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"Control" redirects here. For the sprinting which is activated by the control key, see Sprinting.

Java and Bedrock editions for Windows uses the standard control scheme of mouse and keyboard controls as input. The game cannot be played using only a mouse or only a keyboard using the default control scheme. The controls menu is located in the Options setting.

Java Edition[]

Non-configurable controls[]

Note: On many notebook computers and most Macs, "Function keys" (briefly "F-keys") do not operate in their default configuration. The player can often get around this by pressing the Fn key or sometimes the ⇧ Shift key while they press an F-key. To make F-keys work in macOS, go to the Apple menu → System Preferences → Keyboard and mouse and check the "Use F1, F2 etc. as normal keys." If the player choose the first option, they can then use the Fn key to switch F-keys back to actions they used to do (e.g. play/pause music, etc.). The player can also use the F-keys by holding the ⌥ Option button while pressing them.

Java Edition uses a combination of the mouse and keyboard for controls, generically known as "mouselook/keymove." Many prior games (such as DOOM and Quake) have used such a scheme, but those who have not played such a game before may need practice to get around effectively. Creative mode or Peaceful survival mode are helpful for a player to gain familiarity with the controls.

Action Function
Left click Pick an item up from a slot; split a stack evenly (hold and drag); sort loose items into one stack (double-click).
Right click Pick an item up from a slot; Pick an item on a slot in half; Place one item from a stack in each inventory slot (hold and drag).
Mouse Move Turning; aiming; camera movement.
Mouse Wheel Scroll Scrolls through the Hotbar and the chat when opened.
Esc Opens up the menu and gives back cursor control. Pauses Singleplayer games. Closes any open GUI. Exits the chat/command window.
Ctrl + B Toggles the Narrator.
F1 Toggles the Heads-Up Display.

Use this in conjunction with F2 to take screenshots without the HUD. This option is also useful when exploring with a map.

F3 Pressing this key toggles the appearance of extra debug information on the top of the screen alongside the Minecraft version, such as FPS (frames per second), coordinates, and available memory.

Pressing the keys 19 while in the debug screen shows a more detailed view of the graph on the right. Pressing 0 shows a less detailed graph. (Hold ⇧ Shift before pressing F3 to display the Profiler graph.)

Pressing Q while holding F3 brings up a help menu, showing all F3 shortcuts.

Pressing A while holding F3 reloads all chunks.

Pressing T while holding F3 reloads all textures, sounds and web-loaded client resources, which is useful for resource pack authors.

Pressing P while holding F3 toggles the auto-pause when the window loses focus.

Pressing H while holding F3 toggles detailed item descriptions.

  • Shows tool and armor durability as a fraction on damaged items
  • Displays the zoom level of a map

Pressing C while holding F3 copies the player's coordinates and rotation as a /tp command.

Pressing C while holding F3 for at least 6 seconds triggers a manual debug crash on purpose after the keys are released.

Pressing B while holding F3 toggles showing the hitbox around entities.

Pressing D while holding F3 clears chat history (including previously typed commands).

Pressing N while holding F3 switches the player's game mode between the previous game mode and Spectator.

Pressing G while holding F3 shows the chunk boundaries immediately surrounding the player.

Pressing Esc while holding F3 pauses the game without bringing up the pause menu.

Pressing F4 while holding F3 brings up the gamemode changer menu.

Pressing L while holding F3 begins a ten-second recording, which captures information such as tick durations and used heap sizes.

Pressing S while holding F3 dumps contents of dynamic textures and font textures to screenshots/debug/.

F5

When the F5 key is pressed while on the multiplayer screen, it refreshes the server list.

⇧ Shift[verify] When the inventory is open, ⇧ Shift +  clicking on an item or stack moves it between the inventory and the hotbar.

⇧ Shift +  clicking on a piece of armor, a carved pumpkin, a mob head or a pair of elytra moves it between the inventory and the corresponding armor slot.

⇧ Shift +  clicking on a shield moves it between the inventory and the off-hand slot.

When a container is open, ⇧ Shift +  clicking on an item moves up to a stack between the container and the inventory. Existing stacks are filled first, then empty slots from top to bottom then from left to right. ⇧ Shift +  double clicking moves all items of the same kind. To ⇧ Shift +  double click, get one item in hand, and while holding ⇧ Shift, double click on another item type to move it.

When a crafting table is open, ⇧ Shift +  clicking an item or stack in the inventory moves it into the 3x3 crafting grid. The slots are filled from left to right and then top to bottom.

When any type of furnace is open, ⇧ Shift +  clicking an item or stack in the inventory moves it into the input (upper left) slot of the furnace. Items that can serve as fuel move to the fuel (lower left) slot.

When crafting, ⇧ Shift +  clicking the crafting output automatically crafts the maximum number of that item for the materials being used (up to one stack), and moves all crafted items to the inventory.

In the survival inventory tab of the creative inventory, ⇧ Shift +  clicking the X clears the whole inventory. In any other tab, ⇧ Shift +  clicking an item puts a stack onto the hotbar.

When in the Multiplayer server selection menu, ⇧ Shift +  and ⇧ Shift +  moves a server name to a specific position. Holding ⇧ Shift while a server name is selected and left clicking another server name causes them to swap.

Semi-configurable controls[]

While aspects of these controls can be modified to an extent, full control over them is not possible

Default Option name Function
Movement
W Sprint (secondary) This is always the same as the current forward key. When pressed twice in quick succession, causes the player to sprint (unless the character is too hungry). Attempting to sprint (Double-Tap) while fully submerged underwater initiates swimming. This functionality cannot be separated from the forward key.

Configurable controls[]

These are controls that a user may change at their preference.

Default In-game option name Keybind identifier Function
Movement
Space Jump key.jump Jump. When swimming, keeps the player afloat. When double-tapped, toggles Fly Mode (Creative only). When Fly Mode is on, causes the player to gain altitude (ascend). Player flies faster if sprinting.
Left ⇧ Shift Sneak key.sneak Sneak. When Fly Mode is on, causes the player to lose altitude (descend).

Holding ⇧ Shift and pressing use on an usable block with a block in hand overrides the USE action and places the block instead. For example, using a lever on a block that would usually open an internal inventory (such as a dispenser) places the lever instead.

Used to get off rideable entities.

Left Ctrl Sprint key.sprint Start sprinting. Increase speed when Fly Mode is on.
A Strafe Left key.left Strafe left.
D Strafe Right key.right Strafe right.
S Walk Backward key.back Move backward.
W Walk Forward key.forward Move forward. The secondary sprint is permanently tied to this.
Gameplay
Left click Attack/Destroy key.attack Destroy blocks (hold down); Attack entity (click once), change mode of debug stick.
Middle click Pick Block key.pickItem Pressing that button while looking at a block or an entity makes the game attempt to put a corresponding item for the block or entity in the player's hand. For blocks, it is simply the block in item form. For mobs, the game places the corresponding spawn egg in the player's hand. This also works on boats, all types of minecarts, paintings, and armor stands[Java Edition only][1] to get the entity in item form. If the item is in the hotbar, it switches the selected hotbar slot to the slot with that item. If the item is not in the hotbar, but in the player's inventory, it moves that item from the inventory into the hotbar. If no hotbar slot is empty, the item selected is replaced. In creative mode, if the item is not in the inventory, the game gives the player that item. This works only in creative mode for entities.‌[Java Edition only][2]

Hovering over an item in any inventory and clicking with the mouse wheel when in creative gives one full stack of that item. Dragging over slots of inventory/container while holding an item fills them with full stacks of copies of that item.

If used on a tile entity while holding Ctrl, or ⌘ Cmd (for some Macs), the tile entity's nbt data are copied. The block given to the player has the Lore: (+NBT)[Java Edition only] or (+DATA)[Bedrock Edition only]..

Right click Use Item/Place Block key.use

Place blocks, entity, toggle switches/doors (click once), charge a bow (release to fire), crossbow, use crossbow, block using a shield, use special blocks like chests, doors, and switches, enter vehicles, eat food, drink potions, hoe farmland, shear or dye a sheep, command tamed wolves and ocelots to sit, trade with villagers, place fire using flint and steel or a fire charge, name a mob with a name tag, attach a lead to an animal or attach an animal on a lead to a fence, cast or reel in a fishing rod, throw a splash potion, egg, ender pearl, eye of ender, bottle o' enchanting, or snowball, equip armor from the hotbar if the associated armor slot is empty, eating cake, starting a furnace minecart, open book and quill and written book, use debug stick, add mob in a monster spawner.

Commonly, if both the item held and the block clicked on has a such purpose (like trying to place dirt on a chest), the block overrules the item. This also means a player can punch an entity while eating/drinking, however the eating/drinking resets when a player presses Button 1.

This button also uses items in the off-hand. Only items with a right click function can be used, and they are available only if the item in the main hand does not have a right click action, or its right click action cannot be performed.

Inventory
Q Drop Selected Item key.drop Drop/toss an item. If items are stacked, only one gets thrown/tossed/dropped. In recent versions of Java edition, holding the key causes single items to be dropped quickly from a stack. There is no actual "throw" command; "drop" (default Q) tosses an object approximately 2 to 3 blocks from the player. Eggs, Ender Pearls, Eyes of Ender, and Snowballs can be thrown by the "use" command (default right-clicking). Ctrl + Q drops the whole stack of items. On Mac, even though most shortcuts use the command key, Ctrl + Q is still the "drop stack" bind.

Note that there is no corresponding Pick Up command. Dropped items are picked up (if there is room in inventory/hotbar) by moving near them. Placed items are picked up by "mining" (e.g. chopping up a sign with an axe), when they behave as dropped items and can be picked up as such.

19 Hotbar Slot key.hotbar.1–key.hotbar.9 Selects the appropriate hotbar item. When in the inventory GUI, swap the contents of the inventory slot under the mouse pointer and the corresponding hotbar slot.
E Open/Close Inventory key.inventory Opens the Inventory. Close any open GUI.
F Swap Items In Hands key.swapOffhand Switches the items in the players main and off-hand. When in the inventory GUI, swap the contents of the inventory slot under the mouse pointer and the off-hand slot.
Creative Mode
X Load Toolbar Activator key.loadToolbarActivator Press this key + any number, to access any of the 9 saved toolbars.
C Save Toolbar Activator key.saveToolbarActivator Press this key + any number, to save the current toolbar under that number.
Multiplayer
Tab ↹ List Players key.playerlist In Multiplayer, hold the Tab ↹ key to see a list of players.

When in the chat window, Tab ↹ cycles through possible commands or arguments and also complete player names.

T Open Chat key.chat Chat and Server commands. If pressed while the Creative mode inventory is open, it switches to the Search tab.
/ Open Command key.command Opens the chat window with the "/" character already typed. On some keyboards (Nordic layout at least) this button might be asterisk/apostrophe (*/ ' ).
P Social Interactions Screen key.socialInteractions Gives players the ability to disable chatting with certain players, thus hiding any messages receiving from them. Whether a player is hidden resets when re-joining a server.
Miscellaneous
L Advancements key.advancements Open the advancements screen.
Not bound Highlight Players (Spectators) key.spectatorOutlines Highlights players in Spectator mode.
F2 Take Screenshot key.screenshot Simply pressing this key takes a screenshot and place it in:

%appdata%\.minecraft\screenshots on Windows
~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/screenshots on macOS
~/.minecraft/screenshots on Linux.

Not bound Toggle Cinematic Camera key.smoothCamera Toggles mouse smoothing. Looking around becomes a slow, smooth and more cinematic motion.
F11 Toggle Fullscreen key.fullscreen Toggles full-screen mode.

When using some Apple keyboards, F11 must be pressed while holding Fn and ⌥ Option to enter fullscreen. Using F11 alone toggles Exposé, and pressing F11 while holding Fn turns down the volume or vice versa, depending on system preferences.

Some people are experiencing a bug while exiting from full-screen mode that causes an inescapable black screen. When that's the case, use Alt + Tab ↹ to switch out of Minecraft and switch it back to windowed mode.

On Linux, mouse input is often buggy while in full-screen mode. After entering full-screen mode on Linux, the mouse typically restricts the player to a single 360-degree rotation. This can be fixed by hitting Esc to release the mouse then hitting Esc again to regrab it.

Also, note that this may not respect multiple monitors and Minecraft may occupy all screens instead of the one it is active on.

F5 Toggle Perspective key.togglePerspective Toggles between first person, third person from the back and third person from the front.


Visual map[]

Kbd-minecraft

Visual map of Minecraft keyboard controls. Click on the image for a clearer view.

Bedrock Edition[]

Keyboard & Mouse[]

The "Keyboard & Mouse" controls are similar to Java Edition, with a few differences. These controls can be changed in the Options. Keyboard controls are unavailable on the Nintendo Switch and are normally unavailable on Android, iOS, iPadOS, and Fire, but are possible to use from connected external keyboards. Mouse controls are unavailable on the Nintendo Switch.

Non-configurable controls
Action Function
Left click Picks up an item from a slot (a stack from Creative inventory) (click once); Splits a stack evenly (hold and drag); sort loose items into one stack (double-click)
Right click Picks up an item from a slot; Picks up an item from a slot in half; Places one item from a stack in each inventory slot (hold and drag);
Mouse Move Turning; aiming; camera movement.
Mouse Wheel Scroll Scrolls through the Hotbar, inventory menus, and the chat when opened.
Esc Opens up the menu and gives back cursor control. Closes any open GUI. Exits the chat/command window.
F1 Toggles the Heads-Up Display.
F8 Toggles the paper doll from showing.
F11 Toggles full screen mode.
⇧ Shift When the inventory is open, ⇧ Shift +  clicking on an item or stack moves it between the inventory and the hotbar. ⇧ Shift +  clicking on a piece of armor moves the piece between inventory and the armor slots.

When a container is open, ⇧ Shift +  clicking on an item transfers it between the container and the inventory. Existing stacks are filled first, then empty slots from top to bottom then from left to right.

When a furnace is open, ⇧ Shift +  clicking an item or stack in the furnace moves it to the inventory, and ⇧ Shift +  clicking an item or stack in the inventory moves it into the input slot of the furnace. Fuel items move into the fuel slot first if it is empty or if the item that occupied the slot is less than a stack of the same kind.

When crafting, ⇧ Shift +  clicking the crafted item automatically crafts the maximum number of that item for the materials being used (up to one stack), and moves all crafted items to the inventory.

⇧ Shift +  clicking an item from the Creative inventory menu puts the maximum stack of the item onto the hotbar (inventory if full).

, , , Switch the highlighted slot or interactable buttons onto another; Move the dragged item onto a different slot or other interactable buttons.
Configurable controls
Default In-game option name Function
Left click Attack/Destroy Destroys blocks (hold down); Attacks (click once).
Middle click Pick Block Pressing that button while looking at a block or an entity causes the game to attempt placing a corresponding item for the block or entity in the player's hand. For blocks, it is simply the block in item form. For mobs, the game places the corresponding spawn egg in the player's hand. This also works on boats, all types of minecarts, paintings, and armor stands[Java Edition only][3] to get the entity in item form. If the item is in the hotbar, it switches the selected hotbar slot to the slot with that item. If the item is not in the hotbar, but in the player's inventory, it moves that item from the inventory into the hotbar. If no hotbar slot is empty, the item selected is replaced. In creative mode without the item in the inventory, the game gives the player that item. This works only in creative mode for entities.‌[Java Edition only][4]

If used on a tile entity while holding Ctrl, the tile entity's nbt data is copied. The block given to the player has the Lore: "(+DATA)."

Right click Use Item/Place Block Places blocks, interact with blocks, entities, or items, equip armor from the hotbar if the associated armor slot is empty.

If both the item held and the faced block interactable, the block overrules the item; that is, the player interacts with the block.

Q Drop Item Drop/toss an item. If items are stacked, only one is thrown/tossed/dropped. Ctrl + Q drops the whole stack of items.
19 Hotbar Slot Selects the appropriate hotbar item.
E Inventory Opens the Inventory. Closes any open GUI.
F5 Toggle Perspective Toggles between first person, third person from the back, and third person from the front.
Space bar Jump/Fly Up Jumps the player. When swimming, keeps the player afloat. Double-tapping toggles Fly Mode (Creative only). Causes the player to ascend while flying.
⇧ Shift Sneak/Fly Down Sneak. When Fly Mode is on, causes the player to sneak midair and lose altitude (descend).

Holding ⇧ Shift and pressing use on an interactable block with a block in hand overrides the use action and places the block instead. Dismounts the player from rideable entities.

Ctrl Sprint Starts sprinting. Speed increases when Fly Mode is on.
A Strafe Left Moves the player leftward.
D Strafe Right Moves the player rightward.
S Walk Backward Moves the player backward.
W Walk Forward Moves the player forward.
Z Mob Effects Opens/closes the Status effects window.
T, ↵ Enter Open/Close Chat Opens/closes the chat window.
/ Open Command Opens the chat window with the "/" character already typed.
B Emote Open/closes the emote menu.
[ Menu Tab Left Cycles the inventory/world menu/settings tabs to the left.
] Menu Tab Right Cycles the inventory/world menu/settings tabs to the right.

If "Full Keyboard Gameplay" is enabled, the following inputs are made available/used instead.

Default In-game option name Function
- Look Up Slight Moves the camera 15 degrees up.
+ Look Down Slight Moves the camera 15 degrees down.
NUM 9 Look Up Right Moves the camera 45 degrees up-right.
NUM 8 Look Up Moves the camera 45 degrees up.
NUM 7 Look Up Left Moves the camera 45 degrees up-left.
NUM 6 Look Right Moves the camera 45 degrees right.
NUM 5, End, \ Look Center Moves the camera to the middle.
NUM 4 Look Left Moves the camera 45 degrees left.
NUM 3 Look Down Right Moves the camera 45 degrees down-right.
NUM 2 Look Down Moves the camera 45 degrees down.
NUM 1 Look Down Left Moves the camera 45 degrees down-left.
Look Up Smooth Moves the camera up smoothly.
Look Down Smooth Moves the camera down smoothly.
Look Left Smooth Moves the camera left smoothly.
Look Right Smooth Moves the camera right smoothly.
PgUp Cycle Item Left Cycles the selected hotbar to the left.
PgDn Cycle Item Right Cycles the selected hotbar to the right.
Q Attack/Destroy Functions are equivalent to left click in normal mode.
X Pick Block Functions are equivalent to middle click in normal mode.
E Use Item/Place Block Functions are equivalent to right click in normal mode.
Z Drop Item Functions are equivalent to Q in normal mode.
19 Hotbar Slot Functions are the same as in normal mode.
C Inventory Functions are equivalent to E in normal mode.
F5 Toggle Perspective Functions are the same as in normal mode.
Space bar Jump/Fly Up
⇧ Shift Sneak/Fly Down
Ctrl Sprint
A Strafe Left
D Strafe Right
S Walk Backward
W Walk Forward
Tab ↹ Mob Effects Functions are equivalent to Z in normal mode.
T, ↵ Enter Open/Close Chat Functions are the same as in normal mode.
/ Open Command
B Emote
[ Menu Tab Left
] Menu Tab Right
Keyboard & Mouse controls

Default keyboard and mouse diagram.

Controller[]

The "Controller" controls for gamepads are similar to the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4 editions, with some differences. All of these controls, except the stick controls, can be changed in the Options. The Nintendo Switch version can be played with a pair of Joy-Con controllers, the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, or the Nintendo Switch Lite. It cannot be played with a single Joy-Con, as it does not have enough buttons or control sticks. If the gamepad has control sticks, then the left stick (Left stick/Left stick/Left stick/Left stick/Left stick) would be used for moving and the right stick (Right stick/Right stick/Right stick/Right stick/Right stick) would be used for looking. The blank spaces mean that the function is, by default, left unassigned and it is up to the player to assign a button to it. All platforms support gamepads.

Default Function
WindowsChromeOSAndroidiOSiPadOSFireXbox Nintendo Switch PlayStation
Xbox One Xbox Series X|S PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5
A button A button A button Cross button Cross button Jump/Fly Up
D-pad down D-pad down Down button/+Control Pad down Down button Down button Drop Item
Right trigger Right trigger ZR button R2 button R2 button Attack/Destroy
Left trigger Left trigger ZL button L2 button L2 button Use Item/Place Block
X button X button Y button Square button Square button Crafting
Y button Y button X button Triangle button Triangle button Inventory
Left bumper Left bumper L button L1 button L1 button Cycle Item Left
Right bumper Right bumper R button R1 button R1 button Cycle Item Right
D-pad up D-pad up Up button/+Control Pad up Up button Up button Toggle Perspective
B button B button B button Circle button Circle button Sneak/Fly Down
Left stick click Left stick click Left stick (click) L3 button L3 button Sprint
Fly Up Slow
Right stick click Right stick click Right stick (click) R3 button R3 button Fly Down Slow
D-pad left D-pad left Left button/+Control Pad left Left button Left button Emote
D-pad right D-pad right Right button/+Control Pad right Right button Right button Open Chat
Strafe Left
Strafe Right
Walk Backward
Walk Forward
Pick Block
View button View button - button Touch pad button Touch pad button Open Notification/Mob Effects
  1. "Sneak" and "Jump" are incorrectly swapped around.
  2. "List Players" incorrectly points to the SHARE button (SHARE button) instead of the Touch pad (Touch pad).

Touch[]

Clock JE3
This section needs to be updated. 
Please update this section to reflect recent updates or newly available information.
Reason: BE 1.18.30 & 1.19.40 changes

"Touch" controls for touchscreen devices use controls shown on the screen. Split-touch controls displays a cross hair, which can be set in Settings. Touch controls are available on devices that is touch-enabled except the Nintendo Switch, where the touchscreen can only be used to interact with the hotbar, inventory, and menus.

Action Function
Forward button
Move forward. When double-tapped, causes the player to sprint (unless the character is too hungry). When Fly Mode is on, double-tapping increases the speed at which the player flies. Attempting to sprint (Double-Tap) while fully submerged underwater initiates swimming. While tapped, Forward left button and Forward right button appears.
Backward button
Move backward.
Left button
Strafe left. While tapped, Forward left button appears.
Right button
Strafe right. While tapped, Forward right button appears.
Forward left button
Strafe left while moving forward.
Forward right button
Strafe right while moving forward.
Jump button
Jump. When swimming, keeps the player afloat. When double-tapped in Creative mode, the player is able to fly, the button changes to Fly button, and also Fly up button and Fly down button appears.
Fly button
Visual representation that the player is able to fly, in Creative mode. When double-tapped, the player no longer flies, the button reverts to Jump button, and also Fly up button and Fly down button dissapears.
Fly up button
Fly up, when flying in Creative mode.
Fly down button
Fly down, when flying in Creative mode.
Fly up button + Fly down button Sneaking while flying in Creative mode.
Sneak button
Double tap to toggle sneaking, and the button changes to Sneak toggled button. Double tap again to toggle back, and the button reverts to Sneak button.
Emote button
Opens the Emotes menu.
Chat button
Opens the Chat menu.
Pause button
Opens the Pause menu.
Agent button
Used for the Agent.‌[Minecraft Education only]
Text to speech button
Opens Immersive Reader.‌[Minecraft Education only]
Move Camera Slide/move finger across the screen.
Place Block By default (split controls is disabled), tap the desired area to place the block.
When split controls is enabled, position the camera so that the crosshair is pointed at the desired area and tap anywhere on the screen (excluding the HUD) to place the block.
Break Block Hold finger down on the desired block to break. How long it takes to break the block is indicated by an icositetragonal icon on the screen, varying on the tool being used to break it.
When split controls is enabled, position the camera so that the pointed at the desired block and hold anywhere on the screen (excluding the HUD) to break the block.
Drop item Long-press on a hotbar slot for about 2 seconds[verify] to drop the entire stack.
Use Block By default (split controls is disabled), tap the desired block to use its functionality.
When split controls is enabled, position the camera so that the crosshair is pointed at the desired area and tap anywhere on the screen (excluding the HUD) to use its functionality.
Interact button
Touch Controls Feed

An interact button for breeding.

Some items have extra functionality, and these can be excecuted when tapping the interaction button, located on top of the hotbar. These are listed below:

  • Ignite: to ignite a creeper while holding a Flint and Steel.
  • Edit: to edit an NPC’s message
  • Leave Boat: to leave the boat when riding it
  • Feed: to feed an animal while holding food, feed another animal so that both of them can breed
  • Fish: to cast and uncast the rod while holding a Fishing Rod
  • Milk: to milk a cow when holding a Bucket
  • Shear: to shear sheep and mooshrooms while holding shears
  • Milk Stew: to get mushroom stew from a mooshroom while holding a bowl
  • Board: to board a boat
  • Ride: to ride a minecart, horse or strider
  • Sit: to make a pet sit
  • Stand: to make a pet stand
  • Talk: to talk to an NPC in premade world maps like world templates
  • Dye: to dye sheep or a wolf's collar while holding a dye
  • Cure: to cure a zombie villager while holding a golden apple
  • Open: to open a minecart with chest or a minecart with hopper
  • Create Map: to create a map while holding an empty map
  • Take Picture: to take a picture using the camera
  • Saddle: to put a saddle onto a pig or a strider
  • Mount: to mount onto a pig or a strider
  • Boost: to boost a pig or a strider while holding a carrot on a stick or a warped fungus on a stick, respectively.
  • Write: to write in a book and quill
  • Leash: to leash a mob while holding a lead
  • Unleash to unleash a leashed mob
  • Attach Chest: to attach a chest into a donkey, mule or a llama
  • Trade: to trade with a villager
  • Pose: to pose an armor stand
  • Equip: to equip an armor stand while holding a piece of armor
  • Read: to read a written book while holding it
  • Wake Villager: to wake a villager when a villager is in a bed
  • Barter: to barter with piglins while holding a gold ingot
Touch controls

Default touchscreen diagram.

Legacy Versions[]

These versions have either been discontinued or long forgotten about. However, their controls are documented here for historical purposes.

Pi Edition[]

All of the controls in the Pi Edition are fixed and cannot be changed.

Action Function
Mouse Move Turning; aiming; third person camera movement.
Left click Destroy blocks (hold down shortly); Move a block from the selection screen to the first hotbar slot, pushing the rest of the items one slot to the right.
Right click Place blocks; Charge a bow (firing is broken).
Mouse Wheel Scroll Scrolls through the Hotbar.
Esc Opens up or closes the menu and gives back cursor control.
18 Selects the appropriate Hotbar item.
W Move forward.
A Strafe left.
S Move backward.
D Strafe right.
Space bar Jump. When double-tapped, toggles Fly Mode. When Fly Mode is on, causes the player to gain altitude (ascend).
Left ⇧ Shift Sneak. When Fly Mode is on, causes the player to lose altitude (descend).
E Open the list of blocks.
Tab ↹ Release the mouse cursor from the game window without opening the pause menu.

Pocket Edition: Xperia Play[]

Action Function
Right Bumper Place block
Left Bumper Destroy block
PlayStationTriangle Open inventory
PlayStationCircle Cycle right in the hotbar
PlayStationX Jump
PlayStationSquare Cycle left in the hotbar
Directional Keys Movement
Left Touch Pad Sneak
Right Touch Pad Moves the camera
Menu Open game menu
Touch Screen Chat (multiplayer only). Tap to change selection in hotbar
Search Button Toggle third person view

Note: For Xperia Play owners using the gamepad, while in creative mode, the lowest two rows of items are beneath the screen, and one cannot scroll down to see them. They are still accessible, but it requires either remembering how many times one has to press the directional buttons to access them, or trial-and-error. This is most prominent in the 4.0 update, as the amount of items has increased, and now sixteen items are hidden. The only way to see them is to turn on the option to use touch controls in the options menu.

Legacy Console Edition[]

Notes[]

  • On the PlayStation Vita Edition (when playing on the PlayStation Vita), Wii U Edition (when playing on the Wii U GamePad), and Nintendo Switch Edition (when playing in Tabletop or Handheld mode), the touchscreen can be used to control the tooltips shown at the bottom of the screen (if enabled), as well as the menus and inventory.
    • Likewise, on the PlayStation 4 Edition, the Touch pad can be used to move the inventory cursor as well as control the menus by swiping.
  • The Wii U Edition can be played with a Wii U GamePad, Wii U Pro Controller, Classic Controller, or Classic Controller Pro. It can not be played with a Wii Remote, Wii Remote Plus, or Nunchuk.
    • Note: While the Wii U Edition can not be played with a Wii Remote or Wii Remote Plus, a Wii Remote or Wii Remote Plus is required to play with a Classic Controller or Classic Controller Pro.
  • The Nintendo Switch Edition can be played with a pair of Joy-Con controllers, the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, or the Nintendo Switch Lite. It can not be played with a single Joy-Con, as it does not have enough buttons or control sticks.

Gameplay[]

Default In-game option name Function
Xbox 360 Xbox One PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Vita Wii U Nintendo Switch
Start button Menu button START button OPTIONS button Start button +/START button + button Pause Pause the game
Back button View button SELECT button Touch pad button Select button -/SELECT button - button Players Shows the list of players in-game.
Left stick Left stick Left stick Left stick Left stick Left stick Left stick Move Look/move; when quickly pushed forward and then moved, enables sprinting while the button is held.
Right stick Right stick Right stick Right stick Right stick Right stick Right stick Look Look/move
Left stick click Left stick click L3 button L3 button Up button Left stick (click)[a]/+Control Pad up[b] Left stick (click) Change Camera Mode Change the camera angle (toggles First Person, Second Person, and Third Person view)
Right stick click Right stick click R3 button R3 button Down button Right stick (click)[a]/+Control Pad down[b] Right stick (click) Sneak Sneak/walk or in Creative mode, to lower the height while flying.
A button A button Cross button Cross button Cross button A button A button Jump Jump
B button B button Circle button Circle button Circle button B button B button Drop Drop/toss an item from the Hotbar. If items are stacked, only one gets thrown/tossed/dropped.[c]
X button X button Square button Square button Square button Y button Y button Crafting / Creative Open up Crafting menu, or the item list if in creative mode
If the "Classic Crafting" option is enabled, it opens the inventory.
Y button Y button Triangle button Triangle button Triangle button X button X button Inventory Open up the Inventory
Left bumper Left bumper L1 button L1 button Left button L button L button Cycle Held Item (Left) Cycle left in the Hotbar
Right bumper Right bumper R1 button R1 button Right button R button R button Cycle Held Item (Right) Cycle right in the Hotbar
Left trigger Left trigger L2 button L2 button L button ZL button ZL button Place Place Blocks;
Fire with a bow; block using a sword; use special blocks such as chests, doors, and switches; enter vehicles; Toggle Switches/Doors (Click once)

Also: Eat food, hoe farmland, shear sheep

Right trigger Right trigger R2 button R2 button R button ZR button ZR button Mine Destroy Blocks;
Mine/destroy blocks (Hold down); Attack (Click once).
  1. a b Wii U GamePad and Wii U Pro Controller.
  2. a b Classic Controller and Classic Controller Pro.
  3. There is no actual "throw" command; "drop" (default B button/B button/Circle button/Circle button/Circle button/B button/B button) tosses an object approximately 2 to 3 blocks from the player. Eggs and Snowballs can be thrown by the "use" command (default Left trigger/Left trigger/L2 button/L2 button/L button/ZL button/ZL button). The eggs and snowballs fly in an arc.

In crafting[]

Default In-game option name Function
Xbox 360 Xbox One PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Vita Wii U Nintendo Switch
Left stick / Right stick / D-pad Left stick / Right stick / D-pad Left stick / Right stick / Directional buttons Left stick / Right stick / Directional buttons / Touch pad Left stick / Right stick / Directional buttons / Rear touch pad Left stick / Right stick / +Control Pad Left stick / Right stick / Up buttonDown buttonLeft buttonRight button / +Control Pad Pointer/Move Move pointer/selected block/item
A button A button Cross button Cross button Cross button A button A button Craft Create item
B button B button Circle button Circle button Circle button B button B button Exit Exit the Crafting Table menu
X button X button Square button Square button Square button Y button Y button Split and Desc. Take half of the highlighted stack/show information about the selected block/item
Y button Y button Triangle button Triangle button Triangle button X button X button Quick Move Quickly moves a block/item into its appropriate space
Left bumper Left bumper L1 button L1 button L button L button L button Change Group (Left) Changes the groups of craftable items, moving left
Right bumper Right bumper R1 button R1 button R button R button R button Change Group (Right) Changes the groups of craftable items, moving right

New Nintendo 3DS Edition[]

All of the controls in the New Nintendo 3DS Edition are fixed and cannot be changed.

Action Function
New Nintendo 3DS
Start Button/Select Button Pause
Circle Pad Move
C Stick Look
A Button Jump/Fly Up
B Button Drop Item
R Button Attack/Destroy
L Button Use Item/Place Block
Y Button Crafting
X Button Inventory
ZL Button/+Control Pad Left Cycle Item Left
ZR Button/+Control Pad Right Cycle Item Right
+Control Pad Up Toggle Perspective
+Control Pad Down Sneak/Fly Down

Old Keys[]

This section describes content that exists only in outdated versions of Minecraft. 
This feature used to be in the game, but has ever since been removed.It may or may not return in a future update.

Below are the list of keys which are no longer usable in the current versions of the game.[5]

Java Edition[]

Key Versions used Function
B 0.0.20aJava Edition Indev 0.31 20091223-2 Brought up the list of usable blocks in Classic Creative, and the first two Creative Indev 0.31 versions.
B Java Edition Indev 0.31 20100128-Java Edition Indev 0.31 20100129 Brought up the crafting GUI.
I Java Edition Indev 0.31 20100104Beta 1.3_01 Brought up Inventory before Beta 1.4 changed the key to E.
↵ Enter 0.0.14a_040.30 Set Spawn Point in Classic Creative.
R (Respawn above random[note 1] points of the map) rd-1322110.0.13a_03

(Respawn at set spawn point) 0.0.14a_040.30

Moved the player to random points of the map, before 0.0.14a_04. Respawned the player at set spawn point.
Tab ↹ Java Edition Classic 0.24 SURVIVAL TEST-0.30 Shot arrows.
F4 Java Edition Alpha v1.2.2 Spawned a Nether Portal. Used for debug by Notch and removed in a second revision of the same version, without changing the version number.
F5 0.26 SURVIVAL TESTJava Edition Indev 20100207-2 Toggled rain in Classic and Indev.
F6 Java Edition Infdev 20100624Alpha v1.1.2_01 Shows lagometer if held down.
F3 Alpha v1.1.1Alpha v1.1.2_01 Shows FPS, and debug info, if held down.
F6
and
F7
Beta 1.8 Pre-release Moved the day/night cycle backward and forward, respectively (only in singleplayer).
F10
or
Alt
0.0.10a - On Windows, focuses on the icon of the window and freezes all of Minecraft's processes, thus stopping setting the location of the mouse to the center of the window and letting the cursor become visible, although the cursor bounds stay the same, allowing for review before taking a screenshot. Holding a movement key then toggling this on then off again makes that key stuck on, even if it is let go. Pressing the same movement key again stops it.
rd-132211 - 0.0.22a_05 Functioned the same way as A, would move the player left; WASD keys and arrow keys could be both used as movement.
rd-132211 - 0.0.22a_05 Functioned the same way as D, would move the player right; WASD keys and arrow keys could be both used as movement.
rd-132211 - 0.0.22a_05 Functioned the same way as W, would move the player up; WASD keys and arrow keys could be both used as movement.
rd-132211 - 0.0.22a_05 Functioned the same way as S, would move the player down; the WASD keys and arrow keys could be both used as movement.
G rd-1600520.0.23a_01 Spawned a mob] in Pre-Classic and Classic Creative.
Y Java Edition pre-Classic mc-1616160.0.22a_05 Inverted mouse in Classic Creative.
F 0.0.12a0.0.22a_05

0.0.23a_01-Beta 1.7.3

Toggled render distance (fog), changed to F3 + F in Beta 1.8.
M 0.0.22a_01-0.0.22a_05 Toggled both sound and music.
N 0.0.12a - 0.0.12a_03 Generated a new map in Classic Creative.
F7 Java Edition Indev 0.31 20091231-1Java Edition Indev 20100223 Isometrically rendered a finite map in Minecraft Indev and 0.31 Indev.
⇧ Shift
+
F2
Beta 1.2_02Beta 1.4_01 Called an unfinished experimental screenshot function that attempted to generate a huge 645 megapixel TGA image with a resolution of 36,450×17,700 pixels.[6]

Pressing this key combination would cause Minecraft to either freeze for a while, displaying several clipped tiles of the current view or crash, depending on available RAM. During this time it would attempt to generate a file of 1.8 GB in size that may end up corrupt.

F8 Beta 1.312w08a Slowly pans the camera when moving. (Now must be configured in Options... → Controls... → Key Binds... → Miscellaneous → Toggle Cinematic Camera)
F7 13w47a1.8.9 Pause/unpause the Twitch stream
Any Key
(defaults to NONE)
Mute/unmute microphone, if applicable
Show stream commercials
F6 Start/stop the Twitch stream


Debugging controls[]

These controls are used for debugging and were unintentionally left in-game in the following versions: Beta 1.8 Pre-release (pre-reupload only), Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5 and snapshot 12w08a.[7][8] The controls are called the "deadmau5 camera".[9]

Key Function
Y Zooms in camera.[7] This and the controls below are the deadmau5 camera.[9]
H Zooms out camera.[7]
Y + H Resets the camera's zoom.[7]
N Rotates camera Counter-Clockwise.[7]
M Rotates camera Clockwise.[7]
N + M Resets the camera's rotation.[7]
U Pans camera forward.[7]
O Pans camera backward.[7]
I Slowly pans the camera up.[7]
K Slowly pans the camera down.[7]
J Slowly pans the camera left.[7]
L Slowly pans the camera right.[7]
F6 Freezes the player's y-axis position if pressed once, and pressing it again unfreezes their y-axis position.[7]
F9 Freezes the player's camera in place.[7]

Pocket Edition[]

Button Versions used Function
Search Button Alpha 0.1.2 The search button used to be able to change the camera to and from third person view on all Android devices (with a search button), but now this has to be done via the pause screen, since many devices do not have a search button. The Xperia PLAY retains this functionality.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Controls" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Gallery[]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. More specifically, the x and z coordinates were pseudorandom numbers from 0≤x<256 and the y coordinate was always 74

References[]

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