Why can't I paste § into a Minecraft command?

Question

According to https://minecraft.wiki/w/Formatting_codes, using §1 in an item's name should make the text colored dark blue.

However, when I copy-paste a command like this one into chat:

/give @p diamond_sword{display:{Name:"{\"text\":\"§1Sword\"}"}}

it comes out like this:

/give @p diamond_sword{display:{Name:"{\"text\":\"1Sword\"}"}}

See the problem? I can't copy § into chat!

Which means the name ends up being "1Sword" rather than "Sword" colored dark blue.

Why can't I copy § into chat? What can I do to fix it?

Note: I've tested this issue on Minecraft versions 1.14.3 and 1.12.2. It worked the same on both. Feel free to leave a comment if you need more details.

Answer 1

You can actually set a color with the color-tag inside of the Name-tag by using a command like this:

/give @p diamond_sword{display:{Name:"{\"text\":\"Sword\",\"color\":\"dark_blue\"}"}}

Answer 2

1.15 Update

Entering JSON text is now easier in 1.15 because NBT string tags can use single quotes '.

Instead of:

/give @s dirt{display:{Name:"[{\"text\":\"Earth\", \"color\":\"green\"}]"}}

Try:

/give @s dirt{display:{Name:'[{"text":"Earth","color":"green"}]'}}

Answer 3

Hold on the & symbol and choose it from the menu