Rules for Input to format Commands

When you use the format utility, you need to provide various kinds of information. This section describes the rules for this information. For information on using format's help facility when you specify data, see Getting Help on the format Utility.

Specifying Numbers to format Commands

Several places in the format utility require number as input. You must either specify the appropriate data or select a number from a list of choices. In either case, the help facility causes format to display the upper and lower limits of the number expected. Simply enter the appropriate number. The number is assumed to be in decimal format unless a base is explicitly specified as part of the number (for example, 0x for hexadecimal).

The following are examples of integer input:

Enter number of passes [2]: 34 
Enter number of passes [34] Oxf

Specifying format Command Names

Command names are needed as input whenever the format utility displays a menu prompt. You can abbreviate the command names, as long as what you type is sufficient to uniquely identify the command desired.

For example, use p to access the partition menu from the format menu. Then, type p to display the current slice table.

format> p
PARTITION MENU:
        0      - change `0' partition
        1      - change `1' partition
        2      - change `2' partition
        3      - change `3' partition
        4      - change `4' partition
        5      - change `5' partition
        6      - change `6' partition
        7      - change `7' partition
        select - select a predefined table
        modify - modify a predefined partition table
        name   - name the current table
        print  - display the current table
        label  - write partition map and label to the disk
        quit
partition> p

Specifying Disk Names to format Commands

At certain points in the format utility, you must name something. In these cases, you are free to specify any string you want for the name. If the name has white space in it, the entire name must be enclosed in double quotation marks ("). Otherwise, only the first word of the name is used.

For example, if you want to identify a specific partition table for a disk, you can use the name subcommand that is available from the partition menu:

partition> name
Enter table name (remember quotes): "new disk3"