Controls whether the output of the SHOW ELEMENT 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 group). The format string can contain printing characters; within the format string, CMS recognizes #E (and #e) as the element format parameter. For each line of output (one line per element), CMS displays the format string and replaces each occurrence of #E (or #e) with the element name. To include a number sign in the output line, type it twice (##). When you specify /FORMAT, CMS does not generate the heading normally produced by the SHOW ELEMENT command. To set up a command file, you specify a format string consisting of a command, including the dollar sign ($) prompt and the element format parameter (for example, /FORMAT="$ CMS FETCH #E"). Use the /OUTPUT qualifier to direct the output to a command file. When you execute the SHOW ELEMENT 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.