<s>
In	O
computing	O
,	O
format	O
,	O
a	O
command-line	B-Application
utility	O
that	O
carries	O
out	O
disk	B-Application
formatting	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
a	O
component	O
of	O
various	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
,	O
including	O
86-DOS	B-Operating_System
,	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
,	O
IBM	B-Operating_System
PC	I-Operating_System
DOS	I-Operating_System
and	O
OS/2	B-Application
,	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
and	O
ReactOS	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
command	B-Application
performs	O
the	O
following	O
actions	O
by	O
default	O
on	O
a	O
floppy	B-Device
disk	I-Device
,	O
hard	B-Device
disk	I-Device
drive	I-Device
,	O
solid	B-Device
state	I-Device
(	O
USB	B-Protocol
)	O
,	O
or	O
other	O
magnetic	B-Architecture
medium	I-Architecture
(	O
it	O
will	O
not	O
perform	O
these	O
actions	O
on	O
optical	B-Device
media	I-Device
)	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Any	O
storage	B-General_Concept
device	I-General_Concept
must	O
have	O
its	O
medium	O
structured	O
to	O
be	O
useful	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
process	O
is	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
"	O
creating	O
a	O
filesystem	B-Application
"	O
in	O
Unix	B-Application
,	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
or	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
commands	O
can	O
create	O
many	O
kinds	O
of	O
file	B-Application
systems	I-Application
,	O
including	O
those	O
used	O
by	O
DOS	O
,	O
Windows	B-Application
,	O
and	O
OS/2	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
command	B-Application
is	O
also	O
available	O
in	O
Intel	O
ISIS-II	O
,	O
iRMX	B-Operating_System
86	I-Operating_System
,	O
MetaComCo	B-Device
TRIPOS	B-Operating_System
,	O
AmigaDOS	B-Operating_System
,	O
Zilog	O
Z80-RIO	B-Device
,	O
Microware	B-Operating_System
OS-9	B-Operating_System
,	O
DR	B-Operating_System
FlexOS	I-Operating_System
,	O
TSL	O
PC-MOS	O
,	O
SpartaDOS	B-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
,	O
Datalight	O
ROM-DOS	B-Operating_System
,	O
IBM/Toshiba	O
4690	B-Language
OS	I-Language
,	O
PTS-DOS	B-Operating_System
,	O
SISNE	B-Operating_System
plus	I-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
in	O
the	O
DEC	O
RT-11	B-Operating_System
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
,	O
the	O
command	B-Application
is	O
available	O
in	O
versions	O
1	O
and	O
later	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Optionally	O
(	O
by	O
adding	O
the	O
/S	O
,	O
for	O
"	O
system	O
"	O
switch	O
)	O
,	O
format	O
can	O
also	O
install	O
a	O
Volume	B-Device
Boot	I-Device
Record	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Format	O
always	O
writes	O
a	O
BIOS	B-Device
Parameter	I-Device
Block	I-Device
to	O
the	O
first	O
sector	O
,	O
with	O
or	O
without	O
the	O
/S	O
option	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
this	O
option	O
the	O
command	B-Application
will	O
not	O
perform	O
steps	O
2	O
and	O
3	O
above	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Typing	O
"	O
format	O
"	O
with	O
no	O
parameters	O
in	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
3.2	O
or	O
earlier	O
would	O
automatically	O
,	O
without	O
prompting	O
the	O
user	O
,	O
format	O
the	O
current	O
drive	O
;	O
however	O
in	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
3.3	O
and	O
later	O
it	O
would	O
simply	O
produce	O
the	O
error	O
:	O
"	O
required	O
parameter	O
missing	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DR	B-Application
DOS	I-Application
6.0	O
includes	O
an	O
implementation	O
of	O
the	O
command	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
FreeDOS	B-Application
version	O
was	O
developed	O
by	O
Brian	O
E	O
.	O
Reifsnyder	O
and	O
is	O
licensed	O
under	O
the	O
GPL	B-License
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
ReactOS	B-Application
implementation	O
is	O
based	O
on	O
a	O
free	B-Application
clone	O
developed	O
by	O
Mark	O
Russinovich	O
for	O
Sysinternals	O
in	O
1998	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
licensed	O
under	O
the	O
GPL	B-License
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
adapted	O
to	O
ReactOS	B-Application
by	O
Emanuele	O
Aliberti	O
in	O
1999	O
and	O
supports	O
FAT	B-Application
,	O
FAT32	B-Application
,	O
FATX	O
,	O
EXT2	B-Application
,	O
and	O
BtrFS	B-Operating_System
filesystems	B-Application
.	O
</s>
