[MC-259967] /damage only works with a single entity target

The target parameter of /damage only accepts one entity, requiring you to use limit=1 or similar. This means that to damage multiple things, you need to use /execute, which has the following consequences:

Worse performance as you are running N commands instead of just one
You can't use the original @s in the by parameter: obvious use cases like /execute as @e[type=pufferfish] at @s run damage @a[distance=..5] 1 thorns by @s are impossible

This might be intended / feature request a la MC-121807 (it would be great if that one were changed too :/), but I think there are a couple reasons why this behavior is especially unexpected:

Bedrock's /damage command supports multiple entities just fine
/kill can apply damage to multiple entities just fine

Linked issues

is duplicated by 1

MC-268997 The "/damage" command exclusively permits selectors targeting a single entity. Resolved

Comments 4

Former user 2023-02-13T08:36:04Z

I can confirm this issue. It doesn't make sense to restrict only one entity to damage.

slicedlime 2023-02-23T10:02:54Z

This is a feature request.

user-f2760 2023-02-24T09:59:39Z

It's more a parity issue than a feature request though.

oowooglac 2024-03-02T06:47:17Z

— Bedrock's /damage command supports multiple entities just fine
As noted previously, this isn't a feature request but rather a parity issue. I'm asking for a review. The parity issue meets the criteria.