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<h3 class="section">2.9 File formats</h3>
<p>A format is a BFD concept of high level file contents type. The
formats supported by BFD are:
<ul>
<li><code>bfd_object</code>
</ul>
The BFD may contain data, symbols, relocations and debug info.
<ul>
<li><code>bfd_archive</code>
</ul>
The BFD contains other BFDs and an optional index.
<ul>
<li><code>bfd_core</code>
</ul>
The BFD contains the result of an executable core dump.
<h4 class="subsection">2.9.1 File format functions</h4>
<p><a name="index-bfd_005fcheck_005fformat-76"></a>
<h5 class="subsubsection">2.9.1.1 <code>bfd_check_format</code></h5>
<p><strong>Synopsis</strong>
<pre class="example"> bfd_boolean bfd_check_format (bfd *abfd, bfd_format format);
</pre>
<p><strong>Description</strong><br>
Verify if the file attached to the BFD <var>abfd</var> is compatible
with the format <var>format</var> (i.e., one of <code>bfd_object</code>,
<code>bfd_archive</code> or <code>bfd_core</code>).
<p>If the BFD has been set to a specific target before the
call, only the named target and format combination is
checked. If the target has not been set, or has been set to
<code>default</code>, then all the known target backends is
interrogated to determine a match. If the default target
matches, it is used. If not, exactly one target must recognize
the file, or an error results.
<p>The function returns <code>TRUE</code> on success, otherwise <code>FALSE</code>
with one of the following error codes:
<ul>
<li><code>bfd_error_invalid_operation</code> -
if <code>format</code> is not one of <code>bfd_object</code>, <code>bfd_archive</code> or
<code>bfd_core</code>.
<li><code>bfd_error_system_call</code> -
if an error occured during a read - even some file mismatches
can cause bfd_error_system_calls.
<li><code>file_not_recognised</code> -
none of the backends recognised the file format.
<li><code>bfd_error_file_ambiguously_recognized</code> -
more than one backend recognised the file format.
</ul>
<p><a name="index-bfd_005fcheck_005fformat_005fmatches-77"></a>
<h5 class="subsubsection">2.9.1.2 <code>bfd_check_format_matches</code></h5>
<p><strong>Synopsis</strong>
<pre class="example"> bfd_boolean bfd_check_format_matches
(bfd *abfd, bfd_format format, char ***matching);
</pre>
<p><strong>Description</strong><br>
Like <code>bfd_check_format</code>, except when it returns FALSE with
<code>bfd_errno</code> set to <code>bfd_error_file_ambiguously_recognized</code>. In that
case, if <var>matching</var> is not NULL, it will be filled in with
a NULL-terminated list of the names of the formats that matched,
allocated with <code>malloc</code>.
Then the user may choose a format and try again.
<p>When done with the list that <var>matching</var> points to, the caller
should free it.
<p><a name="index-bfd_005fset_005fformat-78"></a>
<h5 class="subsubsection">2.9.1.3 <code>bfd_set_format</code></h5>
<p><strong>Synopsis</strong>
<pre class="example"> bfd_boolean bfd_set_format (bfd *abfd, bfd_format format);
</pre>
<p><strong>Description</strong><br>
This function sets the file format of the BFD <var>abfd</var> to the
format <var>format</var>. If the target set in the BFD does not
support the format requested, the format is invalid, or the BFD
is not open for writing, then an error occurs.
<p><a name="index-bfd_005fformat_005fstring-79"></a>
<h5 class="subsubsection">2.9.1.4 <code>bfd_format_string</code></h5>
<p><strong>Synopsis</strong>
<pre class="example"> const char *bfd_format_string (bfd_format format);
</pre>
<p><strong>Description</strong><br>
Return a pointer to a const string
<code>invalid</code>, <code>object</code>, <code>archive</code>, <code>core</code>, or <code>unknown</code>,
depending upon the value of <var>format</var>.
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