Minecraft colour codes and MOTD preview

Paste your motd= line and see how it actually renders. Use the section sign or an ampersand, both work here.

Two lines? Preview them one at a time.

Preview

Play on ExampleMC - now with custom crates

Colour codes

&0
Black · #000000
&1
Dark Blue · #0000AA
&2
Dark Green · #00AA00
&3
Dark Aqua · #00AAAA
&4
Dark Red · #AA0000
&5
Dark Purple · #AA00AA
&6
Gold · #FFAA00
&7
Gray · #AAAAAA
&8
Dark Gray · #555555
&9
Blue · #5555FF
&a
Green · #55FF55
&b
Aqua · #55FFFF
&c
Red · #FF5555
&d
Light Purple · #FF55FF
&e
Yellow · #FFFF55
&f
White · #FFFFFF

Formatting codes

&l Bold
&o Italic
&n Underline
&m Strikethrough
&k Obfuscated
&r Reset

Things that catch people out

server.properties wants the section sign, not an ampersand, and many editors mangle it. If your MOTD shows literal &6 in the server list, that is why. Most plugins accept the ampersand and convert it for you.

A colour code applies until the next colour code or a reset. Formatting codes stack on top of a colour, but setting a new colour clears the formatting, so put &l after the colour rather than before it.

Check how your live MOTD reads once you have set it.