There is a wide list of items and specific interactions you can use a dispenser for. Placing an item in a dispenser will have the following effects. Show -Armor or Elytra, will equip onto a player, armor stand, or any viable hostile mob into an empty armor slot if the player, mob, or armor stand is on the block in front of the dispenser. -Armor Stand (Java edition only) will be placed as an entity in the direction that the dispenser is facing. -Arrows will fire in the direction that the dispenser is facing. -Boat will fall as a rideable entity if facing water or a block above water. -Bone meal will fertilize a block in front of it if it is bone meal-able. -Splash Potions, Eggs, and Snowballs will be fired in the direction the dispenser is facing. -Empty Buckets will pick up any water or lava block that sits in front of the dispenser. -Fire Charge will launch as a fiery projectile that can set mobs, players, or block on fire. -Firework Rockets will launch in the direction that the dispenser is facing. -Flint and Steel will light the block in front of it on fire if possible. Each time the dispenser uses the flint and steel it will lower the durability of the flint and steel. -Bucket of Water, Lava, or Fish, will drop its respective source block into the block the dispenser is facing. If the bucket contained fish, the water source block will also contain that fish. -Minecarts will be placed as minecarts if the dispenser is facing rails, otherwise the dispenser will simply drop the item. -Mob Heads will be placed to finish spawnable mobs like iron golems or summoning the wither, otherwise the head will drop. -Shulker Boxes will be placed in front of the dispenser. -Spawn Eggs will spawn the mob in the direction the dispenser is facing. -TNT will be ignited and launched at a small velocity in a random direction. -Tridents (Bedrock edition only) will be thrown in the direction that the dispenser is facing. -Shears will shear any sheep that is in front of the dispenser. -Glass bottles will become filled if the dispenser is facing a water source block. -Horse Armor (Java edition only) will be equipped on any horse in front of the dispenser. -Saddle (Java edition only) will be placed on any pig, tamed horse, mule, donkey, or strider in front of the dispenser. -Chest (Java edition only) will be placed on any llama or tamed horse, mule, or donkey in front of the dispenser. -Glowstone will refill any respawn anchor in front of it, if the respawn anchor is full the dispenser does nothing. -Any other item will be dropped from the dispenser when the dispenser is powered. For these effects to occur you simply need to power the dispenser with a redstone pulse of some kind. Attaching the dispensers to a clock will have them perform their appropriate actions in a rapid fire pattern.
This article is about the block that can fire arrows and other items. For the block that would drop arrows and others as an item, see Dropper. A dispenser is a solid block used as a redstone component to dispense items. Obtaining[]Dispensers can be mined using a pickaxe, in which case it drops itself and its contents. If mined without a pickaxe, the dispenser drops only its contents.
Crafting[]Natural generation[]Two dispensers are naturally generated in every jungle temple. Usage[]A dispenser can be used as a container and as a redstone component that dispenses items when activated, with results varying based on the item dispensed. For example, the trap in a jungle pyramid incorporates arrows inside a dispenser, which shoots the arrows when activated. To place a dispenser, use it while pointing at a surface adjacent to the space it should occupy. A dispenser can be placed so that its output faces in any direction, including up or down. When placed, a dispenser faces the location of the player placing it. A dispenser cannot be moved by pistons.[Java Edition only] Container[]A dispenser has 9 slots of inventory space. To open the dispenser GUI, use the Use Item control. To move items between the dispenser inventory and the player inventory or hotbar while the dispenser GUI is open, drag or shift-click the items. To exit the dispenser GUI, use the Esc control. By default, the GUI of a dispenser is labeled "Dispenser". A dispenser's GUI label can be changed by naming the dispenser in an anvil before placing it, or by using the data command[Java Edition only]. For example, to label a dispenser at (0,64,0) "My Dispenser", use data merge block 0 64 0 {CustomName:'"My Dispenser"'}. A dispenser can be "locked" by setting the dispenser's Lock tag. If a dispenser's Lock tag is not blank, the dispenser cannot be accessed except by players holding an item with the same name as the Lock tag's text. A dispenser's Lock tag can be set or unset with the data command. For example, to lock a dispenser at (0,64,0) so that only players holding an item named "My Key" can access the dispenser, use data merge block 0 64 0 {Lock:"My Key"}. Redstone component[]See also: Redstone circuit A dispenser can be used to dispense its contents randomly. ActivationA dispenser is a redstone mechanism and can be activated by:
Some of these methods can activate a dispenser (in the sense of triggering an action) without powering the dispenser (in the sense of whether the dispenser can power adjacent redstone dust, etc.). In addition to the methods above, a dispenser can also be activated by quasi-connectivity.[Java Edition only] A dispenser becomes activated if one of the methods above would activate a mechanism component in the block above the dispenser, even if there is no mechanism component there (even if the block above the dispenser is air or a transparent block), but only when the dispenser receives a block update (including a redstone update within two blocks of the dispenser). A dispenser does not activate if it has been less than 1 redstone tick (2 game ticks, or 0.1 seconds barring lag) since its last activation ended. BehaviorWhen activated, a dispenser waits for 2 redstone ticks (4 game ticks, or 0.2 seconds barring lag) and then ejects one item. The dispenser does not continue to eject items while activated; ejection occurs only on the initial activation (the rising edge of an input signal). To eject multiple items, repeatedly activate the dispenser with a clock circuit. If the clock runs at faster than 5 Hz (more than 5 redstone pulses a second), the dispenser fires once and then locks in the "on" position. If multiple slots are occupied by items, a random occupied slot is chosen for ejection. The slot is chosen when an item is ejected, not when the dispenser is initially activated; thus it is possible to move items into or out of a dispenser between its activation and item dispensing. The effects of being activated vary with the type of ejected item. Most items are thrown in the direction the dispenser is facing as if a player had used the Drop Item control. (Unlike a dropper, a dispenser can't feed another container.) Other items behave differently when dispensed, as described in the table below. In general, a dispenser cannot place blocks into the world; the exceptions are shulker boxes, powder snow,[Java Edition only] and certain cases where the placed block would do something unusual. There are also a couple of special cases where an empty bottle or bucket can collect liquids from the world. When dispensing an item that has durability would cause the item to be used, such as with flint and steel and shears, the item's durability decreases.
When a dispenser dispenses an item, it emits a clicking sound (unless the item is a projectile or a spawn egg) and a smoke particle. If it is empty when activated, it emits a slightly higher-pitched click. The noise of a dispenser can be heard up to 16 blocks away. A dispenser is a full solid opaque block, so powering it directly can cause adjacent mechanism components (including other dispensers) to activate as well. Sounds[]Generic[]Java Edition: Bedrock Edition: Unique[]Java Edition: Data values[]ID[]Java Edition:
Bedrock Edition:
Block states[]Java Edition:
Bedrock Edition:
Block data[]A dispenser has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block. Java Edition: See also: Block entity format
Bedrock Edition: See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.Video[]Achievements[]
History[]
Data history[]Issues[]Issues relating to "Dispenser" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there. Trivia[]Gallery[]
See also[]Some other blocks can also be used to move items:
References[]Redstone
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