2.4.10.5 The format Element

format
   :baseFormat[f_base_format]=(date | time | dateTime | elapsedTime)?
   :errorCharacter?
   :separatorChars?
   :mdyOrder=(dayMonthYear | monthDayYear | yearMonthDay)?
   :showYear=bool?
   :showQuarter=bool?
   :quarterPrefix?
   :quarterSuffix?
   :yearAbbreviation=bool?
   :showMonth=bool?
   :monthFormat=(long | short | number | paddedNumber)?
   :dayPadding=bool?
   :dayOfMonthPadding=bool?
   :showWeek=bool?
   :weekPadding=bool?
   :weekSuffix?
   :showDayOfWeek=bool?
   :dayOfWeekAbbreviation=bool?
   :hourPadding=bool?
   :minutePadding=bool?
   :secondPadding=bool?
   :showDay=bool?
   :showHour=bool?
   :showMinute=bool?
   :showSecond=bool?
   :showMillis=bool?
   :dayType=(month | year)?
   :hourFormat=(AMPM | AS_24 | AS_12)?
   :minimumIntegerDigits=int?
   :maximumFractionDigits=int?
   :minimumFractionDigits=int?
   :useGrouping=bool?
   :scientific=(onlyForSmall | whenNeeded | true | false)?
   :small=real?
   :prefix?
   :suffix?
   :tryStringsAsNumbers=bool?
   :negativesOutside=bool?
=> relabel* affix*

This element is the union of all of the more-specific format elements. It is interpreted in the same way as one of those format elements, using baseFormat to determine which kind of format to use.

There are a few attributes not present in the more specific formats:

Attribute: tryStringsAsNumbers

When this is true, it is supposed to indicate that string values should be parsed as numbers and then displayed according to numeric formatting rules. However, in the corpus it is always false.

Attribute: negativesOutside

If true, the negative sign should be shown before the prefix; if false, it should be shown after.