you’re playing on a platform with mods, you’ll need the mod’s namespace to identify blocks, eg //set ic2:stone.)
  2. Set the entire thing to stone: //set 1 (these are legacy IDs used in Minecraft 1.12 and before. You can use them if you know them already, but it’s recommended (and easier) to learn the names of blocks - new blocks in 1.13+ don’t have these ids!)
  3. Set the selection to 50% sandstone, 50% glass: //set sandstone,glass
  4. Replace the sandstone with dirt: //replace sandstone dirt
  5. Clear the area: //set air
  6. Generate an interesting shape: //g 35 data=(32+15/2/pi*atan2(x,y))%16; (0.75-sqrt(x^2+y^2))^2+z^2<0.25^2
  7. Look in a cardinal direction (not diagonal) and repeat your selection: //stack 4

Let’s undo your changes!

  • Undo 7 times: //undo 7

Adjusting the selection

So you’ve got a cuboid. Let’s change it!

  1. Make the cuboid 10 blocks taller, going up: //expand 10 up
  2. Make the cuboid 5 blocks longer in the direction that you are looking: //expand 5
  3. Make the cuboid 10 blocks shorter, going down: //contract 10 down

Playing with brushes

  1. Grab a pickaxe (or any item of choice) and have it as your active slot.
  2. Turn on a stone brush of radius 5: /br sphere stone 5
  3. Aim at ground not near you and right click to place large stone spheres.
  4. Make it so the brush only affects grass: /mask grass
  5. Instead of placing stone, let’s place wool: /mat red_wool,green_wool
  6. Right click more areas.
  7. Disable the brush: /none

Continuing on…

Checkout out the rest of the docs.

Configuration

Although WorldEdit is primarily command driven, there are some configuration options which may change or limit the behavior of WorldEdit’s commands and tools.

Configuration Files

Once you have run your server with WorldEdit installed, you will find the main configuration file generated in a location which depends on your platform.

Bukkit Server

Configuration options for the Bukkit version of WorldEdit are found in plugins/WorldEdit/config.yml, relative to the server root.

Note that the YAML format which Bukkit uses is very sensitive to errors. You must use 4 spaces for indentation (tabs will break the file!), and adhere to YAML’s syntax. If you are unfamiliar with editing YAML files, you can run your config through an online validator (like this one) and ensure that it does not return an error.

Forge/Fabric

Configuration options in Forge/Fabric can be found in the config/worldedit/worldedit.properties file. On a server, this is relative to the server root (where the main server .jar is). On a single-player installation, this is in your “.minecraft” folder.

Sponge Server

Configuration options in Sponge servers (either SpongeForge or SpongeVanilla) can be found in the config/worldedit/worldedit.conf file.

Settings

Note

Since the underlying platforms are often in various states of development, not all settings will work on all platforms. Please notify us if you find this to be the case.

Setting Default Description
profile false Whether to print out a blocks changed/time info after each operation.
disallowedBlocks <list of blocks> A list of blocks that cannot be used in patterns (mostly physics blocks that will “pop off” and may severely lag or crash the server if thousands of items are spawned).
defaultChangeLimit -1 The default amount of blocks that can be set in one operation.
maxChangeLimit -1 The maximum amount of blocks for the change limit (set with //limit in-game)
defaultMaxPolygonalPoints -1  
maxPolygonalPoints 20  
defaultMaxPolyhedronPoints -1  
maxPolyhedronPoints 20  
snapshotRepo   If not left empty, the directory name to look for snapshots
maxRadius -1 Maximum radius of commands that take a radius
maxSuperPickaxeSize 5 Maximum size of super pickaxe tools
maxBrushRadius 6 Maximum size of brushes
logCommands false Whether to log more informative information on command usage.
logFile   If logCommands is true, the file to log to.
logFormat [%1$tY-%1$tm-%1$td %1$tH:%1$tM:%1$tS %4$s]: %5$s%6$s%n The format of command logging
wandItem minecraft:wooden_axe The item used for selection regions
superPickaxeDrop true Whether the single super pickaxe mode will drop items for blocks it breaks
superPickaxeManyDrop true Whether multi super pickaxe modes will drop items for blocks they break
useInventory false Require players to have items in their inventory to make edits (this option is not well supported and not recommended)
useInventoryOverride false Allow a permission node to override the above setting
useInventoryCreativeOverride false Allow creative mode to override the above setting
navigationUseGlass true Whether the /up and /ceil commands should place a glass block for the player to stand on if in mid-air
navigationWand minecraft:compass The item used for the navigation wand which allows /jumpto and /thru as left-click/right-click
navigationWandMaxDistance 50 The max distance the navigation wand should trace to find a block to jump to
scriptTimeout 3000 The maximum time a craftscript can run before it is terminated
calculationTimeout 100 The default time an expression can run before it is terminated
maxCalculationTimeout 300 The maximum time an expression can run before termination (changed in game with //timeout)
allowedDataCycleBlocks   If not empty, a whitelist of blocks which the data cycler tool can be used on
saveDir schematics The directory in which to save schematics (relative to the worldedit folder)
scriptsDir craftscripts The directory in which to look for craftscripts
allowSymlinks false Whether to allow the above to be symlinked locations (useful for sharing between servers)
butcherDefaultRadius -1 The default radius of the /butcher command (-1 for infinite)
butcherMaxRadius -1 The maximum radius of the /butcher command
serverSideCUI true Whether to allow the usage of //drawsel

Permissions

By default, no one can use WorldEdit. In order for yourself, moderators, and players to use WorldEdit, you must provide the proper permissions. One way is to provide op to moderators and administrators (unless disabled in the configuration), but providing the permission nodes on this page (through a permissions plugin) is the more flexible.

You can give the worldedit.* permission to give yourself and other administrators full access to WorldEdit.

Commands

See the Commands page for an explanation of some of these commands.

Command Permission
/worldedit  
/worldedit cui  
/worldedit help worldedit.help
/worldedit reload worldedit.reload
/worldedit report worldedit.report
/worldedit tz  
/worldedit version  
/undo worldedit.history.undo, worldedit.history.undo.self
/redo worldedit.history.redo, worldedit.history.redo.self
/clearhistory worldedit.history.clear
//limit worldedit.limit
//timeout worldedit.timeout
//fast worldedit.fast
//reorder worldedit.reorder
//drawsel worldedit.drawsel
//world worldedit.world
/gmask worldedit.global-mask
/toggleplace  
/searchitem worldedit.searchitem
/unstuck worldedit.navigation.unstuck
/ascend worldedit.navigation.ascend
/descend worldedit.navigation.descend
/ceil worldedit.navigation.ceiling
/thru worldedit.navigation.thru.command
/jumpto worldedit.navigation.jumpto.command
/up worldedit.navigation.up
//pos1 worldedit.selection.pos
//pos2 worldedit.selection.pos
//hpos1 worldedit.selection.hpos
//hpos2 worldedit.selection.hpos
//chunk worldedit.selection.chunk
//wand worldedit.wand
/toggleeditwand worldedit.wand.toggle
//contract worldedit.selection.contract
//shift worldedit.selection.shift
//outset worldedit.selection.outset
//inset worldedit.selection.inset
//size worldedit.selection.size
//count worldedit.analysis.count
//distr worldedit.analysis.distr
//sel  
//expand worldedit.selection.expand
//expand vert  
//set worldedit.region.set
//line worldedit.region.line
//curve worldedit.region.curve
//replace worldedit.region.replace
//overlay worldedit.region.overlay
//center worldedit.region.center
//naturalize worldedit.region.naturalize
//walls worldedit.region.walls
//faces worldedit.region.faces
//smooth worldedit.region.smooth
//move worldedit.region.move
//stack worldedit.region.stack
//regen worldedit.regen
//deform worldedit.region.deform
//hollow worldedit.region.hollow
//forest worldedit.region.forest
//flora worldedit.region.flora
//hcyl worldedit.generation.cylinder
//cyl worldedit.generation.cylinder
//hsphere worldedit.generation.sphere
//sphere worldedit.generation.sphere
/forestgen worldedit.generation.forest
/pumpkins worldedit.generation.pumpkins
//hpyramid worldedit.generation.pyramid
//pyramid worldedit.generation.pyramid
//generate worldedit.generation.shape
//generatebiome worldedit.generation.shape.biome
/schematic worldedit.schematic.delete, worldedit.schematic.list, worldedit.clipboard.load, worldedit.schematic.save, worldedit.schematic.formats, worldedit.schematic.load, worldedit.clipboard.save
/schematic delete worldedit.schematic.delete
/schematic formats worldedit.schematic.formats
/schematic list worldedit.schematic.list
/schematic load worldedit.clipboard.load, worldedit.schematic.load
/schematic save worldedit.clipboard.save, worldedit.schematic.save
//copy worldedit.clipboard.copy
//cut worldedit.clipboard.cut
//paste worldedit.clipboard.paste
//rotate worldedit.clipboard.rotate
//flip worldedit.clipboard.flip
/clearclipboard worldedit.clipboard.clear
/none  
//selwand worldedit.setwand
//navwand worldedit.setwand
/info worldedit.tool.info
/tree worldedit.tool.tree
/repl worldedit.tool.replacer
/cycler worldedit.tool.data-cycler
/floodfill worldedit.tool.flood-fill
/deltree worldedit.tool.deltree
/farwand worldedit.tool.farwand
/lrbuild worldedit.tool.lrbuild
// worldedit.superpickaxe
/mask worldedit.brush.options.mask
/material worldedit.brush.options.material
/range worldedit.brush.options.range
/size worldedit.brush.options.size
/tracemask worldedit.brush.options.tracemask
/superpickaxe worldedit.superpickaxe.area, worldedit.superpickaxe.recursive, worldedit.superpickaxe
/superpickaxe area worldedit.superpickaxe.area
/superpickaxe recursive worldedit.superpickaxe.recursive
/superpickaxe single worldedit.superpickaxe
/brush worldedit.brush.ex, worldedit.brush.paint, worldedit.brush.clipboard, worldedit.brush.butcher, worldedit.brush.set, worldedit.brush.gravity, worldedit.brush.forest, worldedit.brush.lower, worldedit.brush.smooth, worldedit.brush.cylinder, worldedit.brush.apply, worldedit.brush.deform, worldedit.brush.sphere, worldedit.brush.raise
/brush apply worldedit.brush.apply
/brush apply forest  
/brush apply item worldedit.brush.item
/brush apply set  
/brush butcher worldedit.brush.butcher
/brush clipboard worldedit.brush.clipboard
/brush cylinder worldedit.brush.cylinder
/brush deform worldedit.brush.deform
/brush extinguish worldedit.brush.ex
/brush forest worldedit.brush.forest
/brush gravity worldedit.brush.gravity
/brush lower worldedit.brush.lower
/brush paint worldedit.brush.paint
/brush paint forest  
/brush paint item worldedit.brush.item
/brush paint set  
/brush raise worldedit.brush.raise
/brush set worldedit.brush.set
/brush smooth worldedit.brush.smooth
/brush sphere worldedit.brush.sphere
/biomelist worldedit.biome.list
/biomeinfo worldedit.biome.info
//setbiome worldedit.biome.set
/chunkinfo worldedit.chunkinfo
/listchunks worldedit.listchunks
/delchunks worldedit.delchunks
/restore worldedit.snapshots.restore
/snapshot worldedit.snapshots.restore, worldedit.snapshots.list
/snapshot after worldedit.snapshots.restore
/snapshot before worldedit.snapshots.restore
/snapshot list worldedit.snapshots.list
/snapshot sel worldedit.snapshots.restore
/snapshot use worldedit.snapshots.restore
/cs worldedit.scripting.execute
/.s worldedit.scripting.execute
//fill worldedit.fill
//fillr worldedit.fill.recursive
//drain worldedit.drain
/fixlava worldedit.fixlava
/fixwater worldedit.fixwater
/removeabove worldedit.removeabove
/removebelow worldedit.removebelow
/removenear worldedit.removenear
/replacenear worldedit.replacenear
/snow worldedit.snow
/thaw worldedit.thaw
/green worldedit.green
/extinguish worldedit.extinguish
/butcher worldedit.butcher
/remove worldedit.remove
//calculate worldedit.calc
//help worldedit.help

Other Permissions

Permission Explanation
worldedit.navigation.jumpto.tool Allows usage of the navigation wand’s /jumpto shortcut (left click).
worldedit.navigation.thru.tool Allows usage of the navigation wand’s /thru shortcut (right click).
worldedit.anyblock Allows usage of blocks in the disallowed-blocks config option.
worldedit.limit.unrestricted Allows setting the limit via the //limit command higher than the maximum in the configuration, as well as other limit bypasses.
worldedit.timeout.unrestricted Allows setting the calculation timeout via the //timeout command higher than the maximum in the configuration.
worldedit.inventory.unrestricted Override the use-inventory option if enabled in the configuration.
worldedit.override.bedrock Allows breaking of bedrock with the super-pickaxe tool.
worldedit.override.data-cycler Allows cycling non-whitelisted blocks with the data cycler tool.
worldedit.setnbt Allows setting extra data on blocks (such as signs, chests, etc).
worldedit.report.pastebin Allows uploading report files to pastebin automatically for the /worldedit report command.
worldedit.scripting.execute.<filename> Allows using the CraftScript with the given filename.

Commands

Note

Arguments enclosed in [ ] are optional, those enclosed in < > are required.

Tip

You can access a command listing in-game via the //help command.

General Commands

/worldedit (or /we)

Description WorldEdit commands
Usage /worldedit <help|version|reload|cui|tz|report>

/worldedit help

Description Displays help for WorldEdit commands
Permissions worldedit.help
Usage /worldedit help [-s] [-p <page>] [command...]
  [-s] List sub-commands of the given command, if applicable
  [-p <page>] The page to retrieve
  [command...] The command to retrieve help for

/worldedit version (or /worldedit ver)

Description Get WorldEdit version
Usage /worldedit version

/worldedit reload

Description Reload configuration
Permissions worldedit.reload
Usage /worldedit reload

/worldedit cui

Description Complete CUI handshake (internal usage)
Usage /worldedit cui

/worldedit tz

Description Set your timezone for snapshots
Usage /worldedit tz <timezone>
  <timezone> The timezone to set

/worldedit report

Description Writes a report on WorldEdit
Permissions worldedit.report
Usage /worldedit report [-p]
  [-p] Pastebins the report

/undo (or //undo)

Description Undoes the last action (from history)
Permissions worldedit.history.undo, worldedit.history.undo.self
Usage /undo [times] [player]
  [times] Number of undoes to perform
  [player] Undo this player’s operations

/redo (or //redo)

Description Redoes the last action (from history)
Permissions worldedit.history.redo, worldedit.history.redo.self
Usage /redo [times] [player]
  [times] Number of redoes to perform
  [player] Redo this player’s operations

/clearhistory (or //clearhistory)

Description Clear your history
Permissions worldedit.history.clear
Usage /clearhistory

//limit

Description Modify block change limit
Permissions worldedit.limit
Usage //limit [limit]
  [limit] The limit to set

//timeout

Description Modify evaluation timeout time.
Permissions worldedit.timeout
Usage //timeout [limit]
  [limit] The timeout time to set

//fast

Description Toggle fast mode
Permissions worldedit.fast
Usage //fast [fastMode]
  [fastMode] The new fast mode state

//reorder

Description Sets the reorder mode of WorldEdit
Permissions worldedit.reorder
Usage //reorder [reorderMode]
  [reorderMode] The reorder mode

//drawsel

Description Toggle drawing the current selection
Permissions worldedit.drawsel
Usage //drawsel [drawSelection]
  [drawSelection] The new draw selection state

//world

Description Sets the world override
Permissions worldedit.world
Usage //world [world]
  [world] The world override

/gmask (or //gmask)

Description Set the global mask
Permissions worldedit.global-mask
Usage /gmask [mask]
  [mask] The mask to set

/toggleplace (or //toggleplace)

Description Switch between your position and pos1 for placement
Usage /toggleplace

/searchitem (or //searchitem, //l, //search)

Description Search for an item
Permissions worldedit.searchitem
Usage /searchitem [-bi] [-p <page>] <query...>
  [-b] Only search for blocks
  [-i] Only search for items
  [-p <page>] Page of results to return
  <query...> Search query

Selection Commands

//pos1

Description Set position 1
Permissions worldedit.selection.pos
Usage //pos1 [coordinates]
  [coordinates] Coordinates to set position 1 to

//pos2

Description Set position 2
Permissions worldedit.selection.pos
Usage //pos2 [coordinates]
  [coordinates] Coordinates to set position 2 to

//hpos1

Description Set position 1 to targeted block
Permissions worldedit.selection.hpos
Usage //hpos1

//hpos2

Description Set position 2 to targeted block
Permissions worldedit.selection.hpos
Usage //hpos2

//chunk

Description Set the selection to your current chunk.
Permissions worldedit.selection.chunk
Usage //chunk [-cs] [coordinates]
  [coordinates] The chunk to select
  [-s] Expand your selection to encompass all chunks that are part of it
  [-c] Use chunk coordinates instead of block coordinates

//wand

Description Get the wand object
Permissions worldedit.wand
Usage //wand [-n]
  [-n] Get a navigation wand

/toggleeditwand

Description Remind the user that the wand is now a tool and can be unbound with /none.
Permissions worldedit.wand.toggle
Usage /toggleeditwand

//contract

Description Contract the selection area
Permissions worldedit.selection.contract
Usage //contract <amount> [reverseAmount] [direction]
  <amount> Amount to contract the selection by
  [reverseAmount] Amount to contract the selection by in the other direction
  [direction] Direction to contract

//shift

Description Shift the selection area
Permissions worldedit.selection.shift
Usage //shift <amount> [direction]
  <amount> Amount to shift the selection by
  [direction] Direction to contract

//outset

Description Outset the selection area
Permissions worldedit.selection.outset
Usage //outset [-hv] <amount>
  <amount> Amount to expand the selection by in all directions
  [-h] Only expand horizontally
  [-v] Only expand vertically

//inset

Description Inset the selection area
Permissions worldedit.selection.inset
Usage //inset [-hv] <amount>
  <amount> Amount to contract the selection by in all directions
  [-h] Only contract horizontally
  [-v] Only contract vertically

//size

Description Get information about the selection
Permissions worldedit.selection.size
Usage //size [-c]
  [-c] Get clipboard info instead

//count

Description Counts the number of blocks matching a mask
Permissions worldedit.analysis.count
Usage //count <mask>
  <mask> The mask of blocks to match

//distr

Description Get the distribution of blocks in the selection
Permissions worldedit.analysis.distr
Usage //distr [-cd] [-p <page>]
  [-c] Get the distribution of the clipboard instead
  [-d] Separate blocks by state
  [-p <page>] Gets page from a previous distribution.

//sel (or /;, //desel, //deselect)

Description Choose a region selector
Usage //sel [-d] [selector]
  [selector] Selector to switch to
  [-d] Set default selector

//expand

Description Expand the selection area
Permissions worldedit.selection.expand
Usage //expand <vert|<amount> [reverseAmount] [direction]>
  <amount> Amount to expand the selection by, can be vert to expand to the whole vertical column
  [reverseAmount] Amount to expand the selection by in the other direction
  [direction] Direction to expand

//expand vert

Description Vertically expand the selection to world limits.
Usage //expand vert

Region Commands

//set

Description Sets all the blocks in the region
Permissions worldedit.region.set
Usage //set <pattern>
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to set

//line

Description

Draws a line segment between cuboid selection corners

Can only be used with a cuboid selection
Permissions worldedit.region.line
Usage //line [-h] <pattern> [thickness]
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to place
  [thickness] The thickness of the line
  [-h] Generate only a shell

//curve

Description

Draws a spline through selected points

Can only be used with a convex polyhedral selection
Permissions worldedit.region.curve
Usage //curve [-h] <pattern> [thickness]
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to place
  [thickness] The thickness of the curve
  [-h] Generate only a shell

//replace (or //re, //rep)

Description Replace all blocks in the selection with another
Permissions worldedit.region.replace
Usage //replace [from] <to>
  [from] The mask representing blocks to replace
  <to> The pattern of blocks to replace with

//overlay

Description Set a block on top of blocks in the region
Permissions worldedit.region.overlay
Usage //overlay <pattern>
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to overlay

//center (or //middle)

Description Set the center block(s)
Permissions worldedit.region.center
Usage //center <pattern>
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to set

//naturalize

Description 3 layers of dirt on top then rock below
Permissions worldedit.region.naturalize
Usage //naturalize

//walls

Description Build the four sides of the selection
Permissions worldedit.region.walls
Usage //walls <pattern>
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to set

//faces (or //outline)

Description Build the walls, ceiling, and floor of a selection
Permissions worldedit.region.faces
Usage //faces <pattern>
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to set

//smooth

Description

Smooth the elevation in the selection

Example: ‘//smooth 1 grass_block,dirt,stone’ would only smooth natural surface terrain.
Permissions worldedit.region.smooth
Usage //smooth [iterations] [mask]
  [iterations] # of iterations to perform
  [mask] The mask of blocks to use as the height map

//move

Description Move the contents of the selection
Permissions worldedit.region.move
Usage //move [-abes] [count] [direction] [replace] [-m <mask>]
  [count] # of blocks to move
  [direction] The direction to move
  [replace] The pattern of blocks to leave
  [-s] Shift the selection to the target location
  [-a] Ignore air blocks
  [-e] Also copy entities
  [-b] Also copy biomes
  [-m <mask>] Set the include mask, non-matching blocks become air

//stack

Description Repeat the contents of the selection
Permissions worldedit.region.stack
Usage //stack [-abes] [count] [direction] [-m <mask>]
  [count] # of copies to stack
  [direction] The direction to stack
  [-s] Shift the selection to the last stacked copy
  [-a] Ignore air blocks
  [-e] Also copy entities
  [-b] Also copy biomes
  [-m <mask>] Set the include mask, non-matching blocks become air

//regen

Description

Regenerates the contents of the selection

This command might affect things outside the selection, if they are within the same chunk.
Permissions worldedit.regen
Usage //regen

//deform

Description

Deforms a selected region with an expression

The expression is executed for each block and is expected to modify the variables x, y and z to point to a new block to fetch. See also https://tinyurl.com/weexpr
Permissions worldedit.region.deform
Usage //deform [-or] <expression...>
  <expression...> The expression to use
  [-r] Use the game’s coordinate origin
  [-o] Use the selection’s center as origin

//hollow

Description

Hollows out the object contained in this selection

Thickness is measured in manhattan distance.
Permissions worldedit.region.hollow
Usage //hollow [thickness] [pattern]
  [thickness] Thickness of the shell to leave
  [pattern] The pattern of blocks to replace the hollowed area with

//forest

Description Make a forest within the region
Permissions worldedit.region.forest
Usage //forest [type] [density]
  [type] The type of tree to place
  [density] The density of the forest

//flora

Description Make flora within the region
Permissions worldedit.region.flora
Usage //flora [density]
  [density] The density of the forest

Generation Commands

//hcyl

Description Generates a hollow cylinder.
Permissions worldedit.generation.cylinder
Usage //hcyl <pattern> <radii> [height]
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to generate
  <radii> The radii of the cylinder. 1st is N/S, 2nd is E/W
  [height] The height of the cylinder

//cyl

Description Generates a cylinder.
Permissions worldedit.generation.cylinder
Usage //cyl [-h] <pattern> <radii> [height]
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to generate
  <radii> The radii of the cylinder. 1st is N/S, 2nd is E/W
  [height] The height of the cylinder
  [-h] Make a hollow cylinder

//hsphere

Description Generates a hollow sphere.
Permissions worldedit.generation.sphere
Usage //hsphere [-r] <pattern> <radii>
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to generate
  <radii> The radii of the sphere. Order is N/S, U/D, E/W
  [-r] Raise the bottom of the sphere to the placement position

//sphere

Description Generates a filled sphere.
Permissions worldedit.generation.sphere
Usage //sphere [-hr] <pattern> <radii>
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to generate
  <radii> The radii of the sphere. Order is N/S, U/D, E/W
  [-r] Raise the bottom of the sphere to the placement position
  [-h] Make a hollow sphere

/forestgen

Description Generate a forest
Permissions worldedit.generation.forest
Usage /forestgen [size] [type] [density]
  [size] The size of the forest, in blocks
  [type] The type of forest
  [density] The density of the forest, between 0 and 100

/pumpkins

Description Generate pumpkin patches
Permissions worldedit.generation.pumpkins
Usage /pumpkins [size]
  [size] The size of the patch

//hpyramid

Description Generate a hollow pyramid
Permissions worldedit.generation.pyramid
Usage //hpyramid <pattern> <size>
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to set
  <size> The size of the pyramid

//pyramid

Description Generate a filled pyramid
Permissions worldedit.generation.pyramid
Usage //pyramid [-h] <pattern> <size>
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to set
  <size> The size of the pyramid
  [-h] Make a hollow pyramid

//generate (or //gen, //g)

Description

Generates a shape according to a formula.

See also https://tinyurl.com/weexpr.
Permissions worldedit.generation.shape
Usage //generate [-chor] <pattern> <expression...>
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to set
  <expression...> Expression to test block placement locations and set block type
  [-h] Generate a hollow shape
  [-r] Use the game’s coordinate origin
  [-o] Use the placement’s coordinate origin
  [-c] Use the selection’s center as origin

//generatebiome (or //genbiome, //gb)

Description

Sets biome according to a formula.

See also https://tinyurl.com/weexpr.
Permissions worldedit.generation.shape.biome
Usage //generatebiome [-chor] <target> <expression...>
  <target> The biome type to set
  <expression...> Expression to test block placement locations and set biome type
  [-h] Generate a hollow shape
  [-r] Use the game’s coordinate origin
  [-o] Use the placement’s coordinate origin
  [-c] Use the selection’s center as origin

Schematic and Clipboard Commands

/schematic (or /schem, //schematic, //schem)

Description Schematic commands for saving/loading areas
Permissions worldedit.schematic.delete, worldedit.schematic.list, worldedit.clipboard.load, worldedit.schematic.save, worldedit.schematic.formats, worldedit.schematic.load, worldedit.clipboard.save
Usage /schematic <list|formats|load|delete|save>

/schematic list (or /schematic all, /schematic ls)

Description

List saved schematics

Note: Format is not fully verified until loading.
Permissions worldedit.schematic.list
Usage /schematic list [-dn] [-p <page>]
  [-p <page>] Page to view.
  [-d] Sort by date, oldest first
  [-n] Sort by date, newest first

/schematic formats (or /schematic listformats, /schematic f)

Description List available formats
Permissions worldedit.schematic.formats
Usage /schematic formats

/schematic load

Description Load a schematic into your clipboard
Permissions worldedit.clipboard.load, worldedit.schematic.load
Usage /schematic load <filename> [formatName]
  <filename> File name.
  [formatName] Format name.

/schematic delete (or /schematic d)

Description Delete a saved schematic
Permissions worldedit.schematic.delete
Usage /schematic delete <filename>
  <filename> File name.

/schematic save

Description Save a schematic into your clipboard
Permissions worldedit.clipboard.save, worldedit.schematic.save
Usage /schematic save [-f] <filename> [formatName]
  <filename> File name.
  [formatName] Format name.
  [-f] Overwrite an existing file.

//copy

Description Copy the selection to the clipboard
Permissions worldedit.clipboard.copy
Usage //copy [-be] [-m <mask>]
  [-e] Also copy entities
  [-b] Also copy biomes
  [-m <mask>] Set the include mask, non-matching blocks become air

//cut

Description Cut the selection to the clipboard
Permissions worldedit.clipboard.cut
Usage //cut [-be] [leavePattern] [-m <mask>]
  [leavePattern] Pattern to leave in place of the selection
  [-e] Also cut entities
  [-b] Also copy biomes, source biomes are unaffected
  [-m <mask>] Set the exclude mask, non-matching blocks become air

//paste

Description Paste the clipboard’s contents
Permissions worldedit.clipboard.paste
Usage //paste [-abeos] [-m <sourceMask>]
  [-a] Skip air blocks
  [-o] Paste at the original position
  [-s] Select the region after pasting
  [-e] Paste entities if available
  [-b] Paste biomes if available
  [-m <sourceMask>] Only paste blocks matching this mask

//rotate

Description

Rotate the contents of the clipboard

Non-destructively rotate the contents of the clipboard. Angles are provided in degrees and a positive angle will result in a clockwise rotation. Multiple rotations can be stacked. Interpolation is not performed so angles should be a multiple of 90 degrees.
Permissions worldedit.clipboard.rotate
Usage //rotate <yRotate> [xRotate] [zRotate]
  <yRotate> Amount to rotate on the y-axis
  [xRotate] Amount to rotate on the x-axis
  [zRotate] Amount to rotate on the z-axis

//flip

Description Flip the contents of the clipboard across the origin
Permissions worldedit.clipboard.flip
Usage //flip [direction]
  [direction] The direction to flip, defaults to look direction.

/clearclipboard

Description Clear your clipboard
Permissions worldedit.clipboard.clear
Usage /clearclipboard

Tool Commands

/none

Description Unbind a bound tool from your current item
Usage /none

//selwand (or /selwand)

Description Selection wand tool
Permissions worldedit.setwand
Usage //selwand

//navwand (or /navwand)

Description Navigation wand tool
Permissions worldedit.setwand
Usage //navwand

/info

Description Block information tool
Permissions worldedit.tool.info
Usage /info

/tree

Description Tree generator tool
Permissions worldedit.tool.tree
Usage /tree [type]
  [type] Type of tree to generate

/repl

Description Block replacer tool
Permissions worldedit.tool.replacer
Usage /repl <pattern>
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to place

/cycler

Description Block data cycler tool
Permissions worldedit.tool.data-cycler
Usage /cycler

/floodfill (or /flood)

Description Flood fill tool
Permissions worldedit.tool.flood-fill
Usage /floodfill <pattern> <range>
  <pattern> The pattern to flood fill
  <range> The range to perform the fill

/deltree

Description Floating tree remover tool
Permissions worldedit.tool.deltree
Usage /deltree

/farwand

Description Wand at a distance tool
Permissions worldedit.tool.farwand
Usage /farwand

/lrbuild (or //lrbuild)

Description Long-range building tool
Permissions worldedit.tool.lrbuild
Usage /lrbuild <primary> <secondary>
  <primary> Pattern to set on left-click
  <secondary> Pattern to set on right-click

// (or /,)

Description Toggle the super pickaxe function
Permissions worldedit.superpickaxe
Usage // [superPickaxe]
  [superPickaxe] The new super pickaxe state

/mask

Description Set the brush mask
Permissions worldedit.brush.options.mask
Usage /mask [mask]
  [mask] The mask to set

/material (or //material)

Description Set the brush material
Permissions worldedit.brush.options.material
Usage /material <pattern>
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to use

/range

Description Set the brush range
Permissions worldedit.brush.options.range
Usage /range <range>
  <range> The range of the brush

/size

Description Set the brush size
Permissions worldedit.brush.options.size
Usage /size <size>
  <size> The size of the brush

/tracemask

Description Set the mask used to stop tool traces
Permissions worldedit.brush.options.tracemask
Usage /tracemask [mask]
  [mask] The trace mask to set

Super Pickaxe Commands

/superpickaxe (or /pickaxe, /sp)

Description Super-pickaxe commands
Permissions worldedit.superpickaxe.area, worldedit.superpickaxe.recursive, worldedit.superpickaxe
Usage /superpickaxe <single|area|recursive>

/superpickaxe single

Description Enable the single block super pickaxe mode
Permissions worldedit.superpickaxe
Usage /superpickaxe single

/superpickaxe area

Description Enable the area super pickaxe pickaxe mode
Permissions worldedit.superpickaxe.area
Usage /superpickaxe area <range>
  <range> The range of the area pickaxe

/superpickaxe recursive (or /superpickaxe recur)

Description Enable the recursive super pickaxe pickaxe mode
Permissions worldedit.superpickaxe.recursive
Usage /superpickaxe recursive <range>
  <range> The range of the recursive pickaxe

Brush Commands

/brush (or /br, //brush, //br)

Description Brushing commands
Permissions worldedit.brush.ex, worldedit.brush.paint, worldedit.brush.clipboard, worldedit.brush.butcher, worldedit.brush.set, worldedit.brush.gravity, worldedit.brush.forest, worldedit.brush.lower, worldedit.brush.smooth, worldedit.brush.cylinder, worldedit.brush.apply, worldedit.brush.deform, worldedit.brush.sphere, worldedit.brush.raise
Usage /brush <forest|cylinder|set|apply|deform|lower|butcher|paint|clipboard|gravity|extinguish|sphere|raise|smooth>

/brush forest

Description Forest brush, creates a forest in the area
Permissions worldedit.brush.forest
Usage /brush forest <shape> [radius] [density] <type>
  <shape> The shape of the region
  [radius] The size of the brush
  [density] The density of the brush
  <type> The type of tree to use

/brush cylinder (or /brush cyl, /brush c)

Description Choose the cylinder brush
Permissions worldedit.brush.cylinder
Usage /brush cylinder [-h] <pattern> [radius] [height]
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to set
  [radius] The radius of the cylinder
  [height] The height of the cylinder
  [-h] Create hollow cylinders instead

/brush set

Description Set brush, sets all blocks in the area
Permissions worldedit.brush.set
Usage /brush set <shape> [radius] <pattern>
  <shape> The shape of the region
  [radius] The size of the brush
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to set

/brush apply

Description Apply brush, apply a function to every block
Permissions worldedit.brush.apply
Usage /brush apply <shape> [radius] <forest|item|set>
  <shape> The shape of the region
  [radius] The size of the brush

/brush deform

Description Deform brush, applies an expression to an area
Permissions worldedit.brush.deform
Usage /brush deform [-or] <shape> [radius] [expression]
  <shape> The shape of the region
  [radius] The size of the brush
  [expression] Expression to apply
  [-r] Use the game’s coordinate origin
  [-o] Use the placement position as the origin

/brush lower

Description Lower brush, lower all blocks by one
Permissions worldedit.brush.lower
Usage /brush lower <shape> [radius]
  <shape> The shape of the region
  [radius] The size of the brush

/brush butcher (or /brush kill)

Description Butcher brush, kills mobs within a radius
Permissions worldedit.brush.butcher
Usage /brush butcher [-abfgnprt] [radius]
  [radius] Radius to kill mobs in
  [-p] Also kill pets
  [-n] Also kill NPCs
  [-g] Also kill golems
  [-a] Also kill animals
  [-b] Also kill ambient mobs
  [-t] Also kill mobs with name tags
  [-f] Also kill all friendly mobs (Applies the flags -abgnpt)
  [-r] Also destroy armor stands

/brush paint

Description Paint brush, apply a function to a surface
Permissions worldedit.brush.paint
Usage /brush paint <shape> [radius] [density] <forest|item|set>
  <shape> The shape of the region
  [radius] The size of the brush
  [density] The density of the brush

/brush clipboard (or /brush copy)

Description Choose the clipboard brush
Permissions worldedit.brush.clipboard
Usage /brush clipboard [-abeo] [-m <sourceMask>]
  [-a] Don’t paste air from the clipboard
  [-o] Paste starting at the target location, instead of centering on it
  [-e] Paste entities if available
  [-b] Paste biomes if available
  [-m <sourceMask>] Skip blocks matching this mask in the clipboard

/brush gravity (or /brush grav)

Description Gravity brush, simulates the effect of gravity
Permissions worldedit.brush.gravity
Usage /brush gravity [-h] [radius]
  [radius] The radius to apply gravity in
  [-h] Affect blocks starting at max Y, rather than the target location Y + radius

/brush extinguish (or /brush ex)

Description Shortcut fire extinguisher brush
Permissions worldedit.brush.ex
Usage /brush extinguish [radius]
  [radius] The radius to extinguish

/brush sphere (or /brush s)

Description Choose the sphere brush
Permissions worldedit.brush.sphere
Usage /brush sphere [-h] <pattern> [radius]
  <pattern> The pattern of blocks to set
  [radius] The radius of the sphere
  [-h] Create hollow spheres instead

/brush raise

Description Raise brush, raise all blocks by one
Permissions worldedit.brush.raise
Usage /brush raise <shape> [radius]
  <shape> The shape of the region
  [radius] The size of the brush

/brush smooth

Description

Choose the terrain softener brush

Example: ‘/brush smooth 2 4 grass_block,dirt,stone’
Permissions worldedit.brush.smooth
Usage /brush smooth [radius] [iterations] [mask]
  [radius] The radius to sample for softening
  [iterations] The number of iterations to perform
  [mask] The mask of blocks to use for the heightmap

Biome Commands

/biomelist (or /biomels)

Description Gets all biomes available.
Permissions worldedit.biome.list
Usage /biomelist [-p <page>]
  [-p <page>] Page number.

/biomeinfo

Description

Get the biome of the targeted block.

By default, uses all blocks in your selection.
Permissions worldedit.biome.info
Usage /biomeinfo [-pt]
  [-t] Use the block you are looking at.
  [-p] Use the block you are currently in.

//setbiome

Description

Sets the biome of your current block or region.

By default, uses all the blocks in your selection
Permissions worldedit.biome.set
Usage //setbiome [-p] <target>
  <target> Biome type.
  [-p] Use your current position

Chunk Commands

/chunkinfo

Description Get information about the chunk you’re inside
Permissions worldedit.chunkinfo
Usage /chunkinfo

/listchunks

Description List chunks that your selection includes
Permissions worldedit.listchunks
Usage /listchunks [-p <page>]
  [-p <page>] Page number.

/delchunks

Description Delete chunks that your selection includes
Permissions worldedit.delchunks
Usage /delchunks [-o <beforeTime>]
  [-o <beforeTime>] Only delete chunks older than the specified time.

Snapshot Commands

/restore (or //restore)

Description Restore the selection from a snapshot
Permissions worldedit.snapshots.restore
Usage /restore [snapshot]
  [snapshot] The snapshot to restore

/snapshot (or /snap)

Description Snapshot commands for restoring backups
Permissions worldedit.snapshots.restore, worldedit.snapshots.list
Usage /snapshot <before|use|sel|after|list>

/snapshot before

Description Choose the nearest snapshot before a date
Permissions worldedit.snapshots.restore
Usage /snapshot before <date>
  <date> The soonest date that may be used

/snapshot use

Description Choose a snapshot to use
Permissions worldedit.snapshots.restore
Usage /snapshot use <name>
  <name> Snapeshot to use

/snapshot sel

Description Choose the snapshot based on the list id
Permissions worldedit.snapshots.restore
Usage /snapshot sel <index>
  <index> The list ID to select

/snapshot after

Description Choose the nearest snapshot after a date
Permissions worldedit.snapshots.restore
Usage /snapshot after <date>
  <date> The soonest date that may be used

/snapshot list

Description List snapshots
Permissions worldedit.snapshots.list
Usage /snapshot list [-p <page>]
  [-p <page>] Page of results to return

Scripting Commands

/cs

Description Execute a CraftScript
Permissions worldedit.scripting.execute
Usage /cs <filename> [args...]
  <filename> Filename of the CraftScript to load
  [args...] Arguments to the CraftScript

/.s

Description Execute last CraftScript
Permissions worldedit.scripting.execute
Usage /.s [args...]
  [args...] Arguments to the CraftScript

Utility Commands

//fill

Description Fill a hole
Permissions worldedit.fill
Usage //fill <pattern> <radius> [depth]
  <pattern> The blocks to fill with
  <radius> The radius to fill in
  [depth] The depth to fill

//fillr

Description Fill a hole recursively
Permissions worldedit.fill.recursive
Usage //fillr <pattern> <radius> [depth]
  <pattern> The blocks to fill with
  <radius> The radius to fill in
  [depth] The depth to fill

//drain

Description Drain a pool
Permissions worldedit.drain
Usage //drain [-w] <radius>
  <radius> The radius to drain
  [-w] Also un-waterlog blocks

/fixlava (or //fixlava)

Description Fix lava to be stationary
Permissions worldedit.fixlava
Usage /fixlava <radius>
  <radius> The radius to fix in

/fixwater (or //fixwater)

Description Fix water to be stationary
Permissions worldedit.fixwater
Usage /fixwater <radius>
  <radius> The radius to fix in

/removeabove (or //removeabove)

Description Remove blocks above your head.
Permissions worldedit.removeabove
Usage /removeabove [size] [height]
  [size] The apothem of the square to remove from
  [height] The maximum height above you to remove from

/removebelow (or //removebelow)

Description Remove blocks below you.
Permissions worldedit.removebelow
Usage /removebelow [size] [height]
  [size] The apothem of the square to remove from
  [height] The maximum height below you to remove from

/removenear (or //removenear)

Description Remove blocks near you.
Permissions worldedit.removenear
Usage /removenear <mask> [radius]
  <mask> The mask of blocks to remove
  [radius] The radius of the square to remove from

/replacenear (or //replacenear)

Description Replace nearby blocks
Permissions worldedit.replacenear
Usage /replacenear <radius> [from] <to>
  <radius> The radius of the square to remove in
  [from] The mask matching blocks to remove
  <to> The pattern of blocks to replace with

/snow (or //snow)

Description Simulates snow
Permissions worldedit.snow
Usage /snow [size]
  [size] The radius of the circle to snow in

/thaw (or //thaw)

Description Thaws the area
Permissions worldedit.thaw
Usage /thaw [size]
  [size] The radius of the circle to thaw in

/green (or //green)

Description Converts dirt to grass blocks in the area
Permissions worldedit.green
Usage /green [-f] [size]
  [size] The radius of the circle to convert in
  [-f] Also convert coarse dirt

/extinguish (or //ex, //ext, //extinguish, /ex, /ext)

Description Extinguish nearby fire
Permissions worldedit.extinguish
Usage /extinguish [radius]
  [radius] The radius of the square to remove in

/butcher

Description Kill all or nearby mobs
Permissions worldedit.butcher
Usage /butcher [-abfgnprt] [radius]
  [radius] Radius to kill mobs in
  [-p] Also kill pets
  [-n] Also kill NPCs
  [-g] Also kill golems
  [-a] Also kill animals
  [-b] Also kill ambient mobs
  [-t] Also kill mobs with name tags
  [-f] Also kill all friendly mobs (Applies the flags -abgnpt)
  [-r] Also destroy armor stands

/remove (or /rem, /rement)

Description Remove all entities of a type
Permissions worldedit.remove
Usage /remove <remover> <radius>
  <remover> The type of entity to remove
  <radius> The radius of the cuboid to remove from

//calculate (or //calc, //eval, //evaluate, //solve)

Description Evaluate a mathematical expression
Permissions worldedit.calc
Usage //calculate <input...>
  <input...> Expression to evaluate

//help

Description Displays help for WorldEdit commands
Permissions worldedit.help
Usage //help [-s] [-p <page>] [command...]
  [-s] List sub-commands of the given command, if applicable
  [-p <page>] The page to retrieve
  [command...] The command to retrieve help for

Usage

WorldEdit has many commands, tools, and features. For a listing of commands, see the commands page (or just use //help in-game). These pages will go more in depth on how to use the various features

General

History

Before you dive in to using WorldEdit, you should know how to use history to undo mistakes you may make along the way.

Sessions

When you select a region or change your preferences in-game, your information will be put into a temporary session that will be kept active as long as you stay logged in. Upon disconnecting, your session will be discarded in 10 minutes, allowing you to log back in and retain your session. Each person’s session is separate when connected to a server.

Sessions contain:

  • Your current selection
  • Your history
  • Your block change limit
  • Your selected snapshot to restore from
Undo and Redo

Every action taken with WorldEdit, whether performed by a command or a tool, will be stored in your session’s history. By default, WorldEdit stores your last 15 actions (this can be changed in the configuration).

If you ever want to undo an action, you can use the //undo command. This will undo your last action. To redo it, use //redo.

Warning

WorldEdit only records direct changes. Indirect changes such as liquids that start flowing, attached blocks (doors, signs, tall grass) popping off, and so on, will not be recorded by history. Be careful while working with these things.

As shown in the quick start, history commands can operate on multiple actions at once. You can use //undo 5, for example, to undo your last 5 actions.

History commands also let players will permission undo or redo the actions of other players when on multiplayer. Note that thanks to the sessions described above, you can undo another player’s actions for up to 10 minutes after they’ve logged out (and for as long as they are logged in). To do this, use //undo <number> <player name>.

Your stored history can be cleared with the /clearhistory command.

Patterns

You may have noticed (or if you haven’t yet, you soon will) that many WorldEdit commands take a “pattern” as a parameter. Patterns range from very simple (such as a single block - stone) to very complex. Patterns determine what blocks get set into the world as a command, tool, etc operates.

Available Patterns

Note

This list may be incomplete as patterns are added to WorldEdit. In addition, our API allows other plugins to register new patterns, which will not be listed here.

Tip

Here’s a video detailing some of these patterns which were added in WorldEdit 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5wCVMf3SvM

Single Block Pattern

The most basic pattern of just a single block. A block is identified by two parts: the block type, and additional block states. These two links to the Minecraft Wiki, along with WorldEdit’s in-built tab-completion for commands, should guide you in specifying the block you want. Additional states are always appended to the type using the syntax block_type[state1=value,state2=value,...]. Note that when states are not specified, or if some are left out, the default values will be used for those states.

Example: Single block patterns

Setting a selection to stone:

//set stone

Setting a selection to a note block with a specific instrument and pitch:

//set note_block[instrument=chime,note=18]
Random Pattern

This pattern allows setting random blocks from any number of other patterns. The basic form is as simple as a comma-separated list of patterns, which will be chosen from evenly. You can also specify weights for each pattern with <x>%<pattern>.

Example:: Random Patterns

Setting a selection to different types of stone, equally distributed:

//set stone,diorite,andesite,granite

Setting a selection to mostly red wool, with a small amount of glass (5:1 ratio, see note below):

//set 50%red_wool,10%red_stained_glass

Note

Despite the percentage sign, weights need not add up to 100. They are cumulative and will be divided by the total. That is, 5%dirt actually means 100% of the blocks will be dirt, while 5%dirt,15%stone means 25% of blocks will be dirt, and 75% will be stone. In other words, weights are relative to each other, not to 100.

Tip

You can use any other pattern as one of the choices, not just the single block pattern. Keep reading to see more patterns…

Random State Pattern

Prefixing any block type with an asterisk (*) will randomly choose between all states for that block for each position.

Example: Random State Pattern

Setting oak logs facing in random directions:

//set *oak_log
Clipboard Pattern

The #clipboard pattern will take blocks from your clipboard in the same arrangement. This makes it easy to build one part of a repeating complicated pattern by hand, and then repeat it over and over. You can also offset the pattern by adding @[x,y,z].

Example: Using the clipboard pattern

Replacing all existing blocks to your clipboard:

//replace #existing #clipboard

Using the clipboard in the first image to replace a hill. Note the repeating layers.

clipboard_pattern clipboard_replace

Using an offset to align the clipboard:

//set #clipboard@[2,0,1]
Type or State Applying Pattern

This pattern, prefixed by ^, lets you set the type or states of a block without modifying everything else. This pattern will, for example, allow you to change a spiral staircase from oak to acacia without having to worry about the stairs facing in different directions and so on. You can either specify a block type (to change block type but not states, where applicable), or any number of states (to only change those states, where applicable).

Example: Type/State Applying Patterns

Replacing all oak stairs to acacia stairs, while maintaining orientation, etc:

//replace oak_stairs ^acacia_stairs

Removing the water from all waterloggable blocks:

//set ^[waterlogged=false]

Doubling up all slabs:

//replace ##slabs ^[type=double]
Block Category Pattern

This pattern allows setting random blocks within a block category, often referred to as a “tag”. Tags allow grouping blocks together under a single name. Minecraft comes with many tags inbuilt (see the link) and also allows creating and modifying tags via data packs. You may already have noticed these tags being used as a mask in the example above (##slabs).

The syntax for this pattern is ##<tag name>, which will randomly choose between the default state of all blocks in the category. You can also mix this with the random state pattern (##*<tag name>) to use all states, not just the defaults.

Example: Block Category Pattern Usage

Replacing all existing blocks with rainbow wool:

//replace #existing ##wool

Setting the selection to random types of slabs, both top/bottom/double, and waterlogged at random:

//set ##*slabs
Special Block Data Syntax

Some blocks have additional syntax for setting extra information.

Sign Text

You can set text on signs by separating it with a pipe symbol (|). Note that if the text has spaces, you must wrap the entire pattern in quotes "".

Example: Setting sign text

Simple Example:

//set oak_sign|Line1|Line2

With spaces and rotation:

//set "oak_wall_sign[facing=north]|Hello world|Second|Third line"
Player Heads

You can set the skin of a player head by specifying a username after the pipe symbol.

Example: Setting a skin on a head

//set player_head|dinnerbone
Mob Spawners

You can set the type of mob to be spawned (again via the pipe symbol). Note that the name of the mob must be an entity ID. Prefixing minecraft: is optional, modded mobs must have a namespace.

Example: Creating a squid spawner

//set spawner|squid
Masks

Masks, alongside patterns, are commonly used in WorldEdit commands. Unlike patterns, masks determine which blocks will be affected by commands, brushes, and so on.

Aside from commands that take a mask as a parameter (such as //replace [mask] <pattern>), you can also apply masks to individual brushes by using the /mask command while holding the brush, or you can apply a mask to all your WorldEdit actions globally with //gmask.

Note

Masks applied through different means will stack with each other. If you set your global mask with //gmask dirt, and then set a brush mask with /mask stone, that brush will not be able to modify any blocks at all! This is because the combined mask will only match blocks which are both stone and dirt!

Tip

You can clear your global mask by using //gmask again without arguments.

Combining Masks

To get a mask which matches the intersection of multiple masks, use a space to separate them. The intersection will match when all of the given masks match.

Example: Combining Masks

Replacing surface stone with dirt using a mask intersection:

//replace "stone <air" dirt

Setting a mask which restricts the current brush to modifying air blocks in your selection:

/mask "air #sel"
Available Masks
Block Mask

The simplest of masks, the block mask matches one or more blocks or block states. Just like the single block pattern, you can specify either a block type alone, or a block type with any number of states specified. Unlike the pattern, masks will not use default values for unspecified block states - they will “fuzzy” match any value of the unspecified state(s).

To match more than one block, separate each with a comma.

Example: Using the block mask

Removing all oak fences from your selection:

//replace oak_fence air

Removing all oak fences that are attached on the east side, and oak fence gates:

//replace oak_fence[east=true],oak_fence_gate air
Mask Negation

The ! symbol can be used to negate everything that comes after it. That is, it matches anything not matched by a different mask. Any other mask can follow this.

Example: Negating a mask

Replace any block that isn’t dirt, stone, or grass with stone:

//replace !dirt,stone,grass_block stone
Existing Block Mask

The mask #existing will match any blocks that aren’t air. Note that this isn’t the same as !air, since the game actually has multiple types or air that it uses in some cases.

Solid Block Mask

The mask #solid will match any blocks that are considered “solid”. That is - blocks that restrict entities (such as players) from moving through them.

Offset Mask

Using > (overlay) or < (underlay) preceding another mask will match blocks that are above or below the other mask, respectively.

Example: Offset masks

Creating a layer of slabs above planks in your selection:

//replace >##planks smooth_stone_slab
Region Masks

While it doesn’t make sense for commands like replace, setting a region mask can be very useful for using brushes inside a limited area. For example, if you want to brush some dirt around the base of your wall, you can select the wall, and then negate a region mask so that the dirt doesn’t affect the wall (but still affects the ground around it).

The first type of region mask is #region (aliases: #sel, #selection), which will make a copy of your region at the time you run the command and use that as the mask.

The second type of region mask is #dregion (d for dynamic, also #dsel, #dselection) which will always stay updated with your current selection.

Block Category Mask

Block categories, or tags can also be used as masks. A category mask will match any block that is in that category. Just like the pattern, the syntax is ##<tag>.

Example: Block Category Masks

Replacing all carpets with a layer of snow:

//replace ##carpets snow
Random Noise Mask

The noise mask can create random noise. Specifying %<percent> will match the given percentage of blocks. Unlike the weighted patterns, %50 is actually 50% of blocks.

Block State Mask

Like the block mask, this mask matches block states. Unlike the block mask, you don’t need to specify a block type. This means you can match any block that has a property in a given value.

The state mask has two modes, lenient and strict. In lenient mode (^[state=value,...], it will match any block that has the given block states equal the given value, or any block that does not even have those properties. In strict mode (^=[state=value,...]), it will only match blocks that have the block states equal to that value.

Example: Using the block state mask

Removing all closed door, gates, and trapdoors:

//replace ^=[open=false] air
Expression Mask

This mask can evaluate a mathematical expression upon each block. The mask starts with = and then must have an expression which can use the variables x, y, and z. The mask will match if the expression returns a positive value.

Example: Expression masks

Only edit blocks below a certain y-level:

//gmask =y<64

Only edit blocks two blocks below air:

//gmask =queryRel(0,-2,0,0,0)
Biome Mask

The biome mask matches blocks in columns with the given biome. Its syntax is $<biome id>. The biome ID must be the namespaced id, with minecraft: being optional for vanilla biomes, and mod ids being required for mod-added biomes.

Regions

Selection

A fundamental part of WorldEdit is working with a selection or region. For example, if you wanted to replace all the glass blocks inside a square area with dirt, you would have to tell WorldEdit where this square is. WorldEdit gives you several ways to select a region for editing, this section will introduce you to selecting regions and show you what you can do with them.

Want to see selection lines?

To see lines that show what you have selected, then you need to install WorldEditCUI, a client-side mod. Note that the mod requires Fabric, so you will need to install that first.

Note

If you would like to use an older version of Minecraft (1.12 or before), in addition to downloading an older WorldEdit (version 6), you will also need the older WorldEditCUI mod by Mumfrey. Note that this version requires LiteLoader (installation instructions on that page) instead of Fabric.

Tip

Don’t want to install client mods? You can access a limited version of the selection outlines server-side via the //drawsel command. It only works for cuboid selections less than 32x32x32 in size, and you must be in creative mode. These restrictions are due to how structure blocks work in Minecraft.

Selecting Cuboids

WorldEdit allows you to select cuboids (think a 3D rectangle) by choosing two points at two corners of the cuboid. The diagram below indicates how two points can form a cuboid. The cuboids you select can only be aligned to the world (they cannot be rotated at an angle).

Tip

You can also select other shapes such as 2D polygons, ellipsoids, spheres, cylinders, and more. Information on these other selection modes is described later in this page.

_images/cuboid.png

There are several different ways of choosing these two points and you can mix and match.

Selecting with the wand 
//wand

The most intuitive way to select a region is by using wand. To get the wand, use //wand (it is, by default, a wooden axe). Left clicking a block with the wand marks that block as the first corner of the cuboid you wish to select. A right-click chooses the second corner.

You can bind the selection wand to a different item either by changing the configuration or using the //selwand command. In this regard, it is a tool.

Selecting at your own location 
//pos1
//pos2

These commands set the first and second corners to the block above the one that you are standing on. Generally the wand suffices for most tasks and you likely will not need to use this. This is useful if you are flying in mid-air and don’t have blocks you can click with the wand.

Selecting with your crosshair 
//hpos1
//hpos2

These commands set the first and second corners to the block that you are looking at. This allows you to select points from far away and make particularly large cuboid regions with ease.

Selecting the current chunk 
//chunk

This command selects all the blocks in the chunk that you are standing in. Chunks are 16 by 16 and are 256 blocks high. Using //chunk -s instead will select all chunks that your current selection intersects.

Adjusting the selection
Expanding the selection 
//expand <amount> [direction]
//expand <amount> <reverse-amount> [direction]
//expand vert

This command allows you to easily enlarge a region in several different ways:

  • By specifying a direction
  • By looking in the direction (only for cardinal directions)
  • To the sky and to bedrock (using vert)

To specify a direction, use “N”, “S”, “W”, “E”, “U” (for up), or “D” (for down) for the direction. If you want to merely look in the direction, either use “me” for the direction or don’t enter a direction parameter.

You can also specify relative directions like “F” (forward, same as “me”), “B” (back), “L” (left), “R” (right) which will go be relative to the direction you are facing.

You can also specify multiple directions separated by commas to expand in multiple directions at once, such as //expand 10 n,w.

You can specify two numbers and the region will be expanded in two opposite directions simultaneously.

Example: Expanding upwards

For example, if you used //expand 10 up, the selection would grow larger at the top as shown. expand_up

Contracting the selection 
//contract <amount> [direction]
//contract <amount> <reverse-amount> [direction]

This command works similarly to //expand, but instead contract.

Example: Contracting downwards

Which way would the selection contract? If you used //contract 10 down, then the selection would shrink from the top. contract_down

Inset and Outset

Tip

If you want to expand or contract in all directions at once (or just horizontal or vertical directions), you can use the //outset and //inset commands. For example, //outset -v 5 will expand your selection vertically (both up and down) 5 blocks each, while //inset -h 5 will contract your selection horizontally (north, west, south, and east) 5 blocks each. Leaving out the v or h will work in all 6 directions.

Selection Information

WorldEdit also provides you with commands for getting information about the area you have selected.

Getting selection size 
//size [-c]

Gets the area and dimensions of your selection.

The -c flag will instead measure your clipboard size instead of your selection.

Counting block frequency 
//count <mask>

Counts the number of blocks in your selection which match the mask.

Finding the block distribution 
//distr [-cd]

Shows the block distribution in the selection area.

The -c flag operates on your clipboard instead of your selection.

The -d flag separates by block states instead of just types.

Example: Block distribution output

Only by block type:

75      (52.083%) Air (minecraft:air)
41      (28.472%) Grass Block (minecraft:grass_block)
18      (12.500%) Rose Bush (minecraft:rose_bush)
5       (3.472%) Grass (minecraft:grass)

Separating by states:

75      (52.083%) Air (minecraft:air)
41      (28.472%) Grass Block (minecraft:grass_block[snowy=false])
9       (6.250%) Rose Bush (minecraft:rose_bush[half=upper])
9       (6.250%) Rose Bush (minecraft:rose_bush[half=lower])
5       (3.472%) Grass (minecraft:grass)
Selection Modes

Using the //sel <mode> command allows you to change between different shapes. It is recommended to install the CUI mod when using more complex shapes so you can visualize what you’re selecting.

//sel cuboid

The standard cuboid selection mode, described above.

//sel extend

Left-click to select first point. All subsequent points are selected by right-clicking. Every right-click will extend the cuboid selection to encompass the new point.

//sel poly

Left-click to select first point. All subsequent points are selected by right-clicking. Every right-click will add an additional point. The top and bottom will always encompass your highest and lowest selected points.

//sel ellipsoid

Left-click to choose center, right-click to extend. You can control the radii along the x, y, and z planes individually depending on where you click.

//sel sphere

Left-click to select center, right-click to extend. Selection will always be a sphere from the first point which has a radius to the second point.

//sel cyl

Left-click to choose center, right click to extend. You can control the x and z radii, while the height will always encompass your highest and lowest points.

//sel convex

Left-click to select first point. All subsequent points are selected by right clicking. The selection is a convex hull encompassing all your selected points.

Region Operations

Once you have selected a region, it’s time for the real fun to begin.

Setting Blocks

The most basic operation, the //set <pattern> command allows you to set all blocks in your selection to a given pattern.

Example: Setting your selection

A simple pattern:

//set stone

Complex patterns:

//set 30%red_wool,*oak_log,#copy,##slabs
Replacing Blocks

If you don’t want to set all the blocks in your selection, you can decide which ones should be affected by specifying a mask with the //replace [mask] <pattern> command.

Note that you can omit the mask argument in the command - it will default to the existing block mask.

Example: Replacing blocks in your selection

Replacing all non-air blocks with grass:

//replace grass_block

Replacing all stone with green_wool:

//replace stone green_wool

Replacing surface sand with metal blocks:

//replace sand,<air diamond_block,iron_block,gold_block
Building walls (and other outlines)

Sometimes, you want to create walls or other hollow shapes. There are two main ways to do this:

For cuboid selections, the //faces <pattern> command (alias: //outline) will allow you to fill all 6 faces (up, down, north, south, east, west). Using this command on any other type of selection will create a bounding box (i.e. a cuboid region that entirely encompasses whatever shape you had selected) and create the faces of that cuboid.

For any type of selection, the //walls <pattern> command will allow you to make a hollow shell of the selection without a ceiling and floor. The specifics of this depends on the selection type.

Overlaying

The //overlay <pattern> command allows you to overlay blocks in the selection with another block (or pattern). Note that the top of your selection must be “open” - this command will look downwards from the block above your selection in every column until it hits a non-air block, and then place your pattern above that. This is useful for overlaying torches, fences/walls, road blocks, etc. on top of existing terrain.

Stacking

The //stack <count> [direction] command allows you to repeat your selection a number of times in a given direction. This will essentially copy and paste your selection over and over.

If a direction is not specified, it will stack in the direction you are facing.

Some potential uses for this include:

  • Extending bridges
  • Making tunnels
  • Repeating a segment of a hand-built structure

There are several flags available:

  • -m <mask> will set a source mask, only stacking matching blocks
  • -e will also copy entities into each stacked area
  • -b will also copy biomes into each stacked area (you may need to re-join the world to see changes)

Some uses of the stack command

_images/stack_bridge.jpg

Bridge extended with //stack

_images/stack_tunnel.jpg

Digging a tunnel through a mountain effortlessly. Be sure to select the ceiling and floor blocks.

Moving
//move <distance> [direction] [fill pattern]

If you’ve built something, only to find out that you need to move it a little to the side, this command can be very helpful as it will shift the entire area like magic. The command takes a distance to move the area, an optional direction, and also a block to fill with the existing area now left void by the move.

The direction parameter works like that of the //stack command: use any direction, defaulting to “me” - your current heading.

If you don’t provide a block to fill with, the area left behind will be filled with air.

You can also use the -s flag to move your selection along with the blocks, so your new selection will be in the same place as the moved blocks.

The move command also takes the same three flags as //stack, -e to move entities, -b to copy biomes (source biomes unaffected), and -m <mask> to move only matching blocks.

Example: Using the move command

Moving the selection 2 blocks forward, leaving stone:

//move 2 me stone

Moving the selection 5 blocks down, leaving air behind:

//move 5 down
Smoothing

The //smooth [iterations] command will smooth terrain out. You can increase the number of iterations to make areas more smooth. Note that this command works with a heightmap, and while it excels at smoothing out surface terrain, it it not suitable for smoothing caves, walls, or objects.

Regenerating

The //regen command will regenerate your selection to its state when the world was freshly generated. It is based on the world’s current world generator and seed, meaning running it multiple times will produce the same results.

Warning

The regen command will use the current world generator, which means if the world was generated via an external tool, or if Minecraft’s terrain generation has changed in the meantime, the regenerated area will not match everything around it. If possible, consider taking a backup of your entire world ahead of time for use with snapshots.

Naturalizing

The //naturalize command will naturalize terrain by creating a layer of grass, followed by layers of dirt and then stone.

_images/naturalize.jpg

Making the land look natural.

Placing flora

The //flora command will scatter tall grass and flowers over grass, and cacti and dead grass on sand in your selection. It works similarly to overlay, if you need a more complex pattern.

Generating forests

The //forest <tree type> [density] command will plant a forest with trees of your choosing. The density must be a number between 0 and 100, and controls how often WorldEdit will try to plant a tree within the area. The default is 5.

Hollowing areas

Using //hollow [thickness] [fill pattern] command will hollow out objects in your selection, leaving a shell with the given thickness. By default, the interior of the hollowed object will be filled with air, unless you specify something else.

Creating lines and curves

When you have a cuboid region selected, you can draw a line between the first and second points you selected. The command //line <pattern> [thickness] will create a line of the given pattern and thickness, and adding the -h flag will make it hollow, allowing you to generate a “tube”.

To make a curve with more points, use the //sel convex selection mode to select multiple points. Then use //curve <pattern> [thickness] to draw a spline through all the points selected (in order!) of the given pattern and thickness - again, -h will make it hollow.

Setting a block in the center

The //center <pattern> command will set the center block (or 2 blocks, along any axis of even length) of your selection.

Deforming regions

Using //deform <expression>, you can apply a custom expression to all blocks in your selection.

The expression should take the variables x, y, and z and change them to the new coordinate that should be copied to the current x/y/z. For example, y-=1 will move every block up one, since each block will be copied from the block below it.

By default, coordinates are normalized from -1 to 1 on each axis, from the min to max points of your selection. Using the -r flag will use raw world coordinates, while -o will use Minecraft coordinates scale offset to your placement position.

Example: Deforming regions

Making bumpy terrain:

//deform y+=0.2*sin(x*10)

Flipping your selection on its side:

//deform swap(x,y)
Setting Biomes

While WorldEdit mostly focuses on manipulating blocks, the //setbiome <biome> command allows you to set the biome in your selection. The biome type should be specifed by biome id. If you are using a biome added by a mod, the namespace: must prefix the id, e.g. minecraft:plains.

Clipboard

WorldEdit has a powerful clipboard function that allows you to copy an area, paste it, and even save it to and load it from files. Clipboard contents are currently only cuboids and copying use the region you have selected.

Note that like history, your current clipboard is stored in your session and thus will be kept for 10 minutes after logging off (of a server).

Also like history, your current clipboard can be cleared with the /clearclipboard command.

Copy and cut

The //copy command copies your current selection to your session’s clipboard, keeping track of where you are relative to the copy. The second part of that sentence is very important; if you want to later paste, for example, a bridge so that it is under where you are standing, you must stand in a location above the bridge when you make the copy. This method allows you to easily align your later paste because you can plan ahead a bit; it requires some spatial abilities to master the copying process but you will find it particularly helpful once you get the hang of it.

//cut works just like //copy except that it also deletes the selected area afterwards. By default, it leaves air, but you can also specify a different block to leave behind.

Note

This remembers your current position relative to the copy. This is a very important concept to grasp otherwise you will not be able to control where you paste your copy!

Both commands have three additional flags:

  • -e can be specified to also copy/cut entities from the selection
  • -b can be specified to also copy biomes from the selection (“cutting” selections doesn’t make sense - some biome needs to be left there)
  • -m <mask> can be used to specify a mask of blocks to copy/cut. Any blocks that do not match will be replaced with air in your clipboard.
Pasting

Once you have something in your clipboard, you can paste it to world. The last argument is optional: if you want the copy to paste at the same point that it was copied at, type //paste -o, otherwise the paste will be placed relative to you. Remember that if you are pasting relatively, it will be relative to where you were when you made the initial copy. For example, if you were on top of your castle when you copied it, pasting it would result in the castle being pasted under you.

_images/copypasta.png

A primer on how relative positions work for clipboards

Like the copy/cut commands, the paste command also allows the same three flags:

  • -e can be specified to also paste entities, if your clipboard contains any
  • -b can be specified to also paste biomes, if your clipboard contains any
  • -m <mask> can be used to specify a mask of blocks to paste. Blocks that do not match the mask will not be pasted.

In addition, there are some additional flags:

  • -a will not paste air from your clipboard. This is the same as -m #existing. The -a and -m flag can be combined (or you can just add #existing to your mask).
  • -s will set your selection to the area you are pasting into.
  • -o will paste the clipboard back to its original origin, as explained above. This will disregard the entire “relative positions”.
Rotating

Sometimes you may want to rotate your copy. The //rotate <angle> command currently lets you rotate your copy around the Y (up-down) axis 90 degrees or at any multiple of 90 degrees. To be accurate, it actually allows you to revolve your copy around the relative offset that you were at when you originally made the copy. If you wanted to rotate a copy around its center, you would have had to stand in the middle of the copy when you had made it.

_images/rotate.png

Rotating around your relative position

Flipping

The //flip [direction] command flips the current clipboard in a specified direction. The directions available are North, South, East, West, Up, and Down; you can also not specify in the command to use your current heading. The clipboard flips about a plane perpendicular to the direction specified, through the center of the clipboard. There are three planes, one horizontal (xz), and two vertical (xy, yz). The horizontal plane xz is defined through the up or down vectors, the xy plane defined by East/West, and the yz plane by North/South.

_images/flip.png

Flipping the clipboard across a plane

Using the flag -p flips the selection around the player, instead of across the selection’s center.

Loading and Saving

WorldEdit can work with “schematic” files to save or load your clipboard to disk.

To save your current clipboard to file, use //schem save <filename>.

To load a saved schematic, use //schem load <filename>.

A note on schematic formats

Before WorldEdit version 7 (corresponding to Minecraft 1.13), the files were saved with a “.schematic” file extension in a format that was compatible with many other software such as MCEdit, Redstone Simulator, and more. Unfortunately, the format wasn’t suited for the new block format Mojang was migrating to, so a new format was devised - named the Sponge schematic format, using the extension “.schem”.

Note that WorldEdit can still import old “.schematic” files saved in older versions (or third party programs) through a legacy compatibility layer, but they can no longer be written to.

Relative positions and schematics

Both the origin of the copy and your offset to the copy are saved with the file so that you can load it back later on and paste the copy at its original location or relative to you as if you had copied it. You should be familiar with how //copy and //paste store your relative position.

Note that third party software which uses the format may not necessarily use relative positions as WorldEdit does, so they may not have that information.

Schematic Management

List available schematics

//schem list [-dn] [-p <page>]

The -d or -n flag may be used to sort by newest/oldest file modification time. The -p flag will get a specific page number. Note that the output of this command is interactive - the arrows at the bottom will retrieve the previous/next page automatically, and the [L] “button” on the left will load the schematic.

Deleting schematics

//schem delete <filename>

Listing available formats

//schem listformats

Although the note above only mentions the older “MCEdit” schematic format and the newer “Sponge” schematic format, WorldEdit actually has no limit on how clipboards are stored. Third-party plugins can register new formats with WorldEdit for saving and/or loading.

Schematic Storage

Schematics are saved to and loaded from WorldEdit’s schematic folder. On Bukkit, this will be in the plugins/WorldEdit/ folder, while on other platforms, it will be in config/WorldEdit/. The default folder name is simply schematics, though this can be changed in the config. The folder is not created until you save a schematic in-game. If you’ve downloaded a schematic somewhere and want to add it, you can make the folder manually.

Note

If you want to share schematic folders between servers/installations, or simply want to store them elsewhere, you will have to enable the “allow-symlinks” option in the config.

Tip

The save and load commands, although they ask for a file name, can take folder/file, in which case a sub-folder will be created in your schematics folder. This can be useful to organize your schematics.

Generation

Sometimes you may want to generate forests or create spheres automatically, as doing it by hand may be too tedious. WorldEdit has a number of tools that allow you to do just that. These commands don’t need a region; they use the block that you are standing in.

As most commands in WorldEdit, these commands all accept patterns as arguments.

Tip

These commands actually use your “placement position”, which defaults to your current location. You can use the //togglepos command to instead use your first selection point (the one selected via wand left-click, or //pos1).

Cylinders
//cyl <pattern> <radius> [height]
//hcyl <pattern> <radius> [height]

WorldEdit is capable of producing both hollow and filled cylinders as well as hollow and filled circles. It uses a fast algorithm to generate the objects and the algorithm is capable of creating nice and symmetrical edges. The cylinders are created at your feet and extend upwards. If you are creating a circle, you simply only need to create a cylinder of height 1.

Tip

For better control over the edges of the shape, you can use decimal numbers for the radius.

For elliptical cylinders, you can instead specify two radii: one for the east-west axis, one for the north-south axis.

//cyl <pattern> <radiusEW>,<radiusNS> [height]
//hcyl <pattern> <radiusEW>,<radiusNS> [height]

Example: Creating cylinders and circles

Creating a filled glass cylinder of radius 5 and height 10:

//cyl glass 5 10

Creating an elliptical hollow cylinder out of stone with radii of 5.5 and 15 and height of 1:

//hcyl stone 5.5,15 1
Sphere
//sphere <pattern> <radius> [raised]
//hsphere <pattern> <radius> [raised]

Both hollow and filled spheres can be created. By default, the center of the sphere will be the block above the one that you are standing on, but if you provide “yes” for the last parameter, the sphere will be raised by its radius so that its bottom is at your feet instead.

Like cylinders, you can create ellipsoids by specifying multiple radii (which can again be decimals). The order of the radii is north-south axis, up-down axis, and then east-west axis.

//sphere <pattern> <radius>,<radius>,<radius> [raised]
//hsphere <pattern> <radius>,<radius>,<radius> [raised]
Pyramids
//pyramid <pattern> <size>
//hpyramid <pattern> <size>

This command creates a pyramid out of the given pattern with the specified height. That is, if you specify a height of say, 5, there will be 5 layers, each one block shorter than the last (in each direction, from bottom to top). The side-length of the lowest layer will be twice the height.

Forests
/forestgen [size] [type] [density]

Forests can be generated with this command. The size parameter indicates the width and height of the square area to generate the forests in. The density can vary between 0 and 100, and numbers like 0.1 will work. Note that the default density (of 5) is already rather dense. The size is the apothem (radius) of a cuboid, centered on your placement position.

Tip

This command operates the same as the forest generator in region operations except this one takes a size from your placement position, instead of using your selection.

Warning

Depending on the platform used, WorldEdit may not be able to //undo the generation of these trees.

Pumpkin patches
/pumpkins [size]

WorldEdit can generate some pumpkin patches. The size parameter is the width and height of the square area to generate the patches within, radiating out from your feet. The density of the patches is currently not adjustable.

Generating Arbitrary Shapes
//generate <pattern> <expression>

Aliases: //g, //gen

Generates any shape that can be described with a mathematical formula:

  • A torus
  • Rotated cylinders
  • Jagged canyons
  • Any shape you can imagine and boil down into a formula

This uses the expression parser.

Flags
  • -r - Use raw coordinates, with one block equaling one unit
  • -c - Shift the origin to the center of your selection, with one block equaling one unit
  • -o - Shift the origin to your placement position (your position or pos1, with /togglepos), with one block equaling one unit
  • Without any of these flags, coordinates will be normalized to -1..1 (from selection min/max points, meaning the entire selection is 2x2x2 units), note that each axis may be a different number of blocks per unit depending on your selection skewness.
  • -h - Generate a hollow shape. Blocks will only be set if they neighbour any blocks that are not part of the shape.
Variables
  • x, y, z (input) - Coordinates
  • type, data (input/output) - Material to use, defaults to the block/pattern entered

Note

Since the expression parser only takes numbers as variables, type/data variables and query functions only work with blocks that have legacy type/data values. If you need to use it with newer blocks (> MC 1.13), use a placeholder and //replace that placeholder after generating your shape. The <pattern> arg of the command is not restricted, only the expression.

The expression should return true (> 0) for blocks that are part of the shape and false (<= 0) for blocks not part of the shape. The expression is tested for each block in your selection.

Shape Examples

Example: Generating various shapes

Torus of major radius 0.75 and minor radius 0.25:

//g stone (0.75-sqrt(x^2+y^2))^2+z^2 < 0.25^2

Gnarled hollow tree:

//g -h oak_log (0.5+sin(atan2(x,z)*8)*0.2)*(sqrt(x*x+z*z)/0.5)^(-2)-1.2 < y

Rainbow Torus:

//g white_wool data=(32+15/2/pi*atan2(x,y))%16; (0.75-sqrt(x^2+y^2))^2+z^2 < 0.25^2

Rainbow Egg:

//g white_wool data=(32+y*16+1)%16; y^2/9+x^2/6*(1/(1-0.4*y))+z^2/6*(1/(1-0.4*y))<0.08

A heart:

//g red_wool (z/2)^2+x^2+(5*y/4-sqrt(abs(x)))^2<0.6

Sine wave:

//g -h glass sin(x*5)/2<y

Radial cosine wave:

//g -h glass cos(sqrt(x^2+z^2)*5)/2<y

Circular hyperboloid:

//g stone -(z^2/12)+(y^2/4)-(x^2/12)>-0.03

Tip

Want more cool shapes? Try out a program like MathMod which comes with tons of shapes and helps you make more. Note that WorldEdit uses isometric (x,y,z) formulas, not parametric (u,v,t). Also, you may have to scale your x, y, and z variable depending on your selection size and the domain of the function.

Generating Biome Shapes

Just like the generate command, you can use an expression to set a biome in a particular shape. This uses the same syntax as above, but takes a biome id instead of a pattern. It currently only uses x and z as inputs.

Note

As of Minecraft 1.15, biomes are stored in 3 dimensions. However, neither Minecraft nor WorldEdit can fully use this format yet, so biomes are still just treated as full columns.

Tools

Sometimes, running commands over and over is too tedious for some tasks. WorldEdit comes with a wide variety of tools which can be bound to an item and will activate upon clicking on a block. Most tools activate on right-click, while some also have actions for left-clicks. Some tools, including all “brush”-style tools, can be used at a distance, and will act as if you clicked the block you are looking at, even from far away.

To use a tool, hold an item in your hand, then type that tool’s command. You will get a message that the tool was bound to that item. Now, every time you activate the tool (by clicking with the item in your hand), that tool will perform its action. To unbind a tool, hold the item and use the /none command.

Tip

The selection wand (default: wooden axe) and navigation wand (default: compass) are technically tools. They are described on the selections and navigation pages respectively. You can bind and unbind them just as any other tool.

Tool Listing
Tree generation tool
/tree [type]

This tool will generate a tree of the chosen type when you right click a block. Note that it uses Minecraft’s tree generator, and has the same limitations - it will not generate trees on unplantable blocks, or through solid blocks above (unless the tree would normally be able to gross there).

Floating tree remover
/deltree

Have players who chop down trees half-way and leave floating tree tops everywhere? This tool, upon right-clicking a floating leaf or log block (or mushroom block), will remove all connected floating tree blocks. This tool will not operate on trees that are still connected to something (such as the ground).

Block replacer tool
/repl <pattern>

This tool will replace the right-clicked block with a block from your pattern. You can also left-click a block to replace your current pattern with the left-clicked block.

Long range building tool
/lrbuild <leftclick pattern> <rightclick pattern>

This tool allows you to place and destroy blocks at a distance. Just aim and click. Blocks are placed as if you right clicked the block. If you set one of the blocks to air, it will instead delete the block you are targeting.

Long range wand
/farwand

This tool works just like the normal selection wand - but at any distance. Instead of being //pos1 and //pos2, it’s //hpos1 and //hpos2.

Cycler Tool
/cycler

This tool can be used to cycle a block’s states. Left-clicking will choose which property to cycle, and right-clicking will cycle the available values of that property. This is useful for example, to rotate individual blocks in place.

Query Tool
/info

The query tool will show information about the right-clicked block. It will show the coordinates, the block type, states, light level (emitted/above), and the internal id (if available).

Flood fill tool
/floodfill <pattern> <range>

The flood fill tool will, starting at the right-clicked block, change it and all connected blocks of the same type (within the given range) to the specified pattern.

Super-pickaxes

Super-pickaxes are slightly different than other tools. Instead of being bound to a single item, they are just toggled on or off with their commands. When on, left-clicking with any pickaxe in your hand will trigger the superpick. Unlike normal tools, they are toggled off with //.

Single Superpick
//
/sp single

This super-pickaxe allows you to instantly break blocks. That may seem redundant, but it predates creative mode (creative mode was removed before alpha and wasn’t re-added until Beta 1.8). It also will drop the blocks you break as items (configurably), which creative mode does not do.

Area Superpick
/sp area <radius>

This super-pickaxe will break all blocks matching the same type as the initially clicked block within the radius. Like the single mode superpick, it can be configured to drop items.

Recursive Superpick
/sp recur <radius>

This super-pickaxe also breaks all blocks matching the same type as the initially clicked block within the radius, but only those that are connected (via matching blocks) to the original. Think of this as a “vein miner” mode.

Brushes

Unlike the above tools, which are mostly for utility, another group of tools, known as brushes, are mainly designed for painting and building quickly from afar.

They can be found on the brush page.

Brushes

Brush tools are general more designed for building, sculpting, and painting than the general utility tools. Like the rest of the tools, they are bound to an item by using the command, and are activated by right-clicking (or left clicking, for those with two actions). They are unbound with the /none command.

Brushes have a few unique settings available to them. Brushes allow you to choose a mask, size, pattern, and range. These allow fine-tuning how you build and paint.

Brush Listing
Sphere brush
/brush sphere [-h] <pattern> [radius]
/br s [-h] <pattern> [radius]

The sphere brush, as its name suggests, creates sphere at the target point. The -h flag will make a hollow sphere.

Cylinder brush
/brush cylinder [-h] <pattern> [radius] [height]
/br cyl [-h] <pattern> [radius] [height]

The cylinder brush creates cylinders of the given radius and height. -h is hollow as usual.

Set brush
/brush set <shape> [size] <pattern>

The set brush can set spheres, cylinders, or cuboids of the given size and pattern. It is mostly redundant to the previous two brushes, unless you need a cube.

Clipboard brush
/brush clipboard [-aoeb] [-m <mask>]

The clipboard brush uses your clipboard as a shape and places it at the target location each brush activation. The aebm flags all work just like the paste command. The -o flag is a bit different - it makes the clipboard paste at the brush’s location as the origin. Otherwise, the clipboard is centered to that location. Choose your relative position carefully when copying a clipboard for use with this brush.

Smooth brush
/brush smooth [radius] [iterations] [mask]

Smoothes the area, just like the //smooth command explained in region ops. You can specify the mask of blocks to consider while building a heightmap (this is separate from the mask of blocks that will be affected).

Gravity brush
/brush gravity [radius] [-h]

The gravity brush will move blocks downwards within the affected brush area. Using the -h flag will start from the max y, instead of from the top of the brush area.

Forest brush
/brush forest <shape> [radius] [density] <tree type>

Like the //forest and //forestgen commands, this brush plants trees, using the shape, radius, density, and tree type provided.

Extinguish brush
/brush extinguish [radius]
/br ex [radius]

A handy shortcut for a sphere brush of air masked to fire blocks, in case something is burning and you don’t have time to type in 3 commands to put it out.

Butcher brush
/brush butcher [radius] [-pngabtfr]
/br kill [radius] [-pngabtfr]

Just like the //butcher utility command, the butcher brush kills entities in its area. Note that the radius is strictly cylindrical, but goes from minimum to maximum world height. It is not a sphere. By default, it only kills hostile mobs. The flags can be specified to determine what other mobs will be butchered.

Butcher flags

Flag Description
-p Kills tamed pets
-n Kills NPCs
-g Kills golems
-a Kills animals
-b Kills ambient mobs
-t Kills mobs with name tags
-f Combines all of the above flags
-r Kills armor stands
Deform brush
/brush deform <shape> [size] [expression] [-ro]

Just like the //deform command described in region operations, this brush will apply an expression to blocks within the area given by the shape and radius. Also just like the command, -r uses raw coordinates, and -o offsets from your placement position. The default is the brush target point.

Raise Brush 
/brush raise <shape> [size]

A special case of the deform brush which uses the expression y-=1.

Lower Brush 
/brush lower <shape> [size]

A special case of the deform brush which uses the expression y+=1.

Brush Settings

These commands modify the settings on your currently selected brush only. Each brush you have bound has its own settings.

Not all settings are used by all brushes - the clipboard brush doesn’t have a size setting (it uses your clipboard’s size), the butcher brush doesn’t have a mask or material (it affects entities, not blocks), and so on.

Mask
/mask [mask]
/mask

Sets a mask on your current brush, which restricts what blocks will be affected by it. Not specifying a mask will disable it for your brush, allowing it to affect everything again. Note that if you already have a global mask set with //gmask, it will be combined with this one.

Size
/size [size]

Sets the size of the brush. Generally, this means the radius or affected area. Note that the maximum size is configurable.

Material
/material <pattern>

Sets the pattern used by the brush.

Range
/range <range>

Sets the maximum range that the brush will try to build at. Note that with a short enough range, brushes will build in mid-air if they can’t find a block in your ray trace.

Trace Mask
/tracemask [mask]
/tracemask

Sets the mask used for the ray tracer. By default, brushes will perform their action on the first non-air block (or when the trace hits the range, whichever comes first). By setting the tracemask, you can make brushes trace through any block you choose. For example, /tracemask #solid will go through non-solid blocks, such as water. This is useful for building underwater, through walls, and whatever else.

Utilities

WorldEdit provides a handful of utility commands. These are often conveniences for common tasks which would require multiple commands and selections otherwise. All these commands operate on your placement position. By default, this is your player position, but it can be changed to your first selection position using the /toggleplace command.

Editing nearby block

Sometimes you want to set or replace blocks in an area, but don’t need a precise selection - you just want to use an area around you.

Removing blocks above and below:

/removeabove <size> [height]
/removebelow <size> [depth]

These two commands let you easily remove blocks above or below you. An example usage is to remove those tower blocks people create in order to get to a high point. The size parameter indicates the size of the cuboid to remove. The cuboid’s width and length will be (size - 1) * 2 + 1. The center of the cuboid is the block above the one that you are standing on. If you don’t specify a height or depth, the commands will extend to the extents of the world.

Removing nearby blocks:

/removenear <mask> <size>

This command removes nearby blocks of a certain type. The size parameter indicates the size of the cuboid to remove. The cuboid’s width and length will be (size - 1) * 2 + 1. The center of the cuboid is the block above the one that you are standing on.

Replacing nearby blocks:

/replacenear <size> <mask> <pattern>

If you need to quickly replace nearby blocks, this command is a nice shortcut. The size parameter indicates the size of the cuboid to replace. The cuboid’s width and length will be (size - 1) * 2 + 1. The center of the cuboid is the block above the one that you are standing on.

Filling pits
//fill <pattern> <radius> [depth]

The fill command will start at the your placement position and work outward and downward, filling air with the given pattern. Note that it only works straight downward from the starting layer, so while it will fill a pond, it will not fill a cave (that goes “outward” as it goes down).

The fill command will never go upwards from your starting position.

_images/fill_pond.png

An irregularly shaped pool filled with //fill. You wouldn’t have been able to replace air with water (with /replace) in this situation because the area doesn’t fit neatly into a cuboid.

Recursive Fill
//fillr <pattern> <radius>

Unlike the fill command, the recursive fill command will work outwards as it moves down, meaning it can fill caves and other holes that expand into the walls.

Like the fill command, it will not travel upwards.

Draining pools
//drain [-w] <radius>

The drain command can empty a pool of water or lava. It only removes connected blocks from the starting position, so it will not drain non-connected pools even if they are in the radius.

Adding the -w flag will also un-waterlog blocks, leaving them dry.

Note

Some blocks, like kelp and seagrass, despite looking like they are waterlogged, do not actually have a “dry” state. If you’re trying to drain an ocean or river with these blocks, use //removenear (explained above) to remove those blocks first.

Fixing pools
/fixwater <radius>
/fixlava <radius>

This command will replace “flowing” versions of lava and water with “stationary” ones within the radius. This was useful for fixing water features that had been partially removed with buckets or blocks broken. Note that since Mojang changed water mechanics relatively recently, fixwater is much less useful than before.

Simulating snowfall
/snow <radius>

Cover snow over the general area! This algorithm will only cover blocks with snow if they should be covered (for example, torch blocks will not be covered). If an area has something above it (like an overhang), snow will not reach it. “Snowfall” is completely vertical.

Note

The snow command does not yet build up layers of snow.

_images/snow.jpg

Snowfall transforming a landscape

Thawing snow
/thaw <radius>

This command works exactly in the opposite way as the /snow command above, removing snow and ice from exposed areas.

Simulating grass growth
/green [-f] <radius>

Cover grass over the general area! This area works horizontally outwards to convert dirt into grass.

Using the -f flag will also turn coarse dirt into grass as well as regular dirt.

Extinguishing fires
/ex [radius]

This is essentially a shortcut /removenear fire <radius>, to allow you to quickly put out fires.

Removing mobs
/butcher [-pngabtfl] [radius]

This command removes nearby mobs. If you don’t specify a radius, all active mobs in the entire loaded world will be removed. The mobs will not drop their loot. Be aware that even if you kill all mobs, they will come back quickly if there isn’t anything else preventing spawning.

Butcher flags

Flag Description
-p Kills tamed pets
-n Kills NPCs
-g Kills golems
-a Kills animals
-b Kills ambient mobs
-t Kills mobs with name tags
-f Combines all of the above flags
-r Kills armor stands

Snapshots

A very powerful feature of WorldEdit is that it can load a section of your world, defined by your selection region, and restore it from a backup without having to shutdown your server or use an offline map editor. A large number of problems can be easily fixed this way, from undoing a griefer’s work to fixing a world save error to even rolling back from a project you gave up with half-way through.

Configuring Snapshots

In order for WorldEdit to be able to read your backups, you will have to choose a directory to place backups inside. The path can be set in the configuration and is relative to the server/.minecraft root folder (not the WorldEdit folder!). You can also use an absolute path if your backups are stored outside your server folder (like on another disk, which is recommended in case of hardware failures).

Once set, just toss either copies of your world folder or zipped copies of your world folder into your backup folder. An example of how you could lay out your backups folder is below.

Example: Possible structures of backup storage

f backups/ (this is the folder name in the config)
f world/ (this is the name of a world)
z 2019-06-15-03-00-00.zip (a backup for just this world)
f world/ (must match the world name above)
f region/ (contains .mca files for this world)
f 2019-05-15-03-00-00 (backups don’t have to be zipped)
f world/
f world_nether/ (another world name)
z 2019-06-15-03-00-00.zip
z 2019-06-01-03-00-00.zip (this is one backup holding multiple worlds)
f world/
f region/ (all the .mca files are in here)

f world_nether/

z 2019-05-01-03-00-00.zip (another backup from a month before)

As you might have noticed, each individual backup must have a timestamp. WorldEdit expects these timestamps in order to determine which backups are the newest. The world folder must be inside the backup, with a region folder inside that world folder. You can either have backups at the top level with multiple world folders inside, or multiple world folders with backups inside for each individual world.

Tip

If you use a Linux-like system, you can use the following line to create a world backup ZIP having an acceptable filename: zip -v backups/`date "+%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S"`.zip -r world.

Supported Archive Formats

WorldEdit natively supports ZIP files, using Java’s zip library. However, Java’s zip support only supports basic zip files. If you receive cryptic errors while using zip files, you may want to install TrueZip. If you want to use another archive format, such as tarballs, TrueZip will also support these.

TrueZip can be installed by downloading the JAR file from the maven repository and saving it as truezip.jar. The jar should be placed in the plugins or plugins/WorldEdit folder on Bukkit, or in the mods folder on other platforms.

Tip

Using backup archives (e.g. zip files) will save disk space at the cost of increasing CPU when actually restoring. The trade-off is up to you to decide.

Using Snapshots

Now that your snapshots are configured, using them is a breeze. Just select an area, and use //restore.

By default, WorldEdit will find the most recent backup for your current world, and restore your selected area from it.

If you don’t want to use the most recent snapshot (perhaps the damage was already done and you need an older one), there are additional commands to choose which snapshot to use.

To get started, use /snap list. This will list all snapshots available for your current world.

You can either use /snap use latest or /snap use [name] to select either the latest snapshot, or by name. You can also use /snap sel <number> to use the one with that number in the list.

If you know a time point which you either need a backup before or after that point, you can use /snap before <time> or /snap after <time> to find the closest snapshot before/after the given time. These commands take a timestamp like the file names, or even a natural time, such as /snap before "last friday".

Other

Expression Syntax

The WorldEdit expression parser is supposed to work like Java and related languages, with a few subtle differences:

  • Final semicolons can be omitted in most cases.
  • The last value in a sequence is always returned, even without a return statement.
  • The binary infix ^ operator is a power operator instead of an xor operator and has an according priority as well.
  • There is a postfix factorial operator (!).
  • There is a binary infix near operator (~=).
  • No objects :)
Operators

The expression parser uses Java’s precedence rules, with the following exceptions and additions:

  • The binary power operator (^) is between priority 2 and 3
  • The postfix factorial operator (!) has a priority of 2
  • The near operator (~=) has a priority of 7
Binary infix

These operators are put between their two operands.

Arithmetic

+ Addition
- Subtraction
* Multiplication
/ Division
% Modulo
^ Power

Bitwise

These operators interpret their operands as 32 bit integers and operate on their bits.

<< Left-shift
>> Right-shift

Logical

These operators interpret everything greater than zero as true and everything else as false. They return 1 for true and 0 for false.

&& Logical and
|| Logical or

Comparison

These operators compare their operands and return 1 for true and 0 for false.

< less than
> greater than
<= less or equal
>= greater or equal
== equal
!= not equal
~= near

Assignment

These operators require a variable on the left side. Using the simple assignment operator (=) to assign to a non-existant variable creates a temporary variable.

= simple assignment
+= addition+assignment
-= subtraction+assignment
*= multiplication+assignment
/= division+assignment
%= modulo+assignment
^= power+assignment
Prefix

These operators precede the expression they apply to.

Prefix Operators

-x (negation)
~x Bitwise complement (see bitwise binary operators)
!x Logical complement (see logical binary operators)
++x Pre-increment
--x Pre-decrement
Postfix

These operators succeed the expression they apply to.

Postfix Operators

x! Factorial
x++ Post-increment
x-- Post-decrement
Ternary infix

The ternary operator is used to represent a conditional expression in a compact way:

<condition> ? <true-branch> : <false-branch>

It works exactly like the if/else statement, except that the branches can only be single expressions.

Functions

Math Functions

The expression parser provides the following functions from the Java Math library:

abs Returns the absolute value of a number.
acos Returns the arc cosine of a value; the returned angle is in the range 0.0 through pi.
asin Returns the arc sine of a value; the returned angle is in the range -pi/2 through pi/2.
atan2 Returns the angle theta from the conversion of rectangular coordinates (x, y) to polar coordinates (r, theta).
atan Returns the arc tangent of a value; the returned angle is in the range -pi/2 through pi/2.
cbrt Returns the cube root of a value.
ceil Returns the smallest (closest to negative infinity) value that is greater than or equal to the argument and is equal to a mathematical integer.
cos Returns the trigonometric cosine of an angle.
cosh Returns the hyperbolic cosine of a value.
exp Returns Euler’s number e raised to the power of a value.
floor Returns the largest (closest to positive infinity) value that is less than or equal to the argument and is equal to a mathematical integer.
ln Returns the natural logarithm (base e) of a value.
log Returns the natural logarithm (base e) of a value.
log10 Returns the base 10 logarithm (base e) of a value.
max Returns the greatest of the values. (supports 2 and 3 arguments)
min Returns the smallest of the values. (supports 2 and 3 arguments)
rint Returns the number that is closest in value to the argument and is equal to a mathematical integer.
round Returns the closest number to the argument
sin Returns the trigonometric sine of an angle.
sinh Returns the hyperbolic sine of a value.
sqrt Returns the correctly rounded positive square root of a value.
tan Returns the trigonometric tangent of an angle.
tanh Returns the hyperbolic tangent of a value.

Additional Functions

Additionally, it provides the following functions:

rotate(x, y, angle) Rotates the given coordinate pair by the given angle, in radians.
swap(x, y) Swaps the contents of the 2 given variables.
random() Returns a random positive number less than 1.0.
randint(max) Returns a random positive integer less than max.
perlin(seed, x, y, z, frequency, octaves, persisence) Generates perlin noise with the given parameters.
voronoi(seed, x, y, z, frequency) Generates voronoi noise with the given parameters.
ridgedmulti(seed, x, y, z, frequency, octaves) Generated ridged multi fractal noise with the given parameters.

Block Query Functions

The following functions can be used to query blocks in a world in an editing context. Note that they still use legacy ID and data, so they may have undefined behaviors for new (1.13+) blocks.

query(x, y, z, type, data) Returns true if the block at the given coordinates has the given legacy id and data value. If type or data are variables, the id and data of the block will be assigned to that variable.
queryRel(dx, dy, dz, type, data) Like query, except with an offset from the currently evaluated block coordinates
queryAbs(xp, yp, zp, type, data) Like query, except with absolute world coordinates

Buffer Functions

These functions provide access to data buffers (essentially, arrays). Two buffers are provided, one is a global shared buffer, and one is local to the expression. The function with g prepended accesses the global buffer, without the g accesses the local buffer.

(g)megabuf(index) Returns the value of the buffer at the given index.
(g)megabuf(index, value) Sets the value of the buffer at the given index.
(g)closest(x, y, z, index, count, stride) Finds the index of the closest set of x,y,z values (as in, three consecutive buffer values) to the given x,y,z values within count iterations and stride space between each iteration, starting at the given index value.
Constants

Constants

The following constants are always available, and cannot be assigned.

e 2.7182818284590452354 The base of the natural logarithm
pi 3.14159265358979323846 The ratio between circumference and diameter of a circle
true 1 for boolean operations
false 0 for boolean operations
Block Statements

Block statements are groups of statements enclosed in braces:

{ x=5; y=6; }

They are mostly used in conjunction with control structures.

Control Structures

if/else

if (<condition>) <true-branch>
if (<condition>) <true-branch> else <false-branch>
  • <condition> is evaluated to decide which branch to execute.
  • Everything greater than zero is interpreted as true and everything else as false.
  • <true-code> and <false-code> can either be single statements delimited with a semicolon or block statements.

Note: An else keyword is always associated with the last if. This allows elseif constructs like these:

if (<condition 1>) <true-code 1> else if (<condition 2>) <true-code 2> else <false-code>
Loops

Loops can at most loop 256 times.

while

while (<condition>) <body>
do <body> while (<condition>);
  • <condition> is evaluated to decide whether to continue looping.
  • <body> can either be a single statement delimited with a semicolon or a block statement.
  • do-while checks the condition after executing the body.

Java/C-style for

for (<init>; <condition>; <increment>) <body>
  • <init>, <condition> and <increment> are single expressions.
  • <body> can either be a single statement delimited with a semicolon or a block statement.

Execution steps

First, <init> is evaluated once, then, each iteration follows these steps:

  1. If <condition> evaluates as less than or equal to zero (i.e. false), the loop is aborted.
  2. <body> is executed.
  3. <increment> is executed.

Simple for

for (<counter> = <first>, <last>) <body>
  • <counter> is a variable used to count the iterations.
  • <first> and <last> are single expressions.
  • <body> can either be a single statement delimited with a semicolon or a block statement.

Execution steps

First, an internal counter is set to <first>. Then, each iteration follows these steps:

  1. If the internal counter exceeds <last>, the loop is aborted.
  2. <counter> is set to the internal counter.
  3. <body> is executed.
  4. <counter> is incremented by 1.0.

<first> and <last> are only evaluated once.

CraftScripts

Scripts allow you to program small tasks without having to learn Java, figure out how to compile WorldEdit, or bother with reinventing the wheel. CraftScripts are written in JavaScript.

Requirements

Before you start using CraftScripts, you’ll have to install the Rhino JavaScript engine. A direct link to the download is here. Open the zip file, and extract js.jar. Note that if you download a newer version than the recommended one, the .jar file may have a different name. Move js.jar to the plugins/ or plugins/WorldEdit folder (on Bukkit) or the mods folder (other platforms).

Using CraftScripts

Once you have the JS engine installed, drop your CraftScript .js files in the craftscripts folder (in the WorldEdit config folder - either plugins/WorldEdit or config/WorldEdit depending on platform).

To run a CraftScript

/cs <filename> <args>
/.s <args>

The /cs command will run the CraftScript with the given filename (.js can be left out). Each CraftScript may have its own arguments. The /.s command will re-run your last used CraftScript.

Writing CraftScripts

Scripting in WorldEdit allows you to write world manipulation code without having to learn Java or compile your code. Scripts, called CraftScripts in WorldEdit, and are written in JavaScript and go into your craftscripts/ directory. The advantages of writing scripts with WorldEdit are:

  • Hook right into WorldEdit’s undo/redo system
  • Use WorldEdit’s block place prioritization
  • Accept WorldEdit’s powerful block type syntax (//set sign[facing=north])
  • Get the region selected by the user

Note

It is recommended you have a basic understanding of JavaScript or Java to begin writing CraftScripts.

Tip

While we’ll be going over using CraftScripts with the WorldEdit API, there are no real restrictions on what you can do. Advanced users may even hook into the API of the underlying platform (Bukkit, Forge, etc).

Introduction

Scripts have the following three variables in their global namespace:

  • context is an instance of CraftScriptContext.
  • player is the player who invoked the script, an instance of Player.
  • argv is a Java array strings, which are the arguments used upon invoking the scripts
Working with blocks

All block editing in WorldEdit is done through an EditSession. This object handles history and block placement order all automatically. To get an edit session for your own script, use:

var sess = context.remember();

Every time you call that method, you will get a new EditSession, so be sure to keep one around. To set blocks, you will either need to provide a BlockState which is a combination of a block type and one or more states, or a BaseBlock, which is a BlockState that may additionally have NBT data.

Example: Setting a block to wool

importPackage(Packages.com.sk89q.worldedit.world.block);

var sess = context.remember();
sess.setBlock(player.getBlockOn(), BlockTypes.WOOL.getDefaultState());

Note that because BlockTypes is in the com.sk89q.worldedit.world.block namespace, it had to be imported first. The first argument for setBlock() is a BlockVector3 indicating the position in the world.

To get blocks, use getBlock() on EditSession. You’ll get back a BaseBlock too.

Processing arguments

Arguments are passed in under the argv variable. If you need to check whether the right number of arguments was provided by the user, you can use CraftScriptContext#checkArgs().

The CraftScriptContext can to some basic argument parsing with CraftScriptContext#getBlock(). You can also hook directly into WorldEdit’s parsers via WorldEdit.getInstance().getPatternFactory() and .getMaskFactory().

Example: Checking arguments

context.checkArgs(1, 3, "<block> [width] [height]");
var block = context.getBlock(argv[1]);

What happens if the user inputs an invalid block? An exception will be raised and if you don’t catch it, the user will be informed about their error and your script will be halted.

Working with Java packages

To import a java package, you can use the following syntax:

importPackage(Packages.package.name.here);

You can import any package available in the Java classpath - not restricted to WorldEdit.

Example Scripts

You can find some example scripts in the GitHub repository for WorldEdit. Note that they may not all be updated for current WorldEdit API. You can find more about the WorldEdit API in the API section.

Developer API

API Concepts

WorldEdit uses some simple concepts to create flexible operations. These concepts are detailed below, and should be read in the order provided, as later concepts sometimes reference earlier concepts.

Actors

An Actor is anything that uses WorldEdit commands or certain APIs. Typically, an actor is a player, but they can also be a command block, the console, or perhaps an entity. As should be clear, an actor does not need a location in the world, although many actors also implement Locatable to provide this. A mod/plugin does not usually need to provide an actor to use the WorldEdit API, but actors may be provided in certain hooks such as EditSessionEvent, allowing for customization based on who/what an actor is.

Blocks

Blocks are broken into two parts, type and state. These are represented by the BlockType and BlockState classes. An example of block type is minecraft:oak_log, and a state would be the combination of the type minecraft:oak_log and the properties [axis=y].

You can get a BlockState from a BlockType using either getDefaultState() or providing the correct property mappings to getState(Map).

For example, to get the state for minecraft:oak_log[axis=y]

BlockType oakLog = Objects.requireNonNull(BlockTypes.OAK_LOG);
BlockState yFacingOakLog = oakLog.getState(ImmutableMap.of(
    oakLog.getProperty("axis"), "y"
));
System.err.println("State: " + yFacingOakLog);

Some blocks include NBT, and these are represented by the BaseBlock type.

You can get a BaseBlock from a BlockState using toBaseBlock(CompoundTag).

Patterns and Masks

Patterns and masks are the same as described in Patterns and Masks. The only difference is that they must be constructed via their respective classes, rather than from formatted strings.

A single block pattern can be represented using a BlockStateHolder, such as BlockState and BaseBlock. Other patterns types are fairly obvious from their names, such as TypeApplyingPattern or RandomStatePattern. Use your IDE to find subclasses of Pattern.

Masks are a slightly different story. Exact and fuzzy block state masks are done using BlockMask, but you can also mask only over block type (BlockTypeMask) or only the properties (BlockStateMask). There are also some utility masks in the Masks class. Again, using your IDE to find Mask subclasses is recommended.

Extents

Extents form the backbone of WorldEdit’s block manipulation. Extents are generally split into three categories: input, output, and both. Although extents provide and receive block and biome information, they are not always associated with a world / dimension.

Input extents are responsible for providing block and biome information for a given location. They do not provide a way to set blocks.

Output extents are responsible for receiving block and biome information for a given location. They do not provide a way to get blocks.

Most or all extents in WorldEdit implement both *Extent interfaces, typically through the Extent interface. Extent instances also provide a minimum and maximum point, as well as entity manipulation methods.

Some examples of extents are worlds and clipboards. Many block placement features in WorldEdit - such as fast and reorder mode - are implemented using AbstractDelegateExtent and hooking into setBlock.

Regions

WorldEdit uses regions to define where an operation works. A Region is a set of positions, potentially associated with a World. There is no requirement that a region be fully continuous.

Regions implement Iterable<BlockVector3>, meaning that the best way to get all the points of any region is to use a for-each loop, e.g. for (BlockVector3 point : region). In addition to this, there are convenience methods to retrieve the minimum, maximum, center, area, width, height, length, chunks, and cubic chunks. You can also easily expand(), contract(), and shift() regions, which work like the commands of the same name. Note that these methods do not change any blocks.

Creating a region is as simple as calling the appropriate constructor of the region you want. Typically you want a CuboidRegion, but there are other subclasses for each of the selection types in WorldEdit, or you can implement your own!

Some common region usages are the actor’s selection and clipboard bounds.

Registries

Almost everything in Minecraft uses the same format for identifying a particular type, such as minecraft:stone. This is known as a namespaced ID (see page for details). WorldEdit keeps some registries that allow access to blocks, items, biomes, entities, fluids, and more from the current Minecraft platform using their ID in a platform-independent way.

These registries are available on most classes named *Type, such as BlockType and ItemType. However, it is recommended to use the *Types classes instead, which either provide potentially-null constants or a get method for retrieving types that aren’t built-in, such as modded blocks.

Note

The constants on these registries may be null because the API does not change across Minecraft versions, and this means that some blocks won’t exist on earlier Minecraft versions, or like in 1.13, were renamed from their ID in 1.12 and WorldEdit no longer recognizes the block properly. If you require a block, you should wrap the access to the constant in Objects.requireNonNull or a similar check to properly communicate that you do not expect the constant to be missing at runtime.

Edit Sessions

An EditSession handles the configuration for getting and placing blocks, entities, and biomes. It sets up the chain of extents to place blocks properly. It also handles turning on and off reorder mode, fast mode, and buffering. Every operation will use an EditSession at some point to ensure that block placement is done properly and quickly.

Edit sessions must be closed once all operations are complete, to ensure that block queues are flushed. They are not re-usable, and must be re-created for each individually operation.

Adapters

WorldEdit works across many Minecraft modding platforms. This implies that WorldEdit’s API does not use any platform’s API types, such as Bukkit’s Player or Sponge’s World. Instead, WorldEdit has its own set of API types, and the platform-specific library (see API Libraries) contains an adapter class to turn the platform’s API types into WorldEdit’s API types, and vice versa. For example, you can turn an org.bukkit.entity.Player into a com.sk89q.worldedit.entity.Player like so

org.bukkit.entity.Player player = /* get a player */;
Player wePlayer = BukkitAdapter.adapt(player);

Nearly every other WorldEdit type has a similar conversion from the platform type. These are best discovered by looking at the methods in the adapter classes in your IDE.

API Examples

These examples represent common use-cases of the WorldEdit API.

Clipboard Examples

Note

This documentation covers the API for using clipboards. See Clipboard for in-game usage & explanations of what clipboards are.

Concepts used in these examples: Regions, Edit Sessions, Extents

Copying

Copying is the most common way to create a clipboard. To do it, you’ll need a Region, a target Clipboard, and an EditSession. In this example we use a CuboidRegion and the standard BlockArrayClipboard. Then, all you need to do is pass the parameters to the ForwardExtentCopy, apply configuration (such as calling setCopyingEntities(true)) to copy entities), and call Operations.complete.

CuboidRegion region = new CuboidRegion(world, min, max);
BlockArrayClipboard clipboard = new BlockArrayClipboard(region);

try (EditSession editSession = WorldEdit.getInstance().getEditSessionFactory().getEditSession(world, -1)) {
    ForwardExtentCopy forwardExtentCopy = new ForwardExtentCopy(
        editSession, region, clipboard, region.getMinimumPoint()
    );
    // configure here
    Operations.complete(forwardExtentCopy);
}

You may want to save the clipboard after this.

Pasting

Pasting is the only way to move blocks from a Clipboard to another Extent, typically a World. To paste, you’ll need a World, an EditSession and a Clipboard. Create a ClipboardHolder with your clipboard, then get a PasteBuilder by calling createPaste with the EditSession. Call .to to set the position at which you want to paste (this will be offset by the clipboard offset, see the clipboard page above for more information). Add any other configuration you want (masks, paste entities, paste biomes, etc.), and then call build() to get an operation. Complete the operation, and all the blocks will be pasted.

Full example:

try (EditSession editSession = WorldEdit.getInstance().getEditSessionFactory().getEditSession(world, -1)) {
    Operation operation = new ClipboardHolder(clipboard)
            .createPaste(editSession)
            .to(BlockVector3.at(x, y, z))
            // configure here
            .build();
    Operations.complete(operation);
}

You may want to load a clipboard before this.

Schematic Examples

This section deals with schematics, which are a related but distinct concept. Schematics specifically refer to a saved clipboard, not a clipboard in-memory.

Saving

A Clipboard can be saved to disk very easily. All you need is a ClipboardFormat, a Clipboard, and an OutputStream. Then you can call getWriter on the format and write on the writer with your Clipboard. Here’s an example for saving a clipboard to file.

File file = /* figure out where to save the clipboard */;

try (ClipboardWriter writer = BuiltInClipboardFormat.SPONGE_SCHEMATIC.getWriter(new FileOutputStream(file))) {
    writer.write(clipboard);
}
Loading

Loading a Clipboard is nearly as simple. You can either force a specific ClipboardFormat, or have WorldEdit discover the format of the schematic you want to load. The example does the latter. Then you can call getReader on the format and read on the reader to get a Clipboard instance.

Clipboard clipboard;

ClipboardFormat format = ClipboardFormats.findByFile(file);
try (ClipboardReader reader = format.getReader(new FileInputStream(file))) {
    clipboard = reader.read();
}
/* use the clipboard here */

Internal APIs

Some of WorldEdit is not considered public API and may be changed at any moment without warning. Usage of this code is not considered proper, and will receive no support.

The precise definition of internal API is anything not accessible according to standard Java access rules, and any of the following types:

  • Anything in the platform implementations. An exception is the *Adapter class for each platform.
  • Anything in the following packages:
    • com.sk89q.worldedit.command
    • com.sk89q.worldedit.internal
  • Anything explicitly marked as internal.

WorldEdit provides a stable public interface for other mods and plugins to build off of. It provides platform-independent interfaces and classes for working with Minecraft blocks, biomes, and worlds. Limited entity support is present as well.

API Libraries

You can get the API via a Maven repository, compatible with Maven, Gradle, sbt, and many other build systems. The repository is https://maven.enginehub.org/repo/, and WorldEdit is under the group com.sk89q.worldedit. Depending on which parts of the API you need, choose one of the following names:

  • worldedit-core: The core APIs. Does not depend on any platform, and provides no conversion classes.
  • worldedit-bukkit: The Bukkit implementation. Depends on Bukkit API and provides conversion between Bukkit types and WorldEdit types using BukkitAdapter.
  • worldedit-fabric-mcXYZ: The Fabric implementation. Depends on Fabric API and provides conversion between Fabric types and WorldEdit types using FabricAdapter. Replace XYZ with the appropriate Minecraft version.
  • worldedit-forge-mcXYZ: The Forge implementation. Depends on Forge and provides conversion between Forge types and WorldEdit types using ForgeAdapter. Replace XYZ with the appropriate Minecraft version.
  • worldedit-sponge-mcXYZ: The Sponge implementation. Depends on Sponge API and provides conversion between Sponge types and WorldEdit types using SpongeAdapter. Replace XYZ with the appropriate Minecraft version. (Only supports up to 1.12.2 due to Sponge only being available up to that version.)
  • worldedit-cli: The command-line implementation. Probably not very useful as a dependency, but could be used to automatically run WorldEdit outside of Minecraft.

The version is dependent on the version of Minecraft you are building for. 6 is for Minecraft versions 1.12.2 and below, and 7 is for 1.13 and above. Support is only offered for the latest WorldEdit version, and the latest Minecraft version, but generally the API is similar enough across versions that examples are very similar. These documents also only cover the latest version of WorldEdit, although old versions may be reached using the navigator in the bottom right.

To get started with the API, read API Concepts. Some common API usages are documented in API Examples. When developing, take note of Internal APIs to ensure you’re using supported APIs.

Common Questions

General

Why don’t any commands work?

If no commands work, it may because WorldEdit failed to start:

  • Make sure that you are running Bukkit/Forge/Sponge/etc. A vanilla minecraft server will not load plugins/mods!
    • You can run a command such as version (Bukkit), sponge version (Sponge) or forge help (Forge) to ensure your server is running proper software. In single-player, the Main Menu should have a “Mods” button (and WorldEdit should be in the list!).
  • Make sure that you have the proper version of WorldEdit for your version of Minecraft.

If those solutions do not help you, you will need to look through your startup log:

  • If you use a game server host, use its log viewer.
  • You can also open up “latest.log” in the logs folder of your server directory. (On older versions of Minecraft, the log file was “server.log” in the root directory.)

If you are unable to discover the problem from reading the server log, you can ask for help or submit a bug report.

How old is WorldEdit?

WorldEdit began in September 2010 for the “hMod” modding platform by sk89q. Later on, WorldEdit was ported to Bukkit, and eventually to Forge and other platforms.

Who works on WorldEdit?

WorldEdit has been developed by many people, and large portions of WorldEdit include contributed code. The list of top contributors can be found on GitHub.

World-Editing

Commands all return “0 blocks changed” even though they should be changing.

If you’ve previously set a global mask with //gmask <mask>, you’ll have to clear it again with //gmask so it no longer masks your edits.

How do I remove a tool/brush from the item I’m holding?

Use the /none command while holding the item.

Why isn’t sign text/chest contents/entities/etc working?

On Bukkit servers, WorldEdit has to use some version-specific adapters to get full access to many functions due to how Bukkit works. It uses these adapters for block entities (blocks that use additional data including signs, containers, etc.), entities, and some other functionality. What this generally means is that every new release of Minecraft will require you to update WorldEdit. Usually, WorldEdit will be updated quickly, and you can find new releases or experimental builds via the links on the main page.

Getting Help

If you have a question or have errors,

If you have a feature request or bug report,

Source Code

You can find the source code to WorldEdit on GitHub.

WorldEdit is open source. Contributions must be licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.