---
title: format
framework: homekit
role: symbol
role_heading: Instance Property
path: homekit/hmcharacteristicmetadata/format
---

# format

The format of the values for the characteristic.

## Declaration

```swift
var format: String? { get }
```

## Discussion

Discussion The format property tells you what kind of data the characteristic’s value contains. For example, you can extend the HMCharacteristic class with a computed property that reports whether a given characteristic is a floating point number: extension HMCharacteristic {     var isFloat: Bool {         return metadata?.format == HMCharacteristicMetadataFormatFloat     } } See Characteristic Data Formats for the list of possible formats.

## See Also

### Formatting the value

- [Characteristic Data Formats](homekit/characteristic-data-formats.md)