## org.biojava.bio.program.formats
Class FormatTools

    java.lang.Object
      org.biojava.bio.program.formats.FormatTools

    public class FormatTools

extends Object

Field Summary
`static ChangeTable.Changer` `EC_FROM_STRING`

Method Summary
`static Format` `getFormat(String formatName)` Attempt to find aformat for a format identifer string.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
`clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait`

Field Detail

### EC_FROM_STRING

    public static final ChangeTable.Changer EC_FROM_STRING

Method Detail

### getFormat

    public static Format getFormat(String formatName)
                            throws BioException

  Attempt to find aformat for a format identifer string.

  The string will be resolved in the following way:

  1. Treat the name as an LSID and search for a format class with that LSID.
  2. Load a class of that name
  3. Load a class in the package `org.biojava.bio.program.formats` with that name
  4. Load a class in that package after replacing each '.' in the name with "$" so that a search is made of inner classes.

  It is not specified if the format returned is a new instance or not.

  This method uses the service providor framework to find format providers. If you add formats to the core biojava distribution, you must add the class name to the file `biojava-live/resources/META-INF/services/org.biojava.bio.program.formats.Format`/ If you implement formats and place them in your own .jar files, you should put the class name in a similarly named file in your jar. This should mean that the format becomes automatically registered with the system.

  Parameters:
    `formatName` - the Stirng to use to find the format name
  Returns:
    a Format for that name
  Throws:
    `BioException` - if the format could not be resolved for some reason