LlSetText

Displays text that hovers over the prim with specific color and translucency (specified with alpha).

• If more than one llSetText is called (By reset,interaction or script state) within a prim the latest call will take priority over the previous.
• text is limited to 254 bytes, if the string is longer it will be truncated to 254 bytes, even if that means the truncation will chop a character in half.
• An unbroken line of text of a great length may be broken automatically into two lines (one above the other).
• Floating text can be seen through walls and other object. Be considerate of neighbors in malls and apartment buildings.
• There is no way for a script to determine the prim's current floating text or detect when it is changed.
  • There is no llGetText function or CHANGED_TEXT changed event flag.
• Removing the script or deactivating it will not remove the prim's floating text.
  • Floating text is a prim property and not dependent on a script for its continued existence.
• To remove floating text, use the following:

llSetText("", <1.0, 1.0, 1.0>, 1.0);

• Vertical whitespace is removed from the end of the text string, so if you want vertical whitespace put any character (like a space) on the last line.
• Be careful trying to use special symbols (e.g. heart ♥ ) in your floating text as it can cause objects to fail to rez. SVC-4539^[c]
• Multiple linebreaks with empty lines are converted to a single linebreak, so add a whitespace character on every line you want to skip:

llSetText("Monkeys\n\n\n\n\n", <1.0, 1.0, 1.0>, 1.0);//Bad
llSetText("Monkeys\n \n \n \n \n ", <1.0, 1.0, 1.0>, 1.0);//Good

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Example of how llSetText could be included in default code to show object's name in green text:

default
{
    state_entry()
    {
         llSay(0, "Hello, Avatar!");
         llSetText(llGetObjectName(), <0.0, 1.0, 0.0>, 1.0); // Display the object's current name in green
    }
 
    touch_start(integer total_number)
    {
         llSay(0, "Touched.");
    }
}

By default the floating text will appear on a single line. However, the floating text can be spread over multiple lines by using a line break "\n" (read SplitLine in section 'See Also').

Color & Alpha

The x, y & z components of the vector are used to represent red, green, and blue respectively. The range is different than traditional RGB, instead of being 0 -> 255, LSL uses 0 -> 1. <1.0, 1.0, 1.0>, means "white" and <0.0, 0.0, 0.0> means "black":

llSetText("I am white", <1.0, 1.0, 1.0>, 1.0);//white text

llSetText("I am black", <0.0, 0.0, 0.0>, 1.0);//black text

The 1.0 is the alpha setting. 1.0 means fully opaque, and 0.0 would be completely transparent (invisible):

llSetText("alpha", <0.0, 1.0, 0.0>, 0.5);//50% translucent green text

Multiple lines

llSetText("I am \n on two lines!", <0.0, 1.0, 0.0>, 1.0);//two lines of green text

Drag this script out of inventory onto an object to erase its set text:

// http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/llSetText
default
{
    state_entry()
    {
        llSetText("", <1.0, 1.0, 1.0>, 1.0);
        llRemoveInventory(llGetScriptName());
    }
}

To actually display text on a prim, see XyzzyText, or consider using parcel prim Media options (useful only if you have control over the land's media settings.)

Articles

Issues

SVC-4539

[c]

llSetText is not working with special characters.