How to Show/Hide Arms on an Armor Stand in Minecraft

This Minecraft tutorial explains how to show and hide arms on an armor stand after it has been placed.

In Minecraft, you can customize an armor stand by adding or removing arms using a cheat (game command).

TIP #1: Starting in Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac) 1.13, the /entitydata command was replaced by the /data command to show/hide arms on an armor stand.

TIP #2: Although you can summon an armor stand in PE and Windows 10, you can not yet customize it with game commands yet. These more advanced commands should be available soon in PE and Windows 10 Edition!

Let's explore how to do this in Minecraft.

Requirements

To run game commands in Minecraft, you have to turn cheats on in your world.

Command to Show/Hide Arms on an Armor Stand

Java

Command in Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac)

In Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac) 1.13, 1.14, 1.15, 1.16, 1.17, 1.18, 1.19 and 1.20, the syntax to show/hide arms for an armor stand using the /data command is:

/data merge entity @e[type=armor_stand,<selector>] {ShowArms:<value>}

In Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac) 1.11 and 1.12, the syntax to show/hide arms for an armor stand using the /entitydata command is:

/entitydata @e[type=armor_stand] {ShowArms:<value>}

In Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac) 1.8, 1.9 and 1.10, the syntax to show/hide arms for an armor stand is:

/entitydata @e[type=ArmorStand] {ShowArms:<value>}

Definitions

value determines whether arms are displayed on armor stand. 1=show, 0=hide.
selector is used to narrow down the entities to one armor stand only. The /data command can not be used to update multiple entities. The available selectors are: advancements, distance, dx, dy, dz, gamemode, level, limit, name, nbt.

Examples

Java

Example in Java Edition (PC/Mac) 1.13, 1.14, 1.15, 1.16, 1.17, 1.18, 1.19 and 1.20

To show arms on one armor stand in Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac) 1.13, 1.14, 1.15, 1.16, 1.17, 1.18, 1.19 and 1.20:

/data merge entity @e[type=armor_stand,limit=1] {ShowArms:1}

To show arms on one armor stand that is 1 block to the East:

/data merge entity @e[type=armor_stand,dx=1,limit=1] {ShowArms:1}

Example in Java Edition (PC/Mac) 1.11 and 1.12

To show arms on all armor stands in Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac) 1.11 and 1.12:

/entitydata @e[type=armor_stand] {ShowArms:1}

To show arms on armor stands within 8 blocks:

/entitydata @e[type=armor_stand,r=8] {ShowArms:1}

To hide arms on all armor stands:

/entitydata @e[type=armor_stand] {ShowArms:0}

To hide arms on armor stands within 14 blocks:

/entitydata @e[type=armor_stand,r=14] {ShowArms:0}

Example in Java Edition (PC/Mac) 1.8, 1.9 and 1.10

To show arms on all armor stands in Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac) 1.8, 1.9 and 1.10:

/entitydata @e[type=ArmorStand] {ShowArms:1}

To show arms on armor stands within 5 blocks:

/entitydata @e[type=ArmorStand,r=5] {ShowArms:1}

To hide arms on all armor stands:

/entitydata @e[type=ArmorStand] {ShowArms:0}

To hide arms on armor stands within 7 blocks:

/entitydata @e[type=ArmorStand,r=7] {ShowArms:0}

How to Enter the Command

1. Open the Chat Window

The easiest way to run a command in Minecraft is within the chat window. The game control to open the chat window depends on the version of Minecraft:

For Java Edition (PC/Mac), press the T key to open the chat window.

2. Type the Command

In this example, we are going to add arms to all armor stands within 5 blocks in Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac) 1.10 with the following command:

/entitydata @e[type=ArmorStand,r=5] {ShowArms:1}

Type the command in the chat window. As you are typing, you will see the command appear in the lower left corner of the game window. Press the Enter key to run the command.

show arms on armor stand