Controls whether the output of the SHOW GENERATION command is formatted. You can use the /FORMAT qualifier in combination with the /OUTPUT qualifier to set up a command file. With this command file, you can execute a CMS command or a DCL command on a specified set of elements (such as all elements in a class). The format string can contain printing characters; within the format string, CMS recognizes #E (and #e) as the element format parameter, and #G (and #g) as the generation number format parameter. For each line of output (one line per generation), CMS displays the format string and replaces each occurrence of #E or #G with the element name or generation number, respectively. To include a number sign in the output line, type it twice (##). When you specify the /FORMAT qualifier, CMS does not generate the heading normally produced by the SHOW GENERATION command. To set up a command file, you specify a format string consisting of a command, including the dollar sign ($) prompt and a format parameter (#E or #G) (for example, /FORMAT="$ CMS FETCH #E/GENERATION=#G"). Use the /OUTPUT qualifier to direct the output to a command file. When you execute the SHOW GENERATION command with these qualifiers, CMS creates a command file containing a list of FETCH commands that use each element in the denoted set as parameters.