llSetText

void llSetText(string Text, vector Color, float Opacity)

Causes Text to float above the prim, using the specified Color and Opacity.

Parameters

Text (string)
Color (vector)
Opacity (float)

Technical Details

Return Type: void
Energy: 10

If more than one llSetText is called (by reset, interaction, or script state change) within a prim, the latest call takes priority over previous ones.
Text is limited to 254 bytes in UTF-8 encoding. If the string is longer, it will be truncated to 254 bytes, and any multibyte characters that are split will be removed entirely.
An unbroken line of text of great length may be automatically broken into two lines (one above the other).
Text can be seen through walls and other objects. Be considerate of neighbors in malls and apartment buildings.
- Visibility distance increases with prim size.
Removing the script or deactivating it will not remove a prim’s text property. Floating text is not dependent on a script for its continued existence, only for changing it.
Vertical whitespace is removed from the end of the text string. To preserve vertical spacing, put a character (like a space) on the last line.
Multiple linebreaks with empty lines are converted to a single linebreak. Add a whitespace character on every line you want to skip.
High performance impact when updating text in loops: Measurements showed significant process time overhead when doing numerous iterations in a while loop. For approximately 65,000 iterations: ~5 seconds without floating text, ~24 seconds with llSetText, and ~96 seconds when using llSetPrimitiveParams/llSetLinkPrimitiveParamsFast with PRIM_TEXT. Avoid excessive text updates within tight iterations.

Examples

Basic usage - Display prim name in green

default
{
    state_entry()
    {
        vector COLOR_GREEN = <0.0, 1.0, 0.0>;
        float  OPAQUE      = 1.0;

        // prim's name (not necessarily object's)
        llSetText(llGetObjectName(), COLOR_GREEN, OPAQUE);

        // delete the script as we only needed it to change the floating text property
        llRemoveInventory(llGetScriptName());
    }
}

Removing floating text

Preferred method:

// empty string & black & transparent
llSetText("", ZERO_VECTOR, 0);

Alternative method (same effect):

// empty string & black & transparent
llSetText("", <0.0, 0.0, 0.0>, 0.0);

Color and opacity examples

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

vector myColor;  // defaults to ZERO_VECTOR or <0.0, 0.0, 0.0> which is black

llSetText("I am black and 30% transparent.", myColor, 0.7);

llSleep(7.5);     // before: <0.0, 0.0, 0.0> black
myColor.x = 1.0;  // now:    <1.0, 0.0, 0.0> red

llSetText("I am now red and 10% transparent.", myColor, 0.9);

llSetText("green text with alpha 0.7", <0.0, 1.0, 0.0>, 0.7);

llSetText("white text with alpha 0.4\n60% transparent", <1.0, 1.0, 1.0>, 0.4);
llSetText("white text with alpha 1.0\nfully opaque", <1.0, 1.0, 1.0>, 1.0);

// next two lines have the same effect
llSetText("invisible black text with alpha 0.0\nfully transparent", ZERO_VECTOR, 0);
llSetText("invisible black text with alpha 0.0\nfully transparent", <0.0, 0.0, 0.0>, 0.0);

Multiple lines of text

// two lines of orange text
llSetText("I am\non two lines!", <1.0, 0.4, 0.0>, 1.0);

Multiple lines with proper spacing

Good approach (preserves blank lines):

vector COLOR_WHITE = <1.0, 1.0, 1.0>;
float  OPAQUE      = 1.0;

llSetText("Monkeys\n \n \n \n \n ", COLOR_WHITE, OPAQUE);

Bad approach (blank lines get collapsed):

vector COLOR_WHITE = <1.0, 1.0, 1.0>;
float  OPAQUE      = 1.0;

llSetText("Monkeys\n\n\n\n\n", COLOR_WHITE, OPAQUE);

Color reference

The RGB color vector components (x, y, z) range from 0 to 1, unlike traditional RGB which uses 0-255. <1.0, 1.0, 1.0> represents white and <0.0, 0.0, 0.0> represents black.

Common colors:

Navy: <0.000, 0.122, 0.247>
Blue: <0.000, 0.455, 0.851>
Aqua: <0.498, 0.859, 1.000>
Teal: <0.224, 0.800, 0.800>
Olive: <0.239, 0.600, 0.439>
Green: <0.180, 0.800, 0.251>
Lime: <0.004, 1.000, 0.439>
Yellow: <1.000, 0.863, 0.000>
Orange: <1.000, 0.522, 0.106>
Red: <1.000, 0.255, 0.212>
Maroon: <0.522, 0.078, 0.294>
Fuchsia: <0.941, 0.071, 0.745>
Purple: <0.694, 0.051, 0.788>
White: <1.000, 1.000, 1.000>
Silver: <0.867, 0.867, 0.867>
Gray: <0.667, 0.667, 0.667>
Black: <0.000, 0.000, 0.000>

String escape codes

LSL supports four string escape codes:

\n - new line
\\ - backslash
\t - tab
\" - double quote

Helper scripts

Erase text from an object

Drag this script out of inventory onto an object to remove its floating text:

default
{
    state_entry()
    {
        // remove floating text (empty string & black & 100% transparent)
        llSetText("", ZERO_VECTOR, 0.0);

        // delete the script as we only needed it to change the floating text property
        llRemoveInventory(llGetScriptName());
    }
}

Color constants helper

Code to easily specify appearance of hovertext:

vector NAVY    = <0,     0.122, 0.247>;
vector BLUE    = <0,     0.455, 0.851>;
vector AQUA    = <0.498, 0.859, 1    >;
vector TEAL    = <0.224, 0.8,   0.8  >;
vector OLIVE   = <0.239, 0.6,   0.439>;
vector GREEN   = <0.18,  0.8,   0.251>;
vector LIME    = <0.004, 1    , 0.439>;
vector YELLOW  = <1    , 0.863, 0    >;
vector ORANGE  = <1    , 0.522, 0.106>;
vector RED     = <1    , 0.255, 0.212>;
vector MAROON  = <0.522, 0.078, 0.294>;
vector FUCHSIA = <0.941, 0.071, 0.745>;
vector PURPLE  = <0.694, 0.051, 0.788>;
vector WHITE   = <1    , 1    , 1    >;
vector SILVER  = <0.867, 0.867, 0.867>;
vector GRAY    = <0.667, 0.667, 0.667>;
vector BLACK   = <0.000, 0.000, 0.000>;

string  hoverText   = "TEXT GOES HERE";
vector  hoverColor  = LIME;     // set predefined color or any RGB color vector in float form
float   hoverAlpha  = 1.0;      // Sets the text's transparency, 1.0 being opaque, while 0.0 would be transparent

default
{
    state_entry()
    {
        llSetText(hoverText, hoverColor, hoverAlpha);
    }
}

Hovertext for linked prims

To make hovertext when using linked prims:

mySetLinkText(integer linknum, string text, vector color, float alpha) {
    llSetLinkPrimitiveParamsFast(linknum, [PRIM_TEXT, text, color, alpha]);
}

// For example:
default
{
    touch_start(integer total_number)
    {
        mySetLinkText(LINK_SET, "TEST", <0, 1, 0>, 0.5);
    }
}

Notes

Text hovers above the prim’s center at the prim position. The height of the text above the center is proportional to the prim’s Z-dimension exclusively.
Rotation of the prim does not affect text positioning: if Z is smaller than X and Y, the text may appear on the prim itself.
To actually display text on a prim (rendered as part of the prim’s surface), see XyzzyText or consider using parcel prim media options (useful only if you have control over the land’s media settings).