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Output format

As explained in AI Agents and Applications

An output format is a specification of the structure or representation in which a language model should return its answer.

An output format specifies how an answer should be structured or represented. It is optional: when no format is requested, the model defaults to a text answer. section 2.6

You can request formats such as:

How AI Agents and Applications covers it

How deep it goes
Names structured formats and explains the text default, without detailing format validation.
Examples
Shows tables, CSV with column names, JSON with attribute names, and a two-paragraph, five-line layout.
What you can do after
Apply it by specifying a response layout, such as JSON with attribute names or a table with CSV column names.
How it connects
Connects output formatting to prompt structure alongside instructions, inputs, processing steps, tone, and examples.

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This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of AI Agents and Applications. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.