Clipboard

The clipboard is temporary storage attached to the current player’s WorldEdit session.

It can store:

• Blocks from a cuboid selection
• Block states
• Air, unless it is excluded
• Entities, when requested
• The player’s relative position when the copy was created
• The original dimension and location
• Pending rotation, flip, and scale transformations

Creating a new copy replaces the previous clipboard contents.

Basic Workflow

The normal clipboard workflow is:

1. Create a cuboid or extend selection.
2. Stand at the point that should act as the structure’s reference.
3. Copy or cut the selection.
4. Move to the destination.
5. Paste the clipboard.

;sel cuboid
;pos1
;pos2
;copy -a
;paste

Compatible Selections

A clipboard can be created directly from:

• cuboid
• extend

The following selection modes cannot be copied directly:

• sphere
• cyl
• convex

For an irregular structure, select a cuboid around it and exclude air:

;copy -a

Clipboard Reference Point

When a region is copied, WorldEdit records the player’s position relative to the minimum corner of the selection.

That relative offset is reused by a normal paste.

Conceptually:

offset = minimum selection corner - player position
paste position = current player position + offset

Stand in a consistent location before copying. For example, stand above a bridge when you want future pastes to place the bridge below you.

Use a paste preview when the reference point is uncertain:

;paste -n
;drawsel

Copy with ;copy

;copy stores the current cuboid selection without changing the world.

;copy [-a] [-e] [-m <mask>]

Normal Copy

;copy

A normal copy includes air and excludes entities.

Exclude Air with -a

;copy -a

Use -a when the copied empty space should not erase blocks at the destination.

This is recommended for houses, trees, statues, decorations, and irregular structures placed over existing terrain.

Include Entities with -e

;copy -e

Players are not included.

Filter the Source with -m

;copy -m stone

The mask filters blocks in the source selection.

When using a mask, combining it with -a is usually safer:

;copy -a -m stone

Without -a, non-matching source positions can become air inside the clipboard and may erase destination blocks when pasted.

Combine Copy Flags

;copy -ae -m #existing

A new copy also resets pending clipboard rotation and scale to their defaults.

Cut with ;cut

;cut copies the selection and replaces the original area with a pattern.

;cut [-a] [-e] [fill] [-m <mask>]

The default fill pattern is air.

;cut

Use another fill pattern for the original area:

;cut stone

Filter the source with a mask:

;cut -a dirt -m stone

In this example:

• stone is the source mask.
• dirt is the pattern left in the original area.
• -a prevents non-matching positions from becoming pasted air.

Include and remove entities with -e:

;cut -ae air -m #existing

A cut changes the world and can be undone, but undoing it does not clear or restore the clipboard itself.

Paste with ;paste

;paste places the current clipboard into the world.

;paste [-o] [-s] [-n] [-m <mask>]

Relative Paste

;paste

A normal paste uses:

• The player’s current position
• The relative offset saved during copy or cut
• Pending rotation, flip, and scale transformations

Paste at the Original Location with -o

;paste -o

This requires the original dimension and location data created by ;copy or ;cut.

In the current implementation, -o pastes at the original location without applying accumulated clipboard transformations.

Select the Result with -s

;paste -s

The selection is updated to cover the complete transformed clipboard bounds.

Preview without Pasting with -n

;paste -n

No blocks are placed. WorldEdit only selects the area where the clipboard would appear.

Filter the Destination with -m

;paste -m air

The paste mask filters blocks already present at the destination.

;paste -m stone

This differs from copy masks:

Paste without Air

There is no documented -a flag for ;paste in the current implementation.

Exclude air when creating the clipboard:

;copy -a
;paste

Entities during Paste

There is no -e flag for ;paste.

Entities are included when the clipboard is created:

;copy -e
;paste

Repeated pastes can duplicate stored entities.

Clear the Clipboard

;clearclipboard

This removes the current clipboard from the player’s session.

It does not remove the selection, history, exported structures, gradients, tools, or brushes.

Inspect the Clipboard

Display clipboard dimensions and size information:

;size -c

Display the stored block distribution:

;distr -c

Separate blocks by states or data values:

;distr -cd

Stored air can appear in the distribution unless it was excluded during copy or cut.

Air in the Clipboard

Air is part of the clipboard unless excluded.

Including air is useful when empty spaces must deliberately clear the destination, such as rooms, windows, tunnels, or internal cavities.

Excluding air is useful when the structure should be placed over existing blocks without deleting them.

;copy -a

When filtering source blocks, use both -a and -m to avoid converting rejected positions into pasted air:

;copy -a -m stone,andesite

Entities in the Clipboard

Entities are excluded by default.

;copy -e

;cut -e

Players are never included.

Entity positions and orientations can be affected by clipboard transformations. Test entity-heavy structures before using them in important areas.

Clipboard Transformations

Without -w, the following commands modify the pending clipboard transformation rather than the world:

• ;rotate
• ;flip
• ;scale

The original structure remains unchanged until the transformed clipboard is pasted.

Rotate the Clipboard

;rotate <rotateY> [rotateX] [rotateZ]

Rotate 90 degrees around the Y axis:

;rotate 90
;paste

Rotate around X:

;rotate 0 90
;paste

Rotate around Z:

;rotate 0 0 90
;paste

Multiples of 90 degrees usually produce the most predictable block-grid results.

Flip the Clipboard

;flip [direction]

The default direction is left.

;flip east
;paste

Supported directions include left, right, north, south, east, west, up, and down.

Scale the Clipboard

Uniform scale:

;scale <scale>

Separate horizontal and vertical scales:

;scale <scaleXZ> <scaleY>

Independent axis scales:

;scale <scaleX> <scaleY> <scaleZ>

Double the clipboard size:

;scale 2
;paste

Avoid a scale of 0. Reducing a structure can merge blocks and remove detail, while enlarging it repeats blocks across the new volume.

Accumulated Transformations

Clipboard transformations accumulate until a new copy is created or they are manually compensated.

;copy -a
;rotate 90
;flip east
;scale 1.5
;paste -s

Two rotations of 90 degrees produce a total rotation of 180 degrees.

There is no separately documented clipboard-transform reset command. Creating a new copy is the safest reset.

The -w flag transforms the selected blocks directly in the world. That is a world-region transformation, not a clipboard transformation.

Clipboard Pattern

#clipboard uses the stored blocks as a repeating three-dimensional pattern.

#clipboard

Offset the repeated pattern alignment:

#clipboard@[x,y,z]

Example:

#clipboard@[2,0,1]

Unlike ;paste, the clipboard pattern repeats to fill an operation.

The current implementation reads the stored clipboard buffer directly and does not apply pending paste rotation, scale, or relative offset transformations.

Place the Clipboard along a Path

;path places repeated clipboard copies along points from a convex selection.

;path [spacing]

Rotate each copy to follow the path:

;path [spacing] rotated <offset>

Example:

;sel convex
;pos1
;pos2
;pos2
;pos2
;path 4 rotated 0

Create the clipboard with -a when air should not be placed along the path.

path centers the clipboard around its calculated path points and does not use the relative player offset saved during copy.

Persistent Structures with ;export and ;import

The normal clipboard is temporary. Exported structures can be loaded again later.

Export a Selection

;export [-a] [-e] <name>

Example:

;export -a project:house

The current parser exposes:

• -a to exclude air
• -e to include entities

Exact behavior can differ between versions, so test exported air handling before relying on it.

Import into the Clipboard

;import <name>

Example:

;import project:house
;paste

Import loads the structure into the clipboard with default rotation and scale.

Imported structures do not provide the original location data required by ;paste -o. Use a normal relative paste after importing.

Clipboard Lifetime and Dimensions

The clipboard belongs to the player’s session.

According to the source document, a disconnected player’s session is normally retained for approximately 10 minutes while the server remains active. Closing the world or server removes the session and its clipboard.

A normal paste can be performed in another dimension of the same active world because it uses the player’s current dimension.

paste -o requires the original dimension.

For transfer between separate worlds, use exported structures and the supported external transfer process.

Performance Mode

WorldEdit performance mode can use a simpler clipboard representation:

;worldedit perf

The source document notes these clipboard limitations in performance mode:

• Air is always included
• Rotation is limited to the Y axis
• Advanced transformations are reduced

Use it mainly for large, straightforward copy-and-paste operations.

Common Mistakes

Copying a Non-Cuboid Selection

Use cuboid or extend before ;copy or ;cut.

Pasted Air Deletes Existing Blocks

Create the clipboard with:

;copy -a

A Copy Mask Produces Air

Use:

;copy -a -m <mask>

The Structure Appears Too Far Away

The reference offset was determined by where you stood during the copy. Copy again from a more useful reference point or preview with ;paste -n.

Using ;paste -a

There is no current paste-side -a flag. Exclude air during copy or cut.

Original Paste Ignores Rotation

In the current implementation, ;paste -o uses the original location without accumulated clipboard transformations.

Imported Clipboard Cannot Use ;paste -o

Imported structures do not contain the original location and dimension fields required by -o.

Clipboard Pattern Ignores Rotation

#clipboard reads the stored buffer and does not apply pending clipboard transformations.

Clipboard Disappears

The clipboard is session-based. Export important structures when they must persist after the session ends.

Quick Reference

;copy [-a] [-e] [-m <mask>]
;cut [-a] [-e] [fill] [-m <mask>]
;paste [-o] [-s] [-n] [-m <mask>]
;clearclipboard

;size -c
;distr -c
;distr -cd

;rotate <Y> [X] [Z]
;flip [direction]
;scale <value>
;scale <XZ> <Y>
;scale <X> <Y> <Z>

#clipboard
#clipboard@[x,y,z]
;path [spacing]
;path [spacing] rotated <offset>

;export [-a] [-e] <name>
;import <name>