I have noticed that the § character has a different effect on the ItemsMeta in 1.13, and I think this could be a bug.
String text = "TEEEEEEEST"; String hiddenText = ""; for(char c : text.toCharArray()){ hiddenText += "§" + c; } //String hiddenText = "§T§E§E§E§E§E§E§E§S§T"; ItemStack is = new ItemStack(Material.STONE); ItemMeta itemMeta = is.getItemMeta(); itemMeta.setDisplayName(hiddenText); is.setItemMeta(itemMeta); Bukkit.broadcastMessage(hiddenText.replace("§", "")); Bukkit.broadcastMessage(itemMeta.getDisplayName().replace("§", ""));
1.12
1.13