Hat Block

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The general shape of a Hat block.

A Hat Block is a block that starts a script when a specific event occurs. All hat blocks are either Control blocks, Events blocks, My Blocks, or Extension blocks. In the Experimental Viewer, the first word of their name is capitalised.

Hat blocks are useful in Event Based Programming.

Shape

As Hat blocks are designed to start a script, they are shaped so no blocks can go on top of them — this is done by rounding the blocks' top. The bottom of Hat blocks are the same as Stack Blocks.

when gf clicked//This is a hat block.
go to (mouse-pointer v)

Blocks

There are twenty-six Hat blocks in Scratch. Seventeen are used for extensions. One is made with every instance of a custom block.

Note:

Click on a block for more information.

• when gf clicked
• when [ v] key pressed
• when this sprite clicked
• when stage clicked
• when I receive [ v]
• when backdrop switches to [ v]
• when [ v] \> ()
• when I start as a clone
• define
• when video motion > ()
• when ( v) key pressed::makeymakey
• when ( v) pressed in order
• when ( v) button pressed::microbit
• when ( v)::microbit
• when tilted ( v)::microbit
• when pin ( v) connected::microbit
• when button ( v) pressed
• when distance \< ()
• when brightness \< ()
• when ( v) brick seen
• when tilted ( v)
• when distance ( v) ()::wedo
• when tilted ( v)::wedo
• when ( v)::gdxfor
• when force sensor ( v)::gdxfor
• when ( v)::gdxfor

When () is True

when <> is true :: hat events

The When () Is True block

A heavily-requested hat block is When () Is True. It was available in the November 2006 beta but was removed in Scratch 1.0. It is available in some Scratch Modifications. This block can be reproduced by doing the following:

when gf clicked
forever
wait until <... :: grey>
broadcast (true v)
wait until <not <... :: grey>>

when I receive [true v]
...

or

when gf clicked
forever
if <... :: grey> then
end

The latter is equivalent to the replacement in Scratch 1.0.

Use

Hat blocks signal for the project to run a script after an event has happened, and therefore allows the code to be run automatically without a user having to click on the script to run the code. As there are 24 Hat blocks, there are 24 different forms of events that can occur to start a script.

An example for when the When I Receive () block can be used as follows:

when I receive [Next Level v]
next costume

Cat Blocks

Main article: Cat Block

when green flag clicked:: cat

when this sprite clicked:: cat

when I start as a clone:: cat

when video motion > ():: cat

Several examples of cat blocks.

For April Fools Day 2020 and for April fools 2021, 2022 and 2023, all hat blocks were replaced with 'Cat Blocks' for 2022 and 2023 Caturday mode had to be enabled, where a cat drawing was put on top of them. Rolling the mouse over near the eyes of the cat block would cause its eyes to blink, and mousing over its ear would cause the ear to move.

There were many requests to bring them back, but it was officially rejected by the Scratch Team. However, they can still be accessed here.