imported>Cornmazes at 03:30, 20 December 2024

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{{short description|Command-line utility that carries out disk formatting}}
{{lowercase title}}
{{Infobox software
| name = format
| logo =
| screenshot = Ms-dosformat.png
| screenshot size =
| caption = The [[MS-DOS]] {{code|FORMAT}} command
| developer =
| released =
| latest release version =
| latest release date =
| programming language = [[MS-DOS]]: [[x86 assembly language]]<br />[[FreeDOS]]: [[C (programming language)|C]]
| operating system = [[RT-11]], [[86-DOS]], [[MS-DOS]], [[IBM PC DOS|PC DOS]], [[OS/2]], [[eComStation]], [[ArcaOS]], [[ISIS (operating system)|ISIS-II]], [[RMX (operating system)|iRMX 86]], [[TRIPOS]], [[AmigaDOS]], [[Z80-RIO]], [[OS-9]], [[MSX-DOS]], [[FlexOS]], [[PC-MOS]], [[SpartaDOS X]], [[DR DOS]], [[ROM-DOS]], [[4690 Operating System|4690 OS]], [[FreeDOS]], [[PTS-DOS]], [[SISNE plus]], [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[ReactOS]]
| platform = [[Cross-platform]]
| genre = [[Command (computing)|Command]]
| license = MS-DOS: [[MIT License|MIT]]<br />PC-MOS: [[GPLv3]]<br />FreeDOS: [[GPLv2]]<br />ReactOS: [[LGPL-2.0-or-later]]
| website =
}}
In [[computing]], '''<code>format</code>''' is a [[command-line interface|command-line]] utility that carries out [[disk formatting]]. It is a component of various [[operating system]]s, including [[86-DOS]], [[MS-DOS]], [[IBM]] [[IBM PC DOS|PC DOS]] and [[OS/2]], [[Microsoft]] [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] and [[ReactOS]].

==Overview==
The [[command (computing)|command]] performs the following actions by default on a [[floppy disk]], [[hard disk drive]], [[Solid-state drive|solid state]] ([[USB]]), or other [[magnetic medium]] (it will not perform these actions on [[optical disc|optical media]]):

# clearing the [[Design of the FAT file system#FAT|FAT]] entries by changing them to {{mono|0x00}}
# clearing the [[FAT root directory]] by changing any values found to {{mono|0x00}}<ref group="nb" name="NB_DIRFILL"/><ref name="Paterson_2014_MSDOS125">{{cite web
|first1=Tim
|last1=Paterson
|author-link1=Tim Paterson
|title=Microsoft DOS V1.1 and V2.0: /msdos/v20source/FORMAT.TXT
|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/microsoft-research-license-agreement-msdos-v1-1-v2-0/
|publisher=[[Computer History Museum]], [[Microsoft]]
|date=2013-12-19
|orig-year=1983
|access-date=2014-03-25
|archive-date=2019-08-14
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814021325/https://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/microsoft-research-license-agreement-msdos-v1-1-v2-0/
|url-status=live
}} (NB. While the publishers claim this would be MS-DOS 1.1 and 2.0, it actually is [[SCP MS-DOS 1.25]] and a mixture of [[Altos MS-DOS 2.11]] and [[TeleVideo PC DOS 2.11]].)</ref><ref name="Shustek_2014_MS-DOS">{{Cite web
|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/microsoft-ms-dos-early-source-code/
|title=Microsoft MS-DOS early source code
|series=Software Gems: The Computer History Museum Historical Source Code Series
|first=Len
|last=Shustek
|date=2014-03-24
|access-date=2014-03-29
|archive-date=2019-08-10
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810045508/https://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/microsoft-ms-dos-early-source-code/
|url-status=live
}} (NB. While the author claims this would be MS-DOS 1.1 and 2.0, it actually is [[SCP MS-DOS 1.25]] and a mixture of [[Altos MS-DOS 2.11]] and [[TeleVideo PC DOS 2.11]].)</ref><ref name="Levin_2014_MS-DOS">{{cite web
|url=http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2014/03/25/microsoft-makes-source-code-for-ms-dos-and-word-for-windows-available-to-public.aspx
|title=Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public
|date=2014-03-25
|first=Roy
|last=Levin
|work=Official Microsoft Blog
|access-date=2014-03-29
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328094124/http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2014/03/25/microsoft-makes-source-code-for-ms-dos-and-word-for-windows-available-to-public.aspx
|archive-date=2014-03-28
|url-status=dead
}} (NB. While the author claims this would be MS-DOS 1.1 and 2.0, it actually is [[SCP MS-DOS 1.25]] and a mixture of [[Altos MS-DOS 2.11]] and [[TeleVideo PC DOS 2.11]].)</ref>
# checking each [[Cluster (file system)|cluster]] to see if it is good or bad and marking it as good or bad in the FAT

Any [[Data storage device|storage device]] must have its medium structured to be useful. This process is referred to as "creating a filesystem" in [[Unix]], [[Linux]], or [[BSD]].<ref name="NEWFS_8_FREEBSD">{{man|8|newfs|FreeBSD|EXAMPLE section}}</ref> Under these systems different commands are used. The commands can create many kinds of [[file system]]s, including those used by DOS, Windows, and OS/2.

==Implementations==
[[File:IBM PC DOS 1.0 screenshot.png|thumb|300px|<code>FORMAT.COM</code>, among several other commands, in [[IBM PC DOS]] 1.0.]]
[[File:CPM-86.png|thumb|300px|<code>FORMAT.CMD</code> in [[CP/M-86]]]]
The command is also available in [[Intel]] [[ISIS (operating system)|ISIS-II]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/intel/ISIS_II/9800306-06_ISIS-II_Users_Guide_May81.pdf |title=ISIS II Users Guide |access-date=2019-02-03 |archive-date=2019-01-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126011055/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/intel/ISIS_II/9800306-06_ISIS-II_Users_Guide_May81.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> [[RMX (operating system)|iRMX 86]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_inteliRMX1_19819263|title=intel :: iRMX :: 146194-001 irmxR6Intro|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> [[MetaComCo]] [[TRIPOS]],<ref>https://www.pagetable.com/docs/amigados_tripos/tripos_manuals.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021043218/https://www.pagetable.com/docs/amigados_tripos/tripos_manuals.pdf |date=2020-10-21 }} {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> [[AmigaDOS]],<ref>{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/1988-rugheimer-spanik-amigados-quick-reference|title=Quick reference|via=archive.org|year=1988|isbn=9781557550491|access-date=2020-09-14|last1=Rugheimer|first1=Hannes|publisher=Abacus }}</ref> [[Zilog]] [[Z80-RIO]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.z80cpu.eu/mirrors/oldcomputers.dyndns.org/public/pub/rechner/zilog/zds/z80-rio_os_userman.pdf |title=Z80-RIO OPERATING SYSTEM USER'S MANUAL |access-date=2020-02-14 |archive-date=2022-01-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128041146/https://www.z80cpu.eu/mirrors/oldcomputers.dyndns.org/public/pub/rechner/zilog/zds/z80-rio_os_userman.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Microware]] [[OS-9]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul S. Dayan|year=1992|title=The OS-9 Guru - 1 : The Facts|publisher=Galactic Industrial Limited|isbn=0-9519228-0-7}}</ref> [[Digital Research|DR]] [[FlexOS]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/digitalResearch/flexos/1073-2003_FlexOS_Users_Guide_V1.3_Nov86.pdf |title=FlexOS User's Guide |date=1986 |website=www.bitsavers.org |access-date=2020-09-14 |archive-date=2019-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925131719/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/digitalResearch/flexos/1073-2003_FlexOS_Users_Guide_V1.3_Nov86.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[The Software Link|TSL]] [[PC-MOS]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/roelandjansen/pcmos386v501|title=roelandjansen/pcmos386v501|website=GitHub|date=2 January 2022|access-date=28 July 2019|archive-date=4 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504053616/https://github.com/roelandjansen/pcmos386v501|url-status=live}}</ref> [[SpartaDOS X]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://sdx.atari8.info/sdx_files/4.48/SDX448_User_Guide.pdf |title=SpartaDOS X 4.48 User Guide |access-date=2019-03-16 |archive-date=2021-10-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010113045/http://sdx.atari8.info/sdx_files/4.48/SDX448_User_Guide.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Datalight]] [[ROM-DOS]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.datalight.com/assets/files/ROM-DOS_Users_Guide.pdf|title=Datalight ROM-DOS User's Guide|website=www.datalight.com|access-date=2020-01-18|archive-date=2019-04-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421143059/https://www.datalight.com/assets/files/ROM-DOS_Users_Guide.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> [[IBM]]/[[Toshiba]] [[4690 Operating System|4690 OS]],<ref>{{cite web |url= https://archive.org/details/4690OSV6r2UsersGuide/page/n169|title=Users guide|website=archive.org|access-date=2020-09-14}}</ref> [[PTS-DOS]],<ref>
{{cite web |title=PTS-DOS 2000 Pro User Manual |publisher=[[Paragon Technology GmbH]] |location=Buggingen, Germany |date=1999 |url=http://download.paragon-software.com/doc/manual_dos_eng.pdf |access-date=2018-05-12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180512094512/http://download.paragon-software.com/doc/manual_dos_eng.pdf |archive-date=2018-05-12}}</ref> [[SISNE plus]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://datassette.org/manuais/ibm-pc/sisne-plus-referencia-sumaria|title=SISNE plus - Referência Sumária|date=May 14, 2015|website=Datassette|access-date=September 28, 2019|archive-date=September 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190928211058/https://datassette.org/manuais/ibm-pc/sisne-plus-referencia-sumaria|url-status=live}}</ref> and in the [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] [[RT-11]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://paleoferrosaurus.com/beta/documents/rt11help.html#FORMAT|title=RT-11 HELP FILE|website=paleoferrosaurus.com|access-date=2018-07-16|archive-date=2018-07-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180717041552/http://paleoferrosaurus.com/beta/documents/rt11help.html#FORMAT|url-status=dead}}</ref> operating system.

===Microsoft DOS and Windows===
On [[MS-DOS]], the command is available in versions 1 and later.<ref name="RUNNINGMSDOS">{{Cite book|author-last=Wolverton|author-first=Van|title=Running MS-DOS Version 6.22 (20th Anniversary Edition), 6th Revised edition|date=2003|publisher=[[Microsoft Press]]|isbn=0-7356-1812-7}}</ref>

Optionally (by adding the /S, for "system" switch), <code>format</code> can also install a [[Volume Boot Record]]. With this option, Format writes bootstrap code to the first sector of the volume (and possibly elsewhere as well). Format always writes a [[BIOS Parameter Block]] to the first sector, with or without the /S option.

Another option (/Q) allows for what Microsoft calls "Quick Format". With this option the command will not perform steps 2 and 3 above.{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}} <code>Format /Q</code> does not alter data previously written to the media.

Typing "format" with no parameters in MS-DOS 3.2 or earlier would automatically, without prompting the user, format the current drive; however in MS-DOS 3.3 and later it would simply produce the error: "required parameter missing".{{Citation needed|date=February 2020|reason=Original Research}}

===DR/Novell DOS===
[[DR DOS 6.0]] includes an implementation of the {{code|format}} command.<ref name="drdos6userguide">{{Cite web |url=https://www.4corn.co.uk/archive/docs/DR%20DOS%206.0%20User%20Guide-opt.pdf |title=DR DOS 6.0 User Guide Optimisation and Configuration Tips |access-date=2019-08-12 |archive-date=2019-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190930135943/http://www.4corn.co.uk/archive/docs/DR%20DOS%206.0%20User%20Guide-opt.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

===FreeDOS===
The [[FreeDOS]] version was developed by Brian E. Reifsnyder and is licensed under the [[GNU General Public License|GPL]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.2/repos/pkg-html/format.html|title=ibiblio.org FreeDOS Package -- Format (FreeDOS Base)|website=www.ibiblio.org|access-date=2018-11-13|archive-date=2018-11-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119030222/http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.2/repos/pkg-html/format.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===ReactOS===
[[File:ReactOS-0.4.13 format command 667x514.png|thumb|300px|The {{code|format}} command on [[ReactOS]]]]
The ReactOS implementation is based on a [[free software|free]] clone developed by [[Mark Russinovich]] for [[Sysinternals]] in 1998. It is licensed under the GPL.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/reactos/reactos|title=reactos/reactos|website=GitHub|date=3 January 2022|access-date=9 June 2019|archive-date=11 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171211170155/https://github.com/reactos/reactos|url-status=live}}</ref>
It was adapted to ReactOS by Emanuele Aliberti in 1999 and supports [[File Allocation Table|FAT]], [[FAT32]], [[FATX]], [[ext2|EXT2]], and [[BtrFS]] filesystems.

==See also==
*[[Disk formatting]]
*[[Data recovery]]
*[[convert (command)|convert]]
*[[File Allocation Table]]
*[[Design of the FAT file system]]
*[[fdisk]]
*[[PC DOS 7.10]] Format32

==Notes==
<references group="nb">
<ref group="nb" name="NB_DIRFILL">The directory entries get filled with <code>0x00</code> since [[MS-DOS 1.25]] and [[PC DOS 2.0]]. If the Format command line option /O is provided, the first byte of each [[FAT directory entry|directory entry]] is set to <code>0xE5h</code> to create a FAT format usable by [[PC DOS 1.0]]-[[PC DOS 1.1|1.1]]. However, not providing /O will significantly speed up directory searches under MS-DOS 1.25 and PC DOS 2.0 and higher. Older versions of MS-DOS, PC DOS, and [[86-DOS]] only supported the <code>0xE5</code> marker.
</ref>
</references>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{Cite book|author-last=Cooper|author-first=Jim|title=Special Edition Using MS-DOS 6.22, Third Edition|date=2001|publisher=[[Que Publishing]]|isbn=978-0789725738}}
*{{Cite book|author1=Kathy Ivens|author2=Brian Proffit|year=1993|title=OS/2 Inside & Out|publisher=[[Osborne McGraw-Hill]]|isbn=978-0078818714}}
*{{Cite book|first=Æleen|last=Frisch|year=2001|title=Windows 2000 Commands Pocket Reference|publisher=[[O'Reilly Media|O'Reilly]]|isbn=978-0-596-00148-3}}

==External links==
{{Wikibooks|Guide to Windows Commands}}
*[http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/format.mspx Microsoft Windows XP Professional Product Documentation: "format"]
*[https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/v2.0/source/FORMAT.ASM Open source FORMAT implementation that comes with MS-DOS v2.0]
*[http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255867 MSKB255867: How to Use the Fdisk Tool and the Format Tool to Partition or Repartition a Hard Disk]
*[http://www.computerhope.com/formathl.htm Microsoft DOS format command]
*[http://pcsupport.about.com/od/termsf/p/format-rc.htm Recovery Console format command] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707075247/http://pcsupport.about.com/od/termsf/p/format-rc.htm |date=2011-07-07 }}

{{Windows commands}}

[[Category:External DOS commands]]
[[Category:Hard disk software]]
[[Category:MSX-DOS commands]]
[[Category:OS/2 commands]]
[[Category:Windows commands]]

Format (command) - Revision history

imported>Cornmazes at 03:30, 20 December 2024