Lay a stone brick floor
/fill ~-5 ~-1 ~-5 ~5 ~-1 ~5 stone_bricksCovers an 11 by 11 square under your feet with stone bricks.
Best building commands in Minecraft
These commands place, copy and replace blocks by the thousand, so you can lay a floor, raise walls or clear a lake in seconds. The last ones keep the light steady and stop mobs from wrecking your work.
Before you pasteCheats must be on. Commands longer than 256 characters only work in a command block.
The commands
Build a hollow glass box
/fill ~-4 ~ ~-4 ~4 ~6 ~4 glass hollowGlass walls, floor and roof with air inside, around where you stand.
Frame a room without clearing it
/fill ~-4 ~ ~-4 ~4 ~6 ~4 oak_planks outlineSame box in planks, but whatever is inside stays in place.
Drain water from an area
/fill ~-10 ~-5 ~-10 ~10 ~5 ~10 air replace waterTurns every water block nearby into air, handy for underwater builds.
Turn dirt into grass
/fill ~-10 ~-1 ~-10 ~10 ~-1 ~10 grass_block replace dirtSwaps only the dirt of the layer under you, other blocks stay.
Copy a build without air
/clone ~ ~ ~ ~10 ~10 ~10 ~20 ~ ~ maskedCopies an 11 block cube 20 blocks east, skipping air blocks.
Place upside down stairs
/setblock ~ ~ ~2 oak_stairs[facing=north,half=top]A stair facing north and flipped, for eaves and ceilings.
Hide a light source
/setblock ~ ~3 ~ light[level=15]An invisible light block at full brightness above you.
Paint the land with a biome
/fillbiome ~-16 ~-16 ~-16 ~16 ~16 ~16 cherry_groveTurns the area into Cherry Grove: grass and water colors change.
Stop creepers from breaking blocks
/gamerule mob_griefing falseMobs can no longer destroy or pick up blocks.
Freeze the time of day
/gamerule advance_time falseThe sun stops moving, so the light stays the same.
Set full daylight
/time set noonJumps to noon, the brightest moment of the day.
How to use them
The ~ coordinates are relative to where you stand, so stand where you want the build before you paste. /fill takes two opposite corners, then the block. Its last word changes the result: hollow builds walls with air inside, outline builds walls and keeps what is inside, replace only swaps one block for another.
Tips
- Press F3 to read your exact coordinates before typing fixed ones.
- /clone with
maskedskips air, so it never erases what is around the copy. - Block states go in square brackets with /setblock, for stairs, logs or doors.
- /fillbiome changes grass, leaves and water colors without touching blocks.
Common errors
Too many blocks in the specified area means the area is above the limit, 32,768 blocks by default; split it into smaller boxes or raise the max_block_modifications rule with /gamerule. No blocks were filled means every block was already the one you asked for.
✓ Checked in Java Edition 26.3 · updated 2 November 2026
FAQ
How do I undo a /fill?
There is no undo. Before a big change, copy the area elsewhere with /clone, or keep a backup of the world.
What is the difference between hollow and outline?
Both build the shell of the box. hollow also fills the inside with air, outline leaves the inside untouched.
Commands used on this page
/fillFill a cuboid area with blocks/cloneCopy an area of blocks to another place/setblockPlace or replace a single block/fillbiomeChange the biome of an area/gameruleRead or change the game rules of a world/timeSet, speed up or pause the world clock