VMS Help CMS, SHOW, ELEMENT, Qualifiers, /FORMAT="string"  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

    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.