1  FORMAT
   Displays a formatted list of the contents of a block of memory.

   Format

     FORMAT  [/TYPE=block-type] location

             [/NOSYMBOLIZE][/PAGE][/PHYSICAL] [/POSITIVE]
 

2  Parameter
 

location

   Location of the beginning of the data block. The location can be
   given as any valid SDA expression.
 

2  Qualifiers
 

/NOSYMBOLIZE

   If /NOSYMBOLIZE is specified, no attempt is made to symbolize
   the contents of any field in a structure. This is useful if the
   loaded execlet or activated image lists are corrupted, since
   symbolization relies on these lists.
 

/PAGE

   If the output of the formatted structure does not fit on one
   screen, SDA enters display mode. (For information on this
   topic, see Display Mode.) By default, SDA displays the formatted
   structure without screen overflow prompts.
 

/PHYSICAL

   Specifies that the location given is a physical address.
 

/POSITIVE

   Symbols that describe negative offsets from the start of the
   structure are ignored. By default, all symbols for the block type
   are processed.
 

/TYPE

      /TYPE=block-type

   Forces SDA to characterize and format a data block at location
   as the specified type of data structure. The /TYPE qualifier
   thus overrides the default behavior of the FORMAT command in
   determining the type and/or subtype of a data block, as described
   in the Description subtopic for this command. The block-type
   can be the symbolic prefix of any data structure defined by the
   operating system.
 

2  Description

   Displays the formatted contents of an OpenVMS control block that
   begins at the address specified by the expression "location."
   Most blocks include a byte that indicates the block type.

   Associated with each type of block is a set of symbols with a
   common prefix. Each symbol's name describes a field within the
   block, and the value of the symbol represents the offset of the
   field within the block.

   If the block-type byte contains a valid block type (and/or
   subtype), SDA retrieves the symbols associated with that type
   of block (see $DYNDEF) and uses their values to format the block.
   If the block-type byte does not contain a valid block type, you
   must use the /TYPE qualifier to format the block.

   For a given block type, all associated symbols have the following
   form:

   <block type>$<type>_<name>

   where type is one of the following:

   B  Byte
   W  Word
   L  Longword
   Q  Quadword

   A  Address
   C  Constant
   G  Global Longword
   P  Pointer
   R  Structure (variable size)
   T  Counted ASCII string (up to 31 characters)

   If SDA cannot find the symbols associated with the block type
   specified in the block-type byte or by the /TYPE qualifier, it
   issues the following message:

   No <block type> symbols found to format this block

   Use the READ command to obtain additional symbol definitions.