FDFORMAT(1)                OpenBSD Reference Manual                FDFORMAT(1)

NAME
     fdformat - format floppy disks

SYNOPSIS
     fdformat [-nqv] [-c cyls] [-F fillbyte] [-g gap3len] [-h heads]
              [-i intleave] [-r rate] [-S secshft] [-s secs]
              [-t steps_per_track] device_name

DESCRIPTION
     fdformat formats a floppy disk at device device_name.  device_name should
     be a character device; it may be given either with a full path name of a
     raw device node for a floppy disk drive (e.g., /dev/rfd0c), or default
     name in an abbreviated form, (e.g., fd0).  Note that any geometry con-
     straints of the device node (minor device number) are meaningless, since
     they're overridden by fdformat.

     The options are as follows:

     -n      Don't verify floppy after formatting.

     -q      Suppress any normal output from the command, and don't ask the
             user for confirmation whether to format the floppy disk at
             device_name.

     -v      Don't format; verify only.

     -c cyls
     -F fillbyte
     -g gap3len
     -h heads
     -i intleave
     -r rate
     -S secshft
     -s secs
     -t steps_per_track
             An alternate method to specify the geometry data to write to the
             floppy disk.

     If the -q flag has not been specified, the user is asked for confirmation
     of the intended formatting process.  In order to continue, an answer of
     ``y'' must be given.

DIAGNOSTICS
     Unless -q has been specified, a single letter is printed to standard out-
     put to inform the user about the progress of work.  First, an ``F'' is
     printed when the track(s) is being formatted, then a ``V'' while it's be-
     ing verified, and if an error has been detected, it will finally change
     to ``E''.

     An exit status of 0 is returned upon successful operation.  Exit status 1
     is returned on any errors during floppy formatting, and an exit status of
     2 reflects invalid arguments given to the program (along with appropriate
     information written to diagnostic output).

SEE ALSO
     fdc(4)

HISTORY
     fdformat was developed for 386BSD 0.1 and upgraded to the new fdc(4)
     floppy disk driver.  It later became part of FreeBSD 1.1, and was then
     ported to OpenBSD 1.2.

AUTHORS
     The program was contributed by Joerg Wunsch, Dresden, with changes by
     Serge Vakulenko and Andrew A. Chernov, Moscow.

OpenBSD 4.7                      May 31, 2007                                2
