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.

  • -n will set your selection like -s does, but will not actually paste anything. This can be useful to check where your clipboard will end up before actually pasting.

  • -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 <y> [x] [z] 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.

Note that the rotate command can also take an angle to rotate around the X or Z axis, though you must specify 0 for the axes that you don’t use, e.g. for X axis rotation //rotate 0 90, and for Z axis //rotate 0 0 90. These two axes can be used to make something vertical, horizontal, or vice versa.

../../_images/rotate.png

Rotating around your relative position

Flipping

The //flip [direction] command flips the current clipboard across the plane perpendicular to the given direction. By default this direction will be whichever way you are facing, but you can also specify it explicitly. There are three planes you can flip across: XY, YZ, and XZ. The mapping used is included below for reference.

Directions

Plane

north or south

XY

east or west

YZ

up or down

XZ

../../_images/flip.png

Flipping the clipboard across a plane

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>.

Schematic Management

Schematic Storage

Schematics are saved to and loaded from WorldEdit’s schematic folder, which is named schematics by default, but 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. The folder needs to be inside WorldEdit’s config folder, which is plugins/WorldEdit on Bukkit/Spigot/Paper, and config/worldedit on other platforms. This means that by default the schematics folder is located at plugins/WorldEdit/schematics or config/worldedit/schematics.

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-symbolic-links” 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.

Sharing

WorldEdit has an inbuilt way to easily share schematic files online.

To share your current clipboard online, use //schem share. You can also supply a name for the schematic, as well as an alternate upload destination and format using the //schem share [name] [destination] [format] syntax.